Net Promoter News: AT&T’s Net Promoter fail, Travel Counsellors advise trust, Southwest customer experience flies north

AT&T scores marketing campaign success, Net Promoter FAIL

Victor Kim: Star of “Away We Happened”

AT&T had a problem – a low NPS among young Asian American males. In order to increase loyalty, it sent out regular surveys and included a follow up question. It used root cause analysis and implemented a closed feedback loop to incrementally improve its offering, increase loyalty, and drive positive WOM and sales.

Actually, according to a post this week, instead of doing any of this, AT&T conscripted a marketing agency to drive up its score. interTrend Communications, an agency that helps brands connect with Asian Americans, created a cheesy whimsical web series with a crowd-sourced storyline called Away We Happened. The series heavily features AT&T, has received over 6 million views so far, and won an Effie in the process.  Oh, and AT&T’s NPS dramatically increased from -11 to +39.

By many metrics, the campaign is a success. But using Net Promoter as a measure of success is misplaced. We may be preaching to the converted here, but Net Promoter is a system that has its strength in listening to customer feedback, making incremental customer-focused improvements in the organisation, and (sustainably) increasing scores and  revenue over time.

In a worst-case scenario, a quantum leap in NPS such as this can obscure underlying customer service problems underneath the sugar rush of new Promoters. And unless feedback collection, analysis and closing the loop are embedded in the organisation, there is the danger of an equally swift drop in scores, with corresponding negative WOM and loss of market share or revenue. Marketing

Travel Counsellors advise trust

Travel Counsellors is an exemplar of travel industry trust and innovation and owner of possibly the world’s highest NPS.  But whereas much discussion around Net Promoter focuses on customer service and loyalty, the key driver for Travel Counsellors’ growth is agent recruitment.

That’s not to say that customer relationships are not important, of course – according to chairman David Speakman, “We look after all the laborious admin so the individual ‘travel counsellor’ is left to build their own business by building relationships. TripAdvisor is the electronic mode of advice but it’s referred to; not trusted. We build our business on trust.” Insider Media

Southwest customer experience flies north

Southwest Airlines use of Net Promoter has helped propel it to one of the leading positions in terms of customer experience among American airlines.

According to a company rep, “We segment [Net Promoter Scores] by airports, but can also further refine the analysis by buying behavior, such as loyal or frugal customers. By looking at the scores, our employees can see where they need to step up.”

While Southwest is clearly on the right course, there is some possible turbulence up ahead. According to rival JetBlue, its leading NPS among US airlines gives it a “huge advantage” over its rivals.  Forbes

In brief

• According to YouGov, the Apple App Store has the highest NPS of any app market place in Germany, and 84% of iPhone users regularly download chargeable apps. GooglePlay is visited by more users by percentage of market share, but only 58% of them regularly download chargeable apps. Telecom Paper
• Australian dealer groups have been advised to use Net Promoter to get a better understanding of advisers’ satisfaction with their services.  Money Management
• TeleTech has conducted a test to find out whether delivering an exceptional customer experience as measured by NPS positively impacts sales, and had a positive result. TeleTech

Net Promoter News: The Love Edition – A Romance starring Toyota, Facebook, and Emirates

This week we have something slightly different for the Net Promoter News – the Love Edition. In keeping with Valentine’s Day conventions, each story this week is presented as a love story. Enjoy!

Love story #1: Customers break Toyota’s heart, Toyota falls in love with NPS, customers want to kiss and make up

Whoa – this one is almost a soap opera romance.

In the Netherlands, Toyota was struggling with unrequited love – it was trying to nurture relationships but even “satisfied” customers were leaving (perhaps they thought of Toyota as just a “nice guy”?).

Then something unexpected – but very exciting – happened. Toyota fell head over heels in love with Net Promoter. In an effort to prove that its love was more than a fleeting romance, Toyota embedded (get it?) Net Promoter throughout its organisation, from its training programs for anyone in a customer-facing role, ratings, newsletters, and, most romantic of all – a wall of fame in the restaurant.

Toyota devoted itself to Net Promoter – thinking about it, talking about it, acting on it across the organisation. And that love is now paying dividends as customers who used to think Toyota was just the nice guy unworthy of serious emotional investment have discovered that a passionate dedication to the customer was always hiding under the shy exterior. Frankwatching (Dutch language)

Love story #2: Fans that love brands on Facebook 

LoudDoor, a Facebook Insights preferred marketing developer has unveiled Net Promoter-based research of over 15,000 Facebook pages that shows which pages have the most loyal fans.

You might assume a swoon-inducing consumer multinational such as Disneyland, Apple, or Starbucks would lead the way, but you’d be wrong. In fact, the most loved-up brand on Facebook is not even a consumer brand, it’s a non profit – St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Following number one, more predictable names emerge, with Facebook and Google rounding out the top three. Money, as Paul McCartney succinctly noted, can’t buy love – but it doesn’t hurt.

The top 20 pages according to LoudDoor are:

1.    St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

2.    Facebook

3.    Google

4.    Walt Disney World

5.    ALDI USA

6.    Xbox

7.    Starbucks Frappuccino

8.    Google Chrome

9.    Duncan Hines

10.  Adobe Photoshop

11.  Tim Hortons

12.  Hershey’s

13.  In-N-Out Burger

14.  Dove Chocolates

15.  NFL

16.  Portillo’s

17.  BRAVO

18.  Disneyland

19.  Dollar Tree

20.  AMC Theatre

For methodology and other details check out the original article on MediaPost

Love story #3: Kuwaitis love Emirates, McDonald’s, IKEA, and a bunch of other brands

Uh oh. Things just got weird, didn’t they?

Actually, it’s not that Kuwaitis are confused – they’re just spreading their love around! Research by Service Hero (which reported on apparent cultural biases in the Kuwaiti market a couple of weeks back) has revealed the most loved brands in the market.

The top three across all categories are a microcosm of globalization at work, with UAE brand Emirates Airlines picking up the gold, American brand Caribou Coffee the silver, and local restaurant Mais Alghanim the bronze. When it comes to customer experience, love might not be blind. But it sure does cross borders. Zawya

Pillow talk

• Inavero has announced its Net Promoter-based Best of Staffing list for 2013 (in the US). For the full list of winners, check the link: Best of Staffing
• Mobile gamer Gamewagon has announced that 85% of its customers are Promoters. PR Web

Looking for someone special

• Customer Insights Program Manager (Net Promoter Score) Mebourne, Australia
• Net Promoter Score [NPS] Coordinator, ISGM, Melbourne, Australia

Net Promoter News: GOOG v AAPL, TW Tel- Tell NPS, The 10 Ways, Lawyers get the metric, E-ON Excellence

Google v Apple: Which is more innovative?

Google has a lot of fans, but according to a new book, it is arguably not at the cutting edge of innovation.

In What Matters Now, management expert Gary Hamel outlines four mental models found in organizations and advances a theory that only organizations that put innovation at the heart of what they do are true leaders in delighting their customers. Google doesn’t make the cut because instead of putting innovation at the centre of the business, it works on a model where only 20% of employee time is ostensibly used for innovation purposes. As supporting proof, he notes that after more than 10 years (several lifetimes in internet years) its original business model still generates 90% of its revenue.

In terms of true leaders, What Matters Now cites Amazon, Salesforce, and Apple as examples where the entire organization is devoted to continuous innovation and finding new ways of delighting customers. So what is Apple’s secret? Well if everyone knew that we’d be communicating telepathically with our machines by now. But we do know one thing. Apple is one of the leading exponents of Net Promoter Score. Source: Forbes

tw telecom talks up Net Promoter Score

If continuous innovation is indeed the key to delighting your customers and encouraging them to become advocates of your brand as Gary Hamel suggests above, he has some evidence here to support him. At their Q4 2011 earnings call on Feb 9^th, fiber-pullers tw telecom CEO Larissa Herda released an impressive set of financial results, which she put down to two things – strategically releasing new products and that the company recently increased its Net Promoter Score to its highest level ever.

“This key metric not only measures our customer satisfaction and loyalty, we believe it played a key role in propelling our revenue growth in 2011,” said Herda.

Also this week, the CEOs of Tucows and Rackspace Hosting both mentioned Net Promoter in their earnings calls. While both were upbeat, we are always left hanging for more when a senior executive in an earning call says something like “customer satisfaction, as mentioned by net promoter score, continues to increase,” (Tucows) or “we want to generate incredible customer outcomes, we measure this customer loyalty through the Net Promoter Score” (Rackspace).

Note to CEOs: The details always tell the story! Seeking Alpha

Ten ways to improve your Net Promoter Program

A couple of weeks back we talked about one smart cookie (David Mitzenmacher) who summarised the entire NPS process on the back of a napkin. NPS is a simple system – that’s a sign of its effectiveness and also a key point of its attraction. But there is more to the metric than simply “root cause analysis” and “closing the loop”.

With this in mind, Alain Thys, managing partner at Futurelab, has put together “ten ways to take your Net Promoter programme to the next level.” It’s well worth a look, and helps shed some light on the different ways Net Promoter can help businesses effect positive change in serving their customers. Futurelab

Net Promoter – It’s the law!

Adrian Dayton writing in the National Law Journal ponders the question “Which metrics matter most?” for lawyers. In a laundry list of measurements, Fordham University professor Silvia Hodges, suggests “a more client-focused approach, the Net Promoter Score, [...]  obtained by asking clients to report on a 0-10 scale whether he is extremely likely to hire you again or not at all likely. A high net promoter score means you’re keeping clients happy and earning referrals.” National Law Journal

Reputation Management and E.ON’s NPS Centre of Excellence

On January the 25^th in Munich, the Reputation Institute and Bain & Company hosted an event to share knowledge on, you guessed it, company reputation management.

A couple of the more interesting observations included that most people buy a product based on on what they think of the company rather than what they think of a product, and that reputation-based communications strategy only has a chance to work if it has management 100% behind it.

While these are valid points and worthy of further discussion, there was one other nugget of information that we would love to hear more about. Energy provider E.ON is a company that takes NPS a step further than most. Not content with just running the occasional survey, it has  “an entire NPS Center of Excellence.” Furthermore, it was noted by centre director Adam Elliott that “when you have your results you have to change the whole business.”

Innovation, it seems, is the thread that runs through all NPS news this week! The Financial

Upcoming Events

Diary note: Next Wednesday 22 February join the free Net Promoter webinar: Customer Service Fire-Fighting – Basic workflow for Customer Rescue (how to use Net Promoter with automation of customer responses to turn negative customer experiences into evangelist gold). Register here.

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.