No Jitter is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Double Down on Customer Experience for a Good NPS

"What is the likelihood that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?" This is the question frequently asked following interactions with brands. Results determine a company's Net Promoter Score (NPS), a metric that many view as a valuable measurement of a customer's relationship to a company.

Although companies shouldn't rely on one number to measure customer satisfaction, a high NPS indicates that the brand is doing a good job of satisfying its customers. NPS, therefore, is a metric that many company leaders embrace.

Being seen as a recommended brand is valuable, so companies emphasize the importance of receiving a good score -- and they expect employees to help achieve it. As a result, this customer-centric focus extends to the service personnel who are interacting with the customers assigning the NPS.

Increasingly, offering a positive customer experience is becoming a top priority for today's CEOs -- so much so that roles like the chief customer officer and the VP of customer experience are on the rise. And with the increased significance of the customer experience on the bottom line, these executives often report directly to the CEO.

So how can a customer service department make sure it is doing its part in helping the business achieve the best NPS and make the CEO happy? By implementing modern contact center technologies, a company is in a better position to earn a good score. Just like technology, customers are modernizing and adopting habits that brands must recognize and cater to. Gone are the days that customers accept being on hold with a customer service department for half an hour, or repeating themselves over and over again to an agent or automated service.

According to Harris Interactive, 86% of consumers quit doing business with a company because of a bad customer experience. To retain customers and prompt them to give a positive NPS, brands need to realize that they must focus on these top three things:

  • Meet customers at their preferred channels. The customer of today expects to be able to use any channel, whether that is a phone call, email, online chat, text message, or even social media, to reach a customer service department.
  • Exercise proactivity. These days, consumers want the companies that they do business with to anticipate their needs -- so if they have to ask for help their customer experience starts off on the wrong foot. When contact center agents are able to take advantage of technology available to them and proactively offer service, that goes a long way with customers in need of assistance.
  • Make the customer feel valued. Customers don't want a cookie-cutter experience when they interact with a brand. By personalizing the experience through the use of customer journey analytics, the consumer will feel valued and have more interest in brand success.

Clearly the better the experience with a brand, the more likely a customer is likely to score the company higher on the NPS scale. As customers become more demanding and develop new expectations, brands should embrace the opportunity to evolve their customer service strategies to exceed customer expectations. Consumers will always have questions, issues, and comments for brands they are engaging with and buying from, so it's crucial for companies to adapt their approaches accordingly if they want to see a positive NPS.