How to Improve Net Promoter Score: A 5 Step Guide

In 2021, Amazon had an impressive NPS score of 61. Fast forward to 2023, and they swept a 73! Today, the e-commerce giant makes up approximately 10% of the US retail turnover!

But how did they achieve this remarkable growth? With relentless efforts and implementation of top-notch strategies. Thats how!

In this blog, we’ll look into ten strategies to guide you in improving your net promoter score in this competitive market.

But before that, here’s a quick overview.

What is the Net Promoter Score?

Net Promoter Score is a single number ranging from -100 to 100. It reflects the likelihood of customers recommending your product or service to others.

Now, it involves a quick question- On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [your company/ product/ service] to a friend or colleague?

Based on the scores they give, they are categorized into

• Promoters (9-10): Your loyal fans who are extremely happy to recommend you and promote your brand.
• Passives (7-8): These are neutral customers, satisfied but not necessarily enthusiastic.
• Detractors (0-6): These are unhappy customers. They can potentially damage your brand reputation through negative word-of-mouth.

NPS = Percentage of Promoters−Percentage of Detractors

Importance of NPS

A high net promoter score means that most customers are satisfied and would recommend you to others.

Let’s quickly glance through the benefits:

• Increased customer lifetime value
• Reduced customer churn
• Enhanced brand reputation
• Improved employee morale
• Stronger competitive advantage

Here’s an example of a net promoter score survey. This is made with SurveySparrow’s conversational interface. This chat-like survey can fetch you 40% more responses!

Feel free to customize the above template if you like. We’ll talk about improving your NPS and response rate with SurveySparrow in a bit!

Now, it’s time to address the elephant in the room!

How to Improve Net Promoter Score

Now that you know why it matters, let’s look into five easy ways to improve your NPS.

Here’s the first step:

1. Gather Customer Feedback Regularly

Don’t wait around thinking your customers will approach you with feedback. You need to remember that most customers don’t always complain when they are unhappy. Some even choose to leave silently.

Seeking regular feedback helps you:

• Find hidden issues: Regular feedback keeps you updated and helps identify underlying problems. If these bugs are not solved as soon as they emerge, they can impact satisfaction.
• Stay ahead of the competition: You must keep yourself posted. Understanding your audiences will help you get a clear picture of the trends and patterns.
• Gain insights: It helps you understand what people value, what frustrates them, and where you need to improve.

Let’s say you own an e-commerce store and recently changed your check-out process. But, oddly so, you didn’t receive any complaints. Upon actively seeking feedback, you understood that many of them were confused at one point or another. These insights act as early warning signals to help you fix and improve.

How to do it?

• The first point is to go beyond NPS. To improve your score, divide your focus into various feedback methods. This can include in-app feedback buttons, customer satisfaction ratings after support interactions, and open-ended feedback forms.
• Another important aspect is to keep it short and sweet as possible. Customers are busy. If you send out feedback surveys, ensure they are concise and easy to complete.

Read More: Types of Customer Feedback 

This takes us to the next step…

2. Act on the Feedback

Collecting feedback is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to analyze the NPS data and take prompt action if you want your customers to be happy and become advocates.

Let me tell you why:

• It shows you care: When you take customer feedback seriously and act on it, it shows that you value them. They feel that their opinion matters and that you’re committed to improving their experience!
• Addresses pain points: You can pinpoint and act on the issues before they escalate into bigger problems. This reduces churn and improves retention.
• Builds trust and loyalty: Being responsive is the best way to gain their confidence. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes before making any decision.

Building on the previous example, you decide to take action after gathering feedback. You called up a team to identify pain points and improve them. You simplified the checkout process and added more precise instructions based on the responses. Plus, you even went ahead with a revised A/B testing process.

Your customers would be stoked!

Here’s what you can do

• Communicate! Don’t leave anyone hanging. Acknowledge their input and lay out the next step.
• Assign ownership for addressing specific points and track the progress regularly. This will streamline the process and help in timely action.

3. Boost your Customer Service Team

Your customer support team has the power to translate the decisions taken directly into positive customer experiences. A well-equipped team can solve issues with the snap of a finger (well, maybe that is too much!) 

The aim is to minimize customer frustration. Here’s why that is important:

• It builds rapport and trust: A sales or a support representative goes beyond just solving issues. They can build a strong connection with the customers. How? By being an active listener to their concerns and offering personalized solutions.
• Proactive problem-solving: The team can identify potential issues before they escalate. The best part about addressing concerns early on is that it avoids negative experiences.

For instance, a customer contacts your support team to find a solution for an issue with a new product feature you launched. From all the data you gathered, you understood that this is a common pain point. The rep can solve the issue, provide solace, and gather insights on improving user experience.

Some easy ways to achieve this

• Provide high-quality training. Yes! This is the most crucial technique. This should include training on products or services, active listening skills, and conflict resolution techniques.
•  Everyone likes to be appreciated for their efforts. Offer recognition and rewards to those who exceed expectations and go the extra mile to satisfy the customers.

4. Close the Loop with Detractors

Now, what about unhappy customers? You can’t ignore them! Actively reach out, understand their problems, and convert them into promoters- that is what you do!

First…

• Understand the root cause: Start with determining the core reason for dissatisfaction. You can identify and solve systematic issues from these insights so they do not affect other customers.
• Improve your reputation: address the negative feedback and take action promptly. By taking the concerns seriously, you can quickly mitigate the damage caused by negative word-of-mouth and protect your brand reputation.

For instance, if a buyer receives a damaged product and is agitated by the lengthy return process, they naturally try to show their frustration by leaving a negative review. They might score you 0 on the NPS survey. Follow up instantly, apologize for the inconvenience, and immediately act. Most importantly, you should let them know your steps and be transparent. This will show that you’re listening.

You must

• Make sure you personalize the responses. Do not templatize it!
• Offer a genuine apology and let them know it will never be repeated.

This takes us to the last step.

5. Integrate NPS Data Throughout your Organization

You need to take it up a notch to improve your score truly! When everyone in your organization can access the data, it creates a customer-centric culture.

It is not the duty of the sales and support team. Every department has to know the importance of customer satisfaction and how their actions can impact CX!

Here’s why…

• Improves accountability: When everyone is aware of the data, it creates a sense of shared responsibility. Teams will be motivated to take ownership of the initiatives.
• Strategic decision-making: The insights garnered can be used to improve marketing campaigns and understand customer sentiments.

Imagine your business has a subscription service. After a detailed analysis of the NPS data, you found that many customers are frustrated with the cancellation process.

This data can bring out better results and streamline the process when shared with the product and service teams.

What can be done?

• You can try setting department-wise NPS goals. Collaboration and shared ownership will be fruitful!
• Create a user-friendly centralized NPS dashboard as well. This will give you easy access to trends, and visualizing them through graphs and charts will make it digestible.

Read More: NPS Best Practices to Follow

Too much to handle? Hold up! All these steps can be executed with the help of advanced NPS software!

How Can SurveySparrow Improve Your Net Promoter Score?

With SurveySparrow, you can create conversational NPS surveys, share them via multiple platforms, collect data, visualize it on the executive dashboard, and analyze it to make informed decisions. You get 1000+ pre-built customizable templates! But if you think you can do better on your own, create one from scratch or with the help of the AI form builder.

That’s not it!

• Automate your NPS Surveys! Time your surveys, schedule them, and automate your feedback with NPS software. This saves time and effort. Enable recurring surveys and throttle them so you don’t annoy your users!
• Make it Omnichannel: make them available through multiple channels such as in-app, QR codes, website embed, email share, SMS, social shares, and many more!
• Personalize the Surveys: You can roll out NPS surveys that are tailor-made to your target customers. The Skip and Display logic and question piping features make everything as easy as pie!
• Advanced Analytics: Use sentiment analysis and Wordcloud to decode customer emotions and feelings! This will give you a clear idea of the loyalty factor.
  
• Customer Segmentation: Categorize the audience in terms of location and date of feedback submission and create feedback strategies tailored for each segment.
• Real-Time Insights: Map out the user journey and view it on an elaborate dashboard!

Why don’t you streamline the feedback process and improve your Net Promoter Score with SurveySparrow?

Sign up for a free trial today and see the difference!

Wrap Up!

Keep in mind that NPS is a journey and not a destination. You can build lasting relationships by consistently gathering feedback, taking action on the insights, and, most importantly, prioritizing customer experience!

Keep Exploring!