by: Joseph Mann
Digging around a bit after my earlier post on the Net Promoter Score methodology (“Customer Satisfaction Rates are Like So Last Week”) I found some more information on the application of the NPS and consumer attitudes toward company efforts at customer satisfaction and was amazed to discover just how poorly companies around the world – not just in the U.S.A. — are satisfying the needs of their customers.
On an individual basis, some of the big name companies you’d expect to have phenomenally avid word-of-mouth promoters based on traditional customer satisfaction ratings systems and good press (such as Southwest Airlines) were only slightly above average on the NPS scale: 51% for Southwest, according to a table of high performers on the Netpromoter.com web site. Even famously evangelized Apple Computer only scored 66%!
From my B2B standpoint it's equally distressing that only two of the 19 “top performers” listed could be considered pure B2B companies and neither one had an NPS greater than 66%. What does all of this mean? Are B2B companies not as good at creating brand advocates? Are they less concerned about cultivating strong corporate brands than B2C companies? While I've hardly put together a comprehensive world summary, if nothing else all of this does give the sense that there is ample room for improvement the world over. I’d love to hear if anyone has Net Promoter Score data for some other countries or continents not mentioned here.
Sources:
Chief Marketer Interviews Fred Reichheld
Walter Carl. "Measuring WOM: Advocacy Drives Growth in UK Companies" Word-of-Mouth Communication Study Blog
NPS Top Performers
CEO Forum Australia
The European Centre for Customer Strategies
Original Post: http://marketingroi.blogspot.com/2006/04/lousy-customer-satisfaction-its-global.html
I know this was posted a while ago, but felt compelled to provide some commentary given someone may come across this via Google.Interesting questions:
>
My take is that branding plays a very minor role in B2B, if much of a role at all. Don't believe me? Read the book by Maureen Blatchford, info at:
http://www.mindtimegroup.com/
After an exhaustive search of all the statistical and academic data, Maureen found NOT ONE study shows branding in B2b matters. Not one. Its a myth.
>
NPS can be useful for B2B, but studies by Maritz for example, have shown that customer perceptions of value, have even greater relevance to customer loyalty/advocacy than the "recommend" question used in Net Promoter. Makes sense really ... businesses tend to be more rational and value is something that carries more weight than the smoke and mirrors you get with B2C brands.