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Made to Measure Episode 2

What is Net Promoter Score

and why is it a little dangerous?

Made to Measure, a live series by Explori, delivers event insight tailored for meetings and events professionals who are interested in data strategy.

In the second episode of Made to Measure, Alex is joined by Richard, revealing the hidden truth about Net Promoter Score, NPS, a metric commonly used by event teams around the world to measure their events. Uncovering the limitations of NPS as the sole indicator of event performance and how to use it effectively.

Content:


What have I missed in the second episode?

Event surveys are important tools for gathering feedback essential for the success of future events, but not knowing the facts about surveys and how to execute them can backfire.

The first episode in the Made to Measure podcast series, hosted by Chloe Richardson and Alex Temple, reveals some common myths about surveys and how best to get the important feedback you need.

 

What exactly is Net Promoter Score

The origins of Net Promoter Score

A metric developed by Fred Reichheld alongside Bain & Company and Satmetrix, in "The One Number You Need To Grow," an article published in the Harvard Business Review 2022.

Its purpose and what it measures

Net Promoter Score, NPS in short, it's used for measuring advocacy. It was initially designed as a proxy for customer loyalty. Its widespread popularity is linked to it’s semi-predictive correlation with growth and decline. 

How it used

NPS is measured on an 11-point scale from 0 - 10. Respondents are placed into three categories:

  • Detractors: 0 - 6
  • Passives: 7 - 8
  • Promoters: 9 - 10

How to judge whether a Net Promoter Score is good or bad

Any score above zero should be considered a positive as it means there are more promoters than detractors.

However, it's important to understand that there isn't one 'holy grail' number to strive for. The results vary significantly from industry to industry and from B2B to B2C.

This is where benchmarking in your own market becomes important for NPS to be meaningful.

Top 3 positives reasons for using NPS

  1. Easy to use - you don't need to be a trained statistician to send an online NPS survey. The survey is intuitive and simple for customers to complete.
  2. A common language for CX and delivers industry-spanning benchmarking - NPS is a standard metric used by companies globally. It lets you place your score in the context of other scores in your industry and see how you measure up.
  3. Correlated to growth - it's very rare that events with high NPS are in decline.

 

 

Problems with Net Promoter Score, why is it dangerous?

  • Problematic methodology
    • Small incremental improvements should result in small incremental score increases. Only large improvements should result in large score changes. It’s volatile.
    • The maths is strange. As well as, not everyone shares the same rating system in evaluating goods and services of all kinds, which created its own challenges.
  • In isolation, NPS could be a vanity metric. Event organizers and planners should gather the most in-depth insights possible to get a deep understanding of what is driving customer sentiment and, more importantly, what you can do to deliver better experiences for your audience.

 

Three tips for using Net Promoter Score effectively

  1. Understand the limitations of NPS and use it as part of a wider set of KPIs, a broader and more granular insight strategy.
  2. Put your scores in context - benchmarking would really help here.
  3. Look at the score breakdown and execute sales and marketing plans with sentiment data

 

Watch the full session of Made to Measure Episode 2

 

Can't get enough?

Read the summary of Made to Measure series or catch up with Episode 1: Survey Myth-Busting. Follow us for the latest updates, and check out our resources

For any questions, feedback, and topic suggestions, please dont hesitate to be in touch with our hosts!


Meet the speakers

alex temple 900

Richard Kensett 900

 

Alex Temple

Richard Kensett

Senior Corporate Relations Manager Commercial Director
a.temple@explori.com r.kensett@explori.com