How Bisnode Changed Their Entire Organization by Adopting an Account Experience Program

Imagine trying to roll out a new NPS® program across a global organization. Multiple countries, multiple languages, and very different customer bases.

Well, that's exactly what Bisnode did when they approached CustomerGauge. Previously, they were very focused on their yearly relational survey, and, like most companies, they were using it as a market research tool. They were operating in 19 markets across Europe and NPS was simply a score they could tout, not driving any real difference at the company. Each country would compete with each other for the highest NPS, but it drove people to try and game the system for higher scores and didn't help drive the business forward. That is, until, they embraced Account Experience fully and changed their whole outlook on their program.

When we first met with Bisnode we helped them transition the goal of the program from a high NPS score to closing the loop and really changing the experience of the customer for the better. Once they started doing that, they instantly saw the positive feedback coming in.

BUT, they still had some hurdles they had to overcome!

The first hurdle was gaining internal buy-in. If you've ever tried implementing a customer experience program, you can probably relate to this. While Account Experience directly correlates to revenue, most experience programs can't, so it's natural for the C-Suite and other managers to be skeptical. Bisnode dealt with this skepticism by educating the team. The beauty of NPS and Account Experience is that it is a simple process that doesn't require a team of analysts to interpret and make decisions from. All levels of the organization can take part, see the benefit and act to make the organization better.

The training included a breakdown of the scoring system. Because NPS is universal, it is very easy for everyone to understand, but they needed to be educated on what the numbers actually meant. The company was used to CSATs, so it was important to make sure that everyone understood that 9s and 10s are not a measure of satisfaction, but customer loyalty. 7s and 8s can still be satisfied with the product or service, but not recommend you to a friend or colleague. While satisfaction is important, the goal behind NPS (and Account Experience) is to get customers to refer you and tie that referral to revenue.

Maryann Molgaard, Group Customer Engagement Manager at Bisnode stated;

"The outcome of our NPS work should be to reduce churn. It is important not to lean back and think that everything is ok, because of a belief that in some cultures 7 and 8 is as good as it gets. I usually contact the Account Manager to find out what happened, when I can see a customer moving from passive (7 or 8) to promotor (9 or 10), to find out what happened, in order to have a catalog of great stories to tell. Often, there has been a positive dialogue with the customer, where we involved some specialists, and we were able to deliver something to cover the customers’ needs to grow their business. This effort eventually led to the outstanding score of 10."

Next, it was time to demonstrate the value of real-time feedback. When customers receive a survey, the open text asks why the respondent would/wouldn't refer Bisnode. The results shocked account managers across the board. When AEs were asked what they thought the main driver of a 9 or 10 was, the overwhelming response was the monetary value of Bisnode. What they learned, however, was a whole lot different. The team found through their surveying that customers were much less sensitive to price and much more willing to promote the company on the products and services that were offered and the value that it brought to their business. This allowed the sales team to be more comfortable in their transparency with pricing and equipped them to be confident in the product offering.

Maryann quoted the following after learning this information, "As a data and analytics company, the most common reason to promote us is, by far, not surprisingly, our data quality."

The final takeaway that the team at Bisnode discovered was that it's not worth gaming the system to increase your score, because at the end of the day, a score is not actionable. They welcome feedback from unhappy customers because it allows them to make changes that reduce churn and turn unhappy customers into fanatical ones.

Using the AX playbook, Bisnode has increased their NPS from 14 to 40 and their response rate from 3% to 17% over the past three years. Not only that, but it has led to more and more champions at all levels of the organization creating a more customer-centric culture.