Epiphany: Seeing Customers as a Resource
It was a classic lightbulb moment: “So our customers can actually be a resource to us?”
I was recently in a meeting with a new client talking about how to best use customer feedback from their just-launched Net Promoter® initiative. We were looking at real comments coming in real time through their CustomerGauge systems. And that’s when one of members of the customer service group exclaimed that he just realised “after looking at all of these comments in depth, I now see how we could use these customers as unpaid business consultants!”. It was as if the scales had lifted from his eyes.
I thought about this for a minute and realized that he had discovered by himself the change management shift from the norm.
If we ask most customer service employees of companies what they think of their customers, the expletives will soon start to fly and the summary is sometimes “customers are pains in the XXX!”. Contrary to the website banners and company mission statement praising the company’s attention to customer service most companies still think of customers as “problems to deal with”.
If we think about customers as resources first, then we can start to think of how we can best “use” our customers to help us. This simple shift in mind-set can make huge changes in the way we deal and think about our customers. Following the Golden rule of Net Promoter® score, “treat your customers as you would like to be treated” coupled with the idea that customers are resources we expect the following type of information to come from our customers for free!
- Identifying process improvements: who better to identify issues with current business practices than the recipients? Customers will let you know when your systems, processes and people are not working as advertised.
- Providing testimonials: there are ones that have fantastic experiences and are willing to tell you if you ask. Using these testimonials on your website and marketing materials is a great way to promote the firm without saying anything.
- Suggest improvements: companies are amazed when they start to ask their customers what they think what information they get back. Many times customers will give insightful ideas for product improvements that can be passed directly to R&D.
- Ideas is for product extensions: just like improvements customers will suggest new products with similar attributes that can be passed to product marketing to design new SKUs
- Extending your marketing reach: with social media platforms today like twitter and Facebook advocates for your products have simple ways to tell thousands of people in seconds about their experience.
In case this is not something you are working on, CustomerGauge allows companies to quickly and continuously survey all of their customers asking the standard Net Promoter Score question and allowing for comments/self-select issues. Using the system’s features companies can route different type responses to the correct departments for immediate action.
A word to the wise: When you start to use customer feedback in this way, have the courtesy to let you customers know, and thank them! That’s when you can really start to build customer loyalty. So harvest your customers, don’t ignore them!
Visualising NPS with an Emoticon Matrix
Rob Markey from Bain suggested in his blog that the Net Promoter® Score could be visualised with a “Wall of Emoticons”. So we cooked up a free tool to help Net Promoter professionals create an image on the fly. Useful? Want more like this? Let us know…
CustomerGauge RSS Comment Feed
We provide several ways to take data out of CustomerGauge and display in Real-Time.
- RSS XML feed (described below)
- Twitter Feed
- XML API (documentation coming soon)
- Real Time Display board in browser
RSS XML Feed
The RSS feed is ideal for a simple feed of customer comments for a testimonial feed, external website or intranet application. In this format only comment, score and date is given, so it can be reasonably widely published. No customer attributable data is published (unless revealed in comment box).
For more flexible feeds we recommend our XML API feed (documentation available soon).
Configuration
The RSS feed file is generated each hour. It always shows 10 comments (the last 10 comments left, sorted by most recent). The number of comments can be adjusted on request.
Feed shows NPS Score, Comment, Date Comment Left
NPS score: <title>10</title>
Comment: <description>Great service. Thanks</description>
Date comment left: <pubDate>2010-04-13 08:04:26</pubDate>
Security
Standard feed is secured with User Name and Password. You can put in a user name/password on most readers. For automated applications (intranet feeds etc) you would use CURL at your feed reader to access.
URL example: http://www.c1-gauge.com/sites/RSS/xxxFeedSecure.xml
Username: myfeed
password: mypass
Example Feed
<rss version=”2.0″>
<channel>
<title>CustomerGauge Comment Feed</title>
<description>Intranet Comment Feed</description>
<link>https://www.cg-express.com</link>
<item>
<title>10</title>
<link>https://www.cg-express.com/sites/categorising.php?RAND=xxxxxxx</link>
<description>Great service. Thanks</description>
<pubDate>2010-04-13 08:04:26</pubDate>
<category>VODASIMO;66300</category>
<source>Comment for customer ID xxxx from xxxxxxxxx Online Shop, powered by CustomerGauge</source>
<guid>https://www.cg-express.com/sites/categorising.php?RAND=xxxxxxx</guid>
</item>
Please send comments to API@directness.net
CustomerGauge In: B2C Data Import Formats (XML, XLS, TXT)
How to format data for import into CustomerGauge b2c
You can format data in several ways for CustomerGauge. For the b2c application, it is expected that there will be an automatic upload each day or week.
Methods:
- FTP (you automate sending of file to our Secure FTP site) - preferred
- Email (we supply a special email address for you to send the file to)
- Manual import (from within the CustomerGauge application you can upload a file)
- API – one transaction at a time (used for checkout or similar) or multiple record upload (coming soon)
Available formats:
- XML – preferred (DOWNLOAD example CustomerGaugeImportTemplateJune2010xml.txt) – updated 22 June 2010 with multiple ITEMs per RECORD
- CSV or TXT (see XLS download)
- XLS (DOWNLOAD CustomerGaugeImportTemplate22Mar2010.xls)
- within API (coming soon)
Typically the data file used is from an e-commerce system. Records are sometimes formatted as multiple lines per sales order (if more than one item per line). We can adjust the import template to account for that. CustomerGauge “de-duplicates” data, so you need not worry about sending a file twice.
Fields
We can accept just a few fields if available. Mandatory fields are:
- SKU
- order_value
- date_of_order
However, most clients send a very rich feed. If you can supply, we can accept around different 20 segment fields (and report on them).
Pre-Built Connectors
We already have pre-built connectors for many systems including SAP, DigitalRiver, Magento etc. Please enquire on how we can help you.
Net Promoter News: Opinion calibration with NPS, Pain-Relief for Customers
Small round up of today’s Net Promoter Related articles:
Understanding opinion
Razorfish-er Shiv Singh lists ten Trends in Social Influence Marketing. In at lucky number seven he states: “Social influence research will become more important than social measurement… There’s going to be an evolution from measuring sentiment to understanding opinion and synchronizing it with the Net Promoter scores. Why? Because marketers care about opinion much more than they do about sentiment.” Agree or disagree with your “friendsters” here.
Pain into Gain
Forbes.com CMO Network has a feature article called “Turning Customer Pain Into Customer Gain” from Donovan Neale-May who writes that care and handling of customers is more important now than ever.
News at Ten headlines: Customer influence and expectations are higher than ever. Good news/bad news travels faster than ever. But most companies are deaf to this – and should react to improve brand and Net Promoter scores. CMOs should take the lead in customer experience as there is money left on the table (but many CMOs do not understand importance). Shocking stats: 76% marketers thought they could squeeze more revenue from existing customers. Less than 50% had good stats on retention rates, customer profitability and lifetime value – even less so in real-time. Solutions include finding the most loyal advocates and help them tell others. Good news: Companies that understand customers better can increase customer lifetime value. Source: Forbes.com
Consumer Electronics D2C e-marketing gallery
Seems the major electronics companies have Valentine’s Day on their minds…
Some examples of manufacturers D2C (direct to consumer) email marketing I’ve recently received from the online shops of Casio, Panasonic, Sony, Philips, Apple.
ChokeyGauge launched to measure Prison Satisfaction and “Voice of the Jailbird”
PRESS RELEASE: Directness BV, a company that measures customer satisfaction, announced today (1 April 2008) a new service named “ChokeyGauge” to extend its CustomerGauge range. Like CustomerGauge, ChokeyGauge will measure loyalty – although in this case it is less “Voice of Customer”, more “Voice of Prisoner”. The results will be shown in a new metric named “Net Perpetrator Score” (NPS) based on the industry standard Net Promoter® Score* (NPS).
“Following the tradition of surveys in the hotel business, we are delighted to launch a service for other, more travel-challenged members of society. They can vote on how likely they are to recommend their place of incarceration to other fellow cons, lags and jailbirds” said Adam Dorrell, Managing Director of Directness.
Directness was approached by a well-connected (but publicity shy) family wishing to have a common method of comparing standards in prisons. The sponsored survey was paid in advance by the Criminals Association for Standardisation and Harmonisation (CASH).
Avril Pfuhl, spokeswoman for the pressure group Justice for Obsessive Kleptomanics and Embezzlers said “Today marks a turning point for those ‘doing time’. Whether you are guest of the Hilton Hotel, or just of Her Majesty, customer feedback is valuable. Even if they have limited choices, feedback comments on hardness of beds, shower facilities, exercise options and food will surely improve conditions in ‘the ‘Big House’ for returning inmates. And remember, a smile costs nothing.”
A sample survey can be seen here, together with some selected comments from former inmates: ChokeyGauge
[TABLE=2]
Ain't nobody here but us chickens… a more balanced view of Net Promoter Criticism
“There ain’t nobody here but us chickens
There ain’t nobody here at all
So calm yourself,
And stop your fuss
There ain’t nobody here but us…”
(Louis Jordan, 1947)
I was musing this morning on the arguments between the Anti-Net Promoter Scorites and the Net Promoter Promoters – seems somewhat akin to ancient arguments about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
The “Anti’s” are grouping around the paper from Prof. Bruce Cooil from Vanderbilt University “Research suggests that companies should ask more than just ‘would you recommend this product?‘” which states “You probably want to use all the available information from a customer about attitudes toward the product or service, their satisfaction and their buying behavior – all the available information on their attitudes, intentions and behavior – rather than just one score.”
The “Pro’s” counter that it’s the very simplicity of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) that is the key.
Our approach at CustomerGauge has been to keep our heads down and keep doing what we know best. Just like Louis’s Chickens. We use the simple NPS metric, ask a few other questions, and supplement with an open ended question to get customer comments. It’s proven to improve customer satisfaction, and grow revenue.
Discussion is useful to understand how the metric works, but researchers arguing to defend proprietary models are counter-productive. The most reasoned arguments for both are in this excellent three-page article “Customer advocacy metrics: the NPS theory in practice” from Admap.
Kudos to Justin Kirby, DMC, and Alain Samson, LSE/LRCG, on their evenhanded report on how UK companies are using the NPS, and ways in which its use can be improved. The money quote is “We encourage managers and researchers alike to embrace the NPS as what it is: a handy tool for your measurement toolbox and a potential vehicle for healthy profits if you are in the driver’s seat.”
And now, enjoy “Ain’t nobody here but us chickens” as sung by the Muppets. What could be better?
CustomerGauge News Digest March 2008
The daffodils are coming up, the mornings are getting lighter, and the vernal equinox is on the way. The perfect time to put yourself in your customers shoes, and think about what your customers might be experiencing. To help you, read about what’s blooming in enGaugement CustomerGauge news this month:
Spring Clean your Customer Experience: You can be up and running with a fully featured CustomerGauge system and finding out if your customers are willing to recommend you. It’s simple to get going (no involving IT). You can get results in just a week. More here…
NEW FEATURES
White Paper: Now available for download – a complete CustomerGauge Product Description in the form of a white paper: Measuring loyalty and understanding the “Voice of the Customer” to improve customer experience using CustomerGauge. More here:
Get customers to do the hard work by getting them to prioritise your feature “wish list”. Use CustomerGauge “MagicGrid” feature to help you make sure you most important customers carry more weight. More here:
STRATEGIC CHANGE
CHANGE and become customer focused… Where do you start when you are tasked with changing the company to become more customer focused? An ever returning topic for many large multinational organisations is “how to become more customer focused” – some practical “getting started” advice from someone who has changed some giant corporations. More here:
NET PROMOTER SCORE NEWS
What we learned about NPS this month:
- A classic “One Question” survey.
- NPS of -14% is the average in the finance world according to Advisers are a Promiscuous Bunch
- A tax firm on the other hand hits an NPS of +54%
- Net Promoter in the Ad Industry is an average of +21%
- And in Town without Pity: Mooresville tracks satisfaction with NPS you can read about how they bravely measured NPS and found it going down.
Finally: Why Do Customers Defect?
Nearly three-quarters of your customers will leave for one of these reasons: Price? No. Product? No. Death? No. Indifference to complaints? Yes. Read more here:
Until next time, enjoy your spring cleaning.
CustomerGauge News Digest February 2008
Philips chooses CustomerGauge to measure Net Promoter Score
We are proud to announce that Philips Consumer Products chose CustomerGauge as their Net Promoter and customer feedback tool for the Philips Online shop. We have been partners of Philips since 2006, and much development work on CustomerGauge was done in conjunction with Philips. Full story here.
NEW FEATURES
Upgraded Comments Classification
How can you prioritise where to improve your business first? And are you getting better or worse in specific areas? CustomerGauge helps you by reviewing customer comments, and helping you organise them by assigning “reasons” why each customer was unhappy (or satisfied). The result is a “Voice of Customer” neatly organised…. [more]
CustomerGauge adds Automatic Testimonial Publisher
“When I first started in marketing, we used to proudly publish the comments of satisfied customers in our monthly Tecno catalogue”…. now a new feature to CustomerGauge that allows clients to simply publish comments in seconds [more]
CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
Net Promoter Score to win in ‘08!
“Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future” said the Danish physicist Niels Bohr…. Learn how IBM predict that 2008 will be the year of Customer Satisfaction – or at least it’s the No.1 issue for retailers…we predict that more companies will focus on the customer this year, and that they will use the simple tool of the Net Promoter Score [more ]
Good is (on the side of the) Right
In the world of surveying, which side is “good” on? Left? Or right? Read why it’s almost always on the right in our “Survey Idols” section [ more ]
Final Thought:
Percentage** of business executives believing they are doing a good job in serving customers: 80%
Percentage of customers who agree: 8%
CustomerGauge is a hosted software tool from Directness BV that helps organisations to measure customer loyalty, understand customer sentiment, and respond to customer comments. Compatible with the Net Promoter® Score*, CustomerGauge allows organisations improve customer relationships and encourage loyalty, most immediately in e-commerce functions
Other Resources:
- Have you taken our test drive yet? Try out our demo-site… (get a full log-in on request).
- 2-minute guide to the Net Promoter Score: All you need to know about NPS in a cartoon format…
- To subscribe/unsubscribe to our emails go here.
