What's the point of the Net Promoter Score metric?

This is something Esendex have been digging into recently, as (full disclosure!), gathering Net Promoter Score data is one of the key functions of our SMS Surveys product. We weren’t sure what the Net Promoter Score was, how to get started, or what the data was useful for – so, if you’re in a similar position, read on!

What is the Net Promoter Score?

The Net Promoter Score survey asks your customers one question:

“Using a 0-10 scale, how likely are you to recommend this business / brand to a friend or colleague?”

You can use the results of this survey to judge how loyal your customers are compared to other businesses in your field, how satisfied they are with your products or service, and, in turn, get an indication of your potential growth.

A score of 0-6 is considered to be a detractor. They’re not likely to recommend you, so you can infer that they’re not particularly happy with your products, or loyal to your brand.
A score of 7-8 is regarded as passive. They’re happy enough, but not so much that they’re not vulnerable to being poached by a competitor.
A score of 9-10 is a promoter. They are likely to recommend you, and so you can reasonably conclude that they are highly satisfied with your products/services, and likely to continue to do business with you.

How to collect the data

We experimented with SMS and email/online survey software to gather NPS data for Esendex.
SMS Surveys: highly effective for NPS data collection, as they’re likely to be seen, and very easy to respond to with a 0-10 selection.
Email / Online Surveys: not as effective, as the email has to first be opened, then clicked-through, then the survey completed, but it does have the advantage of being cheap.
We’ll write up the results in more detail in the near future, but for us, SMS was the most effective method of surveying customers.

What is your Net Promoter Score telling you?

You can use your current NPS data as a benchmark, and then seek to improve it over time, and/or you can compare your company’s performance to the competition.

The above graphic shows the average NPS by industry. If you search online, you’ll find many more examples, most of which are more complicated in that they show the range of responses and the average. Our data came from NPS Benchmarks which accrues data from 54 different countries, and 48 industries.
Your Net Promoter Score is not a per cent (%), it can range from -100 to +100 – but you’ll need to apply the context of your own historical score or your peers’ scores for it to be meaningful.
Look out for our white paper on this subject coming soon, where we explore the attitudes to the survey (and the platforms used to deliver it) across the world, and what that means for your brand.