Net Promoter News: Philips designs to win customers and NPS, Speedy beats industry NPS, Obama and Romney in race to bottom, Freightquote NPS +68

Philips puts design in the heat of the battle

In an interview with FastCo Design, new Philips design chief Sean Carney lays out his approach to convincing a sceptical CEO of the value of design and leading over 400 creatives at the 120-year-old Dutch company (full disclosure: Philips has been a CustomerGauge client since 2007).

Joining the company last year, Carney felt that design could positively impact the bottom line if it were better integrated with the business. So he has placed a renewed emphasis on nurturing relationships internally across departments including corporate strategy, technology research, new business development, and country sales organizations. And in a bid to broaden revenue streams, instead of being focused on creating a great customer experience around individual products, there is now more emphasis on designing wider ecosystems. According to Carney, these initiatives are aimed at helping Philips win more business and improve its Net Promoter Score.

Early results are promising. Philips Fidelio music docks have recently become the market leaders across Europe – a category that both Apple and Sony failed in – and also been recognized with industry design awards. FastCoDesign

Speedy links customer satisfaction to bonuses, boasts industry-beating NPS

This week UK equipment rental company Speedy has announced a significant turnaround in profitability and an independently-assessed Net Promoter Score of +29.5, which it says is well clear of the industry average of +11. (As an aside, it’s very useful to see important information such as an industry average, but would be even better if a source was cited).

The group has placed a renewed focus on customer service in its statement, saying that “To enforce awareness and customer service standards, any depot failing to achieve a 90 percent plus satisfaction level fails to qualify for performance bonus, irrespective of its profitability status.”

Putting customer satisfaction above profitability is one the most emphatic statements any business can make about its intentions, and we commend Speedy for going the extra mile to nurture strong, sustainable relationships with its customers. Implemented consistently, this strategy should pay increasing dividends for the business in the years to come. Vertikal.net

Battle for the Presidency: A race to the bottom

If the incumbent and challengers of this year’s US presidential election were blue chip corporations that investors held as part of their long-term investment strategies, the time to dump the stock was yesterday.

According to research by BIGinsight, both President Obama and challenger Mitt Romney are considered to be terrible and almost-as-terrible by survey respondents, with Obama’s Net Promoter score at -80.7 and Romney’s at -59. According to the article; “The latest results show that President Obama is losing support among those who backed him in 2008, and these voters grade the president low for his performance on jobs and the economy.”

As we know, things can change quickly in politics, but we will be interested to see the outcome of the elections based on the current scores in May 2012. San Francisco Chronicle

Freightquote.com quotes revenue growth, high NPS

Freightquote.com is the largest online freight logistics company in the US. This week the company announced its dedicated customer service had directly impacted revenue growth over 2011, in which the company saw a revenue increase of 23%.

On a related note, Freightquote.com announced a (self-reported) Net Promoter score of +68. Since there is no word on industry averages or if the research was independent, the score by itself does not necessarily say much despite its apparent strength. Market Watch

Five Year Milestone

Congratulations to CustomerGauge, who this week celebrated their 5th birthday. Since registering the domain name CustomerGauge.com in May 2007, the system has grown to a global enterprise customer feedback platform. Many happy returns to all the team and customers.

Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, search by company tag or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

Net Promoter News: Wonga NPS +73, APR: 4214%. SurePayroll pays attention to convenience at 50+, 56% of brand owners used NPS, NextUC record month at +43

Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, search by company tag or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

Wonga: Legal loan shark or financial services innovator?

In stark contrast to most financial services companies, British up-and-comer Wonga claims this week that its Net Promoter Score is +73. According to CEO and co-founder Errol Damelin, “Most of the banks in the UK are negative. The Co-op has a score in the 20s while First Direct has one in the 40s — that’s a good number. Wonga, at 73%, is in Google and Apple territory, and most of the time we’re ahead of these guys.”

The company’s (self-reported) score is indeed very high, and it has grown in leaps and bounds since its founding in 2007. Damelin attributes this to Wonga’s transparency as well as the speed with which it can approve loans – in as little as half an hour. Notwithstanding its impressive growth and advocacy levels, the company has its share of detractors for the high cost of its loans and also arguably unethical advertising practices. Is Wonga a customer service leader or financial predator? For sure, it’s the poorest in society that use these high interest “pay day” loan companies, and even with a high score we hesitate to say these are poster boys for NPS…. You be the judge: The Guardian

Only 7% of US companies self-identify as customer-centric

According to a new survey released this week by the Temkin Group, only 7% of US companies with revenue topping $500 million out of 255 polled believed themselves to be genuinely “customer-centric.”

However, the survey did not reveal only bad news. Within the next three years, 49% of those surveyed want to become leaders in terms of customer experience within their specific markets. And encouragingly, 56% of brand owners used Net Promoter to gauge advocacy levels – up from 49% in an equivalent survey from last year.

If Net Promoter is being used effectively, we will be interested to check back in on this survey over the next few years to see how these companies are faring. Until then, there are plenty more stats for customer experience buffs to read up on at the link.  WARC

SurePayroll pays attention to customer convenience

The past several years has seen a mushrooming in the channels people use to keep in touch – social media, texting, instant messaging, emailing, and calling are all ways people communicate at work as well as home.

With this in mind, US online payroll service provider SurePayroll has taken the opportunity to broaden its customer service offering from simply phones and emails to encompass other channels such as IM and web submissions that may be more convenient for its 35,000 customers.

This has contributed to the company’s (self-reported) NPS in the 50s. According to Jamal Ayyad, SurePayroll’s director of customer care, other reasons for the high score are the company’s focus on working to resolve the customer’s issue on the first call, using its CRM system to identify product improvements that would eliminate the need for customers to call, and hiring people who are passionate about customer service rather than people with technical skills. 1to1media

Promoters: Just the beginning?

A criticism of Net Promoter is that while nurturing “promoters” or high levels of advocacy among your customers is all well and good, in reality how often do these promoters actually proactively advocate your product or service to the people around them?

A post this week argues that companies should move beyond promoters to identify “defenders” – customers who are already talking positively about your brand across social media or otherwise. It nominates Salesforce.com as one company which is already proactively developing relationships with these key customers by inviting them to blog, attend events, present panels, and have inside information available to them. And because this is done without financial compensation, it means their words carry a great deal of objective weight within their social circles.

For the record, CustomerGauge advises any company willing to take its customer service to a new level to proactively reach out to its promoters (including the 1% of extremely vocal advocates). It’s something we have been doing for years for a number of clients and know it can be achieved through the framework of Net Promoter surveys.  Harvard Business Review

NextUC takes KPIs to next level

Cloud communication provider NextUC has reported “record numbers across the board” for the month of April, including a Net Promoter Score of +43. The startup claimed in a self-puffer that it has recorded “100% product availability for the month, record user adoption, and record website activity.” San Francisco Chronicle

Which Companies are using Net Promoter?

In the last few years we have reported on many companies in Net Promoter News. We have a handy company index here which lists around 300 companies, some with Net Promoter scores – self reported or otherwise. It’s growing each week, and is now probably the largest source of publicly posted scores available. Use it as you need, but do remember that methodologies do vary wildly (one day we hope scores will be more standardised)!

Case Study: nib health funds: Checking Up On Customer Loyalty with Genroe and CustomerGauge

nib health insurance is one of Australia’s fastest growing health funds, providing health cover to more than 850,000 people nationwide. Established in 1952, the Hunter-based company has achieved significant market growth in recent years, expanding its footprint into Victoria, Queensland, and more recently Western Australia, to become the country’s fifth largest health insurer.

This case study describes why  nib chose Net Promoter, how they started surveying, and where the current partnership with Genroe and CustomerGauge has taken them.

Though the company chose Net Promoter for a number of reasons, the single most important factor was its ability to help the company see itself from the individual customer’s point of view. The decision to partner with Genroe and CustomerGauge brought with it a number of investment benefits that offset
some of the external costs and also provided new tools and insights to improve customer service more effectively.

Net Promoter News: Advanced Technology Services tightens screws, Darwinian Survival of the Fittest CE Brands in India, Weebly high NPS, MycroBurst in 70s, UK PM in NHS NPS push

Here we go gathering NPS in May – eyes down for the first Net Promoter Newsletter of the month… Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, search by company tag or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

Advanced Technology Services advances B2B Customer Satisfaction

High-end spanner twisters Advanced Technology Services (ATS) is the US-based provider of maintenance services to large manufacturing companies. Originally part of Caterpillar Inc, ATS became an independent privately-owned firm in 1996, and its revenues have been growing by an impressive 18 percent annually. According to CEO Jeff Owens, growth is due to relationship-building with its customers – small, but incrementally built up over time. ATS works to consistently delight their customers until the relationship eventually develops into something broad and long-term. The company uses Net Promoter to keep its finger on the pulse of these relationships, but has a strategic approach that seeks to improve on these scores year-on-year rather than a shorter timeframe.

Also of interest to customer loyalty junkies, Owens noted that “Before NPS, we did surveys on a scale of 1 – 10, and our guys really enjoyed getting 9’s and 10’s.  The reason we moved from that is that we were trying to raise the bar, and say, “It’s not just that everyone is satisfied. It’s whether our customers would, unsolicited, recommend us to a friend or colleague.” That “unsolicited” part is really important.” Forbes

Sony, LG, and Panasonic most responsive to change in Indian business jungle

New research from Market Xcel that used Net Promoter to uncover purchase intent among Indian consumers has revealed that Sony, LG and Panasonic lead the pack as the most advocated brands in the consumer durables category.

The article goes into some detail about which brands are winning across different product types, but what caught our eye was an easily-forgotten pearl of wisdom offered by Charles Darwin that remains very relevant in today’s business jungle. According to quote in the article, “Darwin theorised that it is neither the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

It’s a great quote, and we’d add that proactively seeking feedback from your customers is the first step toward a building a change-responsive business – not just in terms of new products or offerings, but also in terms of building strong relationships and continuing to maintain your relevance.

For NPS fans, there is an excellent table of results featuring the brands and categories. PitchOnNet

PEER 1 Hosting aims for peerless satisfaction, not quite there yet

Online IT hosting provider PEER 1 Hosting this week announced the appointment of Gaye Andrews as its Head of Customer Service in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The reason for the appointment appears to be closely tied to Andrews’ experience in rolling out an extensive Net Promoter program at RBS.

Regarding the appointment, UK MD Dominic Monkhouse, noted that “Passion and customer service are at the heart of what we do. Gaye’s experience of using NPS will be significant in driving forward our customer service and loyalty programs across EMEA, and ensuring we continually improve as a business.”

All sounds pretty straightforward, until you visit the PEER 1 website, where the company claims it has improved its Net Promoter Score “by 76% last year alone” – a somewhat confusing as it does not outline a benchmark, initiatives that may have contributed to the improvement, or who conducted the research. However, we do know that in 2010, the company claimed an NPS of +36. There is probably a mathematical formula in there somewhere to figure out, but we’ll let that go for now. The Hosting News

Profits, Net Promoter Scores are ‘Weebly’ high

MycroBurst is a crowdsourcing site for companies and individuals who want custom logos and designs. It has a community of over 35,000 designers, who compete to offer clients designs for projects ranging from website logos to postcards. According to co-founder Joe Witte, the company’s NPS is above +70. And in related information, the company doubled its revenue in the last year. Reuters

And finally, Cameron gets NPS idea for NHS

It seems that David Cameron gets the “Net Promoter” bug, applying it to Britain’s National Health Service.  Money quote: “Visiting NHS hospitals today, Mr Cameron will announce the “friends and  family” assessment.  “It’s very simple. It just asks whether patients, carers and staff would  recommend their hospital to their families and friends in their hour of  need,” Mr Cameron will say”. Daily Telegraph

CustomerGauge unleashes revolution in Customer Feedback Management (press release)

CustomerGauge Everywhere to give entire organisations Net Promoter® customer feedback in real time

May 02, Amsterdam: CustomerGauge, a software company that brings Net Promoter® Score and customer feedback into the heart of businesses, has announced the release of CustomerGauge Everywhere – a revolutionary upgrade to the CustomerGauge platform.

The key innovation of CustomerGauge Everywhere is that it gives organisations open rolling access to customer feedback and Net Promoter® Scores to anyone in the organisation in real time, via an intuitive, user-friendly homepage that features a Twitter-like news feed of customer feedback. The page can be viewed across desktop or  iOS and Android  mobile devices.

By placing customer service at the heart of the organisation, CustomerGauge Everywhere will empower staff across organisations to solve customer service issues fast – regardless of whether they are dedicated customer service professionals or involved in other areas of the business. This innovation has significant potential to improve the customer experience and lower costs in marketing, sales and related areas.

“In the past, the big problem with customer feedback, even structured, proactively collected feedback, is that only a few people in any given organisation generally had access to this goldmine of data,” said Adam Dorrell, CEO, CustomerGauge. “But CustomerGauge Everywhere has changed that forever. We believe this could be as much of a change agent to enterprises as Facebook and LinkedIn have been to personal and business relationships.”

In addition to real time access to customer feedback and Net Promoter Scores, CustomerGauge Everywhere was created with a new architecture for delivering super-fast performance (one million records graphed in one second) and is available in English, German and Italian, with other languages soon to follow.  There are also a number of new options to drill into the data with advanced filters and date functions, and for the first time targets can be easily set and distributed by administration users. Other distribution options include real-time digital signage and integrations using the CustomerGauge API to any other system including Sharepoint or Salesforce.com.

For further details and a demonstration on CustomerGauge Everywhere, please see this short  webinar (15 mins).

About CustomerGauge

CustomerGauge is a cloud-based software solution from Amsterdam-based Directness BV, a fast-growing privately held software company founded in 2007.  CustomerGauge is designed to be the most comprehensive and cost-effective platform for enterprises to measure Net Promoter Score (NPS) and show ROI from marketing investments. The software platform has won clients all around the world, with global clients including Philips,  Electrolux, Vodafone,, and Tommy Hilfiger

Contact: adam.dorrell@cdirectness,net

Details

99 Problems (But Data Ain’t One): How CustomerGauge makes it simple to input data, and an API update

To paraphrase Mr Jay-Z: “I have encountered nearly 100 difficulties, but loading my data into CustomerGauge cannot be counted among them”. We can help you get your data in shape to measure Net Promoter.

We offer multiple ways you can format the data – starting from a simple spreadsheet to a complex XML feed.

We can take in the data in a variety of ways – from emailing it to us (fine for a small project), loading directly into CustomerGauge, or a full integration using our API.

Details are here, now conveniently in our support section.

API v1.1.7 – now with Workflow

We just updated our API documentation to include methods of extending our firefighting workflow system. This makes our workflow tool very powerful – it allows you to pull out the status of workflow (open/closed/in-progress, plus all the notes and date information), and also to remotely update the workflow.

So if you are using an external issue tracking system like Remedy or RightNow; or CRM system like Salesforce you can do a very neat tie-up with CustomerGauge.

An example might be a transaction-triggered survey in CustomerGauge, then using Remedy to solve the customer issue. All the analytics and reporting are in CustomerGauge, problem is solved in Remedy. Alternatively CustomerGauge can serve as the Net Promoter measurement tool for your helpdesk.

This API can bring Net Promoter measurement into all of your forward facing customer systems – API 1.7.1 details here.

Net Promoter News: Voxeo’s Customer Obsession, Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS awkward on NPS, Dutch Travel Counsellors get gongs, NetDimensions adds NPS Dimension, RSC Boss +67

Voxeo outlines three major NPS-inspired initiatives

Interactive-voice house Voxeo has been driving other interesting initiatives in an effort to make the company even more customer-centric – a few weeks ago we noted with interest that it has embedded Net Promoter deeply into the company’s service mindset by tying results to employee bonuses and asking customers to rate their support calls.

In a very readable post on its corporate blog this week, Voxeo has taken the informative step of outlining three major initiatives that have been inspired by Net Promoter customer feedback. In brief, they are:

1. Become a trusted adviser for clients’ businesses: Voxeo has entered into a number of partnerships that allow it to expand its offerings and areas of expertise, in addition to its employees being available to share their industry knowledge.
2. Rather than simply letting its customers know about new Voxeo products first, the company wants to put in extra effort to educate them about product changes and enhancements long before they occur.
3. Voxeo has introduced local web hosting servers in all US datacenters and augmented the business continuity information stored offline in its network operations.

We were amused by the slightly scary team name “Customer Obession Team”, but no denying the focus is there. For more details, pop over to Voxeo Talks.

Sprint Nextel and MetroPCS Communications Execs on Net Promoter Scores

Earlier this year at its Q4 earnings call, Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse discussed the company’s strong Net Promoter momentum and noted that Sprint was the only one of the four major US carriers to show sequential improvement. Sounds promising, right?

This week Hesse once again brought up the company’s Net Promoter Score at its Q1 earnings call (slide 10 if you want to join in at home), mentioning that “Sprint is the only one of the four major wireless carriers to show improvement year-over-year.” We’re not sure if this is exactly the same thing, but analysts have noted that its earnings were something of a mixed bag. We look forward to the next call and seeing if a similar Net Promoter quote is offered once again! Seeking Alpha Sprint Nextel

American mobile phone service provider MetroPCS also brought up the metric, with a somewhat awkwardly-worded comment that in Q1 “the transition of our customer base is important as mature users now benefit from our new handset selection and remained loyal to our brand. We believe this loyalty continues to show itself in positive Net Promoter Scores that demonstrate the true viral nature and impact of our service in the communities that we operate in.” We’ve tried to sift the jargon but still not sure – does it simply mean the company has positive Net Promoter Scores? Or positive momentum? We’ll keep an eye out for more info. Seeking Alpha MetroPCS

Travel Counsellors Netherlands picks up three gongs

Family-owned travel operators Travel Counsellors have been awarded with ‘Best Travel Agency Group,’ ‘Most Popular Travel Agency’, and the overall award for the highest customer service score in their first appearance at the Zoover Awards (also known as the Netherlands National Travel Awards).

This very impressive result is not without precedent – in fact, Travel Counsellors regularly attains stratospheric Net Promoter Scores of over +90.

The company proudly talks about using Net Promoter® Score. From their site: “Two weeks after booking all customers are sent a simple question ‘How likely is it that you would recommend your Travel Counsellor to your friends and colleagues?’ “. If you’re curious to discover a little more about how the business has been so effective a creating arguably one of the most customer-centric operations globally, check out the link to see group chairman David Speakman discuss why he is a big advocate of creating a relationship-based approach to a transactional industry (video). Source:  Travel Blackboard

NetDimensions adds Net Promoter Dimension

Learning technology supplier NetDimensions has unveiled a North American professional services portfolio aimed at maximizing clients’ value of their NetDimensions Talent Suite investment.

Commenting on the launch, Art Faccone, VP of professional services noted: “We are implementing the Net Promoter Score client satisfaction methodology across all client engagements in North America. Our goal is clearly to keep growing our differentiator, especially in an industry that is renowned for low satisfaction levels.” San Francisco Chronicle

RSC’s NPS stands at +67

Rental equipment provider RSC has announced its 2011 Corporate Social Responsibility report with a commendably detailed self-puffer. The release discusses its key initiatives and how these link back to stakeholder value, and notes that based on more than 23,000 customer survey responses in 2011, RSC’s Net Promoter Score was an excellent +67. Market Watch

Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, search by company tag or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

Net Promoter News: AmEx cashes in, Apple’s in-store asker, Nokia talks up Asha’s NPS, SoDA pops 51 plus NPS Everywhere

American Express: Tracking Net Promoter all the way to shareholder value

A fascinating interview this week with Jim Bush, EVP of world service at American Express outlines how the company has used Net Promoter to propel it to the leading position for financial services brands in terms of customer service in the US, and how the company is tracking its Net Promoter improvement all the way to its shareholder value.

Among the insights:

• In the past, 75% of customer service training was on how a transaction was completed technically. Now, training focuses on how to create the relationship and build it through humanity, conversation, and engagement,
• No scripts. When a customer calls American Express, the Customer Service professional is presented with a customer profile and other relevant information. This allows the care professional to leverage the power of their personality to build a human relationship suited to the particular customer.
• The company sees a 10% to 15% increase in spending and four to five times increased retention from promoters.  In addition, due to streamlining, operating expenses associated with service have been reduced. And even better, since the height of the financial crisis, the company’s stock has considerably outperformed the industry’s index.

Finally, a personal reflection by Jim Bush on his time in the role offered some interesting insights into what motivates a market-beating customer service professional. As with many people, he initially thought of customer service as a back-office operation. But as he considered the millions of interactions the company has with customers, he realized the following truth; “If we can unleash the power of that customer-facing organization, think of the value we can create.”

Not just for your customer, but for your bottom line! CNN Money

Steve Jobs on Customer Service

Steve Jobs famously once said “It is not the customer’s job to know what they want.”

But despite a significant number of punters taking this to mean that Apple doesn’t focus on what customers think, the brand actually uses Net Promoter to track customer sentiment very closely. A Business Standard article this week touches on how Apple uses Net Promoter to fine tune customer service in-store, noting that when customers make a purchase they receive an electronic receipt and sometimes a Net Promoter survey. Any negative responses are followed up by store managers, and results are aggregated and share internally. Customer service is not the reason the brand creates category-defining devices again and again. But it does take customer care extremely serious.

The article also mentions LEGO Group – which collects scores across both online and offline customer service touchpoints. Scores are distributed through the company monthly, and follow-ups are made on all negative responses. Since 2005, scores have improved 26 per cent. Business Standard

Nokia gives earning call, reiterates Asha NPS

In brief: Yesterday Nokia gave its Q1 2012 earnings call, and once again mentioned that its range of Asha smartphones has the highest Net Promoter Scores for any of the company’s mobile phone products. According to CEO Stephen Elop, this was due to the fact that Nokia “delivered consumers more aspirational designs and experiences.”

This may be so, but will it be enough to put a dent in Android sales, let alone Apple? It’s something we’re keeping a close eye on, so stay tuned! Seeking Alpha

SoDA gets Net Promoter Score, claims Outstanding Member Satisfaction

Another non-profit group has adopted Net Promoter as an important metric according to a Virtual Strategy.  The Society of Digital Agencies (SoDA) announced in a PR bragger their recent 51% Net Promoter Score, with 60% respondents falling into “Promoter” category.  Chris Buettner, SoDA Director of Operations said he was pleased with the results, but was not complacent, and wanted to evolve the programs based on the results. Virtual Strategy

Net Promoter now available Everywhere says CustomerGauge

“These days, everyone is responsible for customer experience” says a senior Electrolux executive, “It’s not just the property of the research department or a customer service team”. Responding to challenges like this has resulted in the new platform from CustomerGauge who this week announced their “Everywhere” Net Promoter® solution, delivering customer feedback and scores to everyone in the organisation, on desktop and ipad devices.

Comments are delivered in real-time, with the screen updating as customers respond. New features include performance boost with a claimed one million records graphed in around a second, more ways of slicing and dicing data, and language options with German and Italian available already. Wilkommen, Benvenuto! CustomerGauge

Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

CustomerGauge announces Customer Feedback Everywhere

Net Promoter News: Scottrade Invests in Loyalty, Reaps Windfall, Kohl’s and Macy’s are NPS Catwalk Queens; Walmart a Fashion Disaster, Dell makes Inspired Acquisition, Execs *Heart* Net Promoter

Scottrade profits from high customer service returns

Scottrade has announced to the world that it scored the highest in customer loyalty in the brokerage and investment category in the recent US Net Promoter Benchmark Study by Satmetrix.

This strong performance is definitely unusual for financial services brand, considering the robust criticisms and headwinds the sector has faced in the last few years.

And perhaps even more impressive, the self-puffer claims not only that the company’s growth from its beginning in 1980 has been entirely organic, but that it has never closed an office or had to lay off an associate. Bearing in mind recent crises and obstacles this would be a great achievement for a company with 50 branch offices. But for a company with over 500 branch offices such as Scottrade, I think we can safely call it exceptional.

For the record, Scottrade’s NPS was +54.  Eon

Women’s clothing: Kohl’s and Macy’s are the new black, Walmart the uninspiring beige

New Net Promoter research by BigInsight that analyzed the top five US retailers for Women’s Clothing (Kohl’s, Walmart, Macy’s, JC Penney, Target) throws up some interesting insights:

• Of the five, the most heavily advocated brands by a long shot are Kohl’s, Macy’s and JC Penney, all of which are department stores (as opposed to the discount options of Target and Walmart).
• For Kohl’s and JC Penney, price and selection were the key reasons that drive shoppers to make their purchases, but for Macy’s, it was quality and selection.
• Walmart was the only retailer of the five to calculate a negative score (-10.3).

There are several takeaway here for clothing retailers. But for shoppers there’s only one: If you want to pleasantly surprise your female friends and loved ones, visit discount retailers at your peril. The BIG Consumer Blog

Dell acquires AppAssure, based in part on Net Promoter Score

Dell has announced that it is acquiring software firm AppAssure, which it says will become the company’s primary backup offering targeted at small to medium-sized businesses.

According to Brett Roscoe, general manager and of data management solutions at Dell Storage, the key factors in the decision-making process were that it was going through a huge growth phase, and that this was complemented by Net Promoter Scores that were “off the charts.”

We’re always interested to read about high Net Promoter Scores that correlate with business growth, and it will be interesting to check in on this acquisition in a year or so to see if the momentum has continued. In the meantime, this appears to be an inspired move by Dell.  ARN

Austin Benn outperforms in advocacy, falls short in transparency

This week UK recruitment solutions firm Austin Benn trumpeted a Net Promoter Score of +72 on its website, and says its nearest competitor comes in at +56.

While both of these scores are exceptionally strong, details on the site are pretty light. In the interests of transparency, we’d love to know more details on who did the work and sample size. The usual basics. (Plus, a small #fail. They tell us “*Net Promoter methodology based around customers scoring given factors on a scale of 1 to 10″ – should have used standardised 0 – 10 for accurate results).

Austin Benn – if you’re reading this please feel free to add this to your NPS CV, and re-apply for the top Net Promoter spot!  Austin Benn

A third of execs claim to use Net Promoter

According to Acxiom and Loyalty 360, Net Promoter is one of the most popular metrics used by CXOs as part of their customer retention strategies. So popular, in fact, that approximately one third of those surveyed claiming they use it – a big number indeed and somewhat higher than we may have estimated.

Perhaps in a related matter, less than half agree that they know who their most loyal customers are. Marketing Charts

In Brief: Other Net Promoter news this week

• CustomerGauge’s Australian partner Genroe discusses the three critical elements of Customer Loyalty surveys
• The Motley Fool sings the praises of Net Promoter-using cloud computing specialists Rackspace
• Costco claims highest Net Promoter Score among major department, wholesale and specialty retailers in recent survey by Satmetrix
• CustomerGauge followed up the “Monday Effect” news in last weeks Net Promoter News by looking at some data in They Don’t Like Mondays. Or Do They? 

Brought to you weekly by CustomerGauge. Browse Net Promoter News, or check out the back issues. To get a copy in your inbox sign up here.

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