7 Pragmatic Tips on Starting Your NPS Program

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There, you’ve got it – an approval to start an NPS program. You want it all, and you want it now. After all, you believe in the cause and want to make it happen. Here is a little something to help you start the process smoothly:

1.Don’t aim at doing it all in one go. First of all, you may not get all the budget for the changes NPS will bring (which means, if you don’t plan for changes, don’t start it). Start small. Run a pilot survey (or two). Make your case sound. Deep dive into your data. When you have your point proven, it will be easier to get approval for more budget.

2.But plan how to scale it. When people understand the value of NPS, they will want more. You should have your answers ready: how to deal with detractors; how to motivate promoters; how to approach setting up the transactional survey after you’ve done the top-down. Call for help if you doubt: the stakes are high.

3.Don’t assume you know all answers already. Experience shows that answers to the open question “Why did you give us such a score?” inevitably bring up issues nobody in the company even thought of. Plan for the unplanned and be flexible.

4.Use common sense. Different products and services may require different approaches to asking the ultimate question. If you do NPS for a niche service company, ask if the customers would recommend the service to their colleagues or peers, not to family and friends.

5.Feed the survey the data that you already have. If you have a previously made segmentation, test how it works with NPS data. If you think one of the target groups may need to be asked one more question, go for it.

6.Build up your knowledge base. And don’t give up. One way or another, you may need to shape and reshape the program several times before it works properly. Learn from your results, and make gradual changes until your program reflects your reality 100%.

7.Share. Cross-tab the results with everything – you WILL find interesting stuff. Speak about what you have found. Give the results to everyone who can be even remotely interested. Promote. Prove the point you are trying to make.

Found these tips useful? Have your own great tips? Or have any questions? Contact the author at mna@futurelab.net, let’s work it out.