Net Promoter News: Restaurateurs know customer service, Obama on a Promoter roll, but both candidates verging on unelectable, NPS asker on Telstra uniform, Canon smokes competitors
On Restaurateurs and customer service
To kick off this week’s News about Net Promoter, a note from the food industry.
According to a new book, “The Art of Restaurateur” reviewed in The Economist, the restaurant business is one of the toughest around. With approximately 60% of American eateries closing or changing ownership within their first three years, making the customer truly happy is a vital part of the success equation, lest the brave entrepreneur risk his or her livelihood and sometimes even health in this hazardous occupation.
Author Nicholas Lander, himself no stranger to the business, offers this sage customer satisfaction advice that could be applied across all industries: “Mistakes are inevitable, but almost all can be put right with a smile, and apology and a generous gesture. Treated right, the unhappy customer becomes a lifelong fan”. The Economist
Excellent Election Analysis from Temkin
Obama on a Promoter roll, but both candidates verging on unelectable
According to new research by the Temkin Group on the US election, President Obama significantly outstrips challenger Mitt Romney when it comes to Promoters. However, in an intriguing twist, the research shows that Obama and Romney have very low overall scores, with Romney registering NPS -67 and Obama -33.
According to Bruce Temkin, the survey was a random sample with respondent demographics matched to the US Census population distribution for age, income, region, gender, location and ethnicity, but does not include quotas for party affiliation. For a lively discussion on the methodology and implications of the survey, as well as extra demographic quirks in terms of support for each candidate, see Experience Matters.
Telstra’s new duds to get Net Promoter treatment
Aussie telco Telstra has had an image problem with many Australian consumers for a number of years, (external research put the company’s NPS at -44 in 2006). In an effort to turn around this dismal perception among its customers, this year the company has been trumpeting a renewed focus on customer service and implementation of NPS surveys.
In a continuation of this theme, this week the Telstra announced that in a push to give the brand a consistent identity and bring a more human and personal touch to its customer interactions, it is introducing new uniforms across its entire workforce. According to CMO Mark Buckman, the impact of the new uniforms will be measured using Net Promoter, both internally and externally.
By some measures, Telstra has already seen an improvement in its customer service over the last year – but how much impact will a new outfit have?
It may be tempting to dismiss this as a PR gimmick of little substance, but Buckman believes that uniforms have a “vital” role to play in perceptions of the Telstra brand, and furthermore, the new duds will help bring back a positive energy into the workplace. Given that employee engagement is a consistent attribute of businesses with leading customer service, Telstra may just be on to something.
However, we are curious to see how the question is worded. “Would you recommend this uniform to a friend or family member?” seems a strange angle to take on a customer satisfaction question… The Australian (partial paywall)
Canon outguns competitors in Readers’ Choice Awards
Canon USA has announced it has received the 2012 PCMag.com Readers’ Choice Award for Service and Reliability for digital cameras, camcorders and printers, with its NPS for camcorders increasing by 11 points (to +57) for 2012.
PCMag.com bases the awards on responses to surveys it sends to its subscribers. Respondents are asked only to rate products and services that they actually use, and are asked several questions about their overall satisfaction with the products. These questions span product reliability, technical support, and repairs within the past 12 months – giving a thorough overview of consumer sentiment among a very engaged group of users.
According to the publication, PCMag has asked readers how likely they would be to recommend a company for a number of years, and now presents the answer to that question as both an average and a Net Promoter Score. Sounds a sound methodology to us!
Australian CustomerGauge User Group (ACGUG) meetup
In March this year, our partner Genroe organised a meetup for CustomerGauge users in Australia, and according to visitors probably the best part of the meeting was the way attendees freely shared their insights and ideas on the question “how we’re making Net Promoter work for us.”
Genroe is now organising a second meetup for the end of this month, with the goal of sharing best practices among users and discussing new features of CustomerGauge. Genroe
Net Promoter Vacancies
Customer Insight Manager: Glasgow
Customer Relationship and Loyalty Manager: London, The Carphone Warehouse
CustomerGauge enters Australian market with Genroe partnership
Today, a new alliance between loyalty specialist Genroe and Directness brings CustomerGauge to Australia and New Zealand.
Genroe and Directness Partnership Announcement.
CustomerGauge are pleased to announce an exclusive partnership with Genroe to sell, deliver and support customers in the region.
Genroe, is a Sydney, Australia based specialist customer experience management consultancy that helps clients take real-time scores and customer comments to drive a deeper customer focus into their organisation.
Melbourne based iSelect, Australia’s leading comparison service provider, (http://www.iselect.com.au/) has been using a CustomerGauge system implemented by Genroe since November 2010. Ms. Joanna Thomas, General Manager – Sales and Operations, commented, “Within days of implementing CustomerGauge we began uncovering our areas of strength and opportunities to improve our services to customers. The continuous stream of customer feedback combined with the reporting and analysis tools provided by CustomerGauge allow us to take action quickly and accurately to deliver what our customers want when they want it.”
The announcement combines the world class CustomerGauge software as a services (SaaS) Net Promoter Score collection and analysis platform with practical customer experience management consulting services. This will enable Australian and New Zealand companies to truly leverage the power of the Net Promoter Score methodology.
Managing Director of CustomerGauge, Adam Dorrell noted that “It’s one thing to have a comprehensive tool to collect and analyse customer feedback but many companies struggle to convert this information into action. Genroe’s customer experience management skills allow CustomerGauge clients to drive real change and customer focus into their business”.
Adam Ramshaw Director Genroe stated: “We searched the world for the best solution to implementing Net Promoter Score data collection and reporting. When we contacted Directness regarding CustomerGauge they delivered on every one of our, and our client’s requirements, including value for money.”
“We look forward to sharing CustomerGauge with our clients and helping them to drive increased revenue and profits for their business”.
Full press release available here. Announcement on Genroe site here.
About Genroe
Genroe is an Australian based, specialist customer experience management consultancy that helps its clients to drive increased customer focus for their organisation. Genroe enable businesses to increase revenue and profits through increasing customer retention, generating additional cross-sell and improving customer management.
Adam Ramshaw writes an excellent blog “Genroe-1to1” which covers all matters loyalty and Net Promoter. Recommend: Introduction to Net Promoter Score: A free download that provides a comprehensive introduction to Net Promoter Score: http://www.genroe.com/whitepapers/net-promoter-score-nps-an-introduction
“Within days of implementing CustomerGauge we began uncovering our areas of strength and opportunities to improve our services to customers. The continuous stream of customer feedback combined with the reporting and analysis tools provided by CustomerGauge allow us to take action quickly and accurately to deliver what our customers want when they want it.”
Ms. Joanna Thomas, General Manager – Sales and Operations, iSelect
Genroe: Contact Adam Ramshaw
Telephone +61 (0) 2 8821 6844.
Directness: Contact Camilla Scholten
Net Promoter News: Sat’s New Stats show Apple pip Amazon, Beach is Back at 49
Satmetrix release their 2009 Net Promoter Benchmark Reports today. Some highlights include loyalty leaders Apple driving NPS of 77, Amazon at 74 and Google at 71. Online services had the highest average Net Promoter Scores of all industries, with Telco bringing up the rear with an average of -7. More details in press release.
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Australia’s MacMillan Shakespeare (“premier provider of workplace benefits”) confidently predict hitting a Net Promoter Score target: “We will achieve high net promoter scores ≥45%” (according their analyst presentation PDF, March 2009)
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Still in Australia, Chris Roberts talks about Generating Growth in a Contracting Economy, and his 1500 customer Net Promoter Score survey of Australian banks. Source: UQ News
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Finally, web-hosters ServerBeach ride a high tide of Net Promoter Scores to reach 49, according to blog.
