RETAIL GLOSSARY

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

A customer satisfaction metric that measures the likelihood of customers recommending a retailer to others, used to evaluate brand loyalty and customer experience.

What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty and satisfaction. It asks customers how likely they are to recommend a company or brand on a scale of 0 to 10. The score ranges from -100 to +100 and helps businesses identify promoters, passives, and detractors. NPS provides valuable insights to improve customer experiences and drive growth.

How NPS works

  • NPS Survey: Retailers typically conduct NPS surveys by asking customers a simple question: "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our store to your friends or colleagues?" Customers are then categorised into three groups based on their responses: Promoters (score 9-10): These are highly satisfied customers who are likely to recommend the store to others. Passives (score 7-8): These customers are somewhat satisfied but not enthusiastic enough to actively promote the store. Detractors (score 0-6): These are dissatisfied customers who may share negative feedback about the store.

  • Calculation: The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The result is a score ranging from -100 to 100. NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors

  • Analysis and Action: Once the NPS is determined, retailers analyse the score and take appropriate actions:

  • High NPS: A high NPS indicates a strong customer base of promoters. Retailers can leverage this positive word-of-mouth to attract new customers and strengthen loyalty further.

  • Low NPS: A low NPS indicates a higher percentage of detractors, which requires immediate attention. Retailers need to identify the root causes of dissatisfaction and implement improvements to enhance the customer experience.

  • Trend Analysis: Regular NPS tracking helps retailers understand changes in customer sentiment over time and evaluate the impact of their initiatives on customer satisfaction.

  • Improving NPS: To improve their NPS, retailers may focus on enhancing various aspects of their operations, such as customer service, product quality, store layout, pricing, and overall shopping experience.

  • Competitive Benchmarking: Retailers may also compare their NPS with industry benchmarks and competitors to understand their standing in the market and identify areas where they can outperform their rivals.
Overall, Net Promoter Score serves as a valuable tool for retailers to assess customer loyalty, drive customer-centric improvements, and foster long-term growth by turning satisfied customers into brand advocates.

Pros of NPS

  1. Simplicity and Ease of Use: NPS is a simple and easy-to-understand metric that requires customers to rate their likelihood of recommending a company on a scale of 0 to 10. This simplicity makes it easy for customers to provide feedback and for businesses to interpret the results.
  2. Customer Loyalty Measurement: NPS helps identify customers who are promoters (score 9-10) and are highly likely to recommend the company to others. These promoters can be valuable brand advocates and contribute to organic growth through word-of-mouth referrals.
  3. Actionable Insights: NPS provides actionable insights by categorizing respondents into promoters, passives, and detractors based on their scores. This segmentation allows businesses to focus on improving customer experiences, engaging with promoters, and addressing concerns of detractors to enhance overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Cons of NPS

  1. Limited Context: NPS provides a single metric and does not delve into the specific reasons behind the customer's score. It lacks detailed insights into the factors influencing the customer's rating, making it challenging to identify specific areas for improvement.
  2. Bias Towards Detractors: NPS tends to focus more on detractors (customers who give a score of 0-6) due to their negative impact on the overall score. While addressing detractors is essential, this emphasis may overshadow the positive feedback from promoters, leading to missed opportunities for enhancing customer experiences.
  3. Lack of Comparability: NPS scores may not always be directly comparable between different companies or industries. The score's significance and benchmarks can vary depending on the context, making it challenging to draw meaningful conclusions across diverse businesses or sectors.

FAQ

Below you will find answers to common questions
Why are we introducing the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in our retail business?
Introducing the NPS is a strategic move aimed at understanding our customers better and enhancing their overall experience with us. NPS provides a straightforward and standardised way to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. By gathering feedback through NPS surveys, we can identify promoters, passives, and detractors, helping us gauge the loyalty of our customers and their likelihood of recommending our business to others. This valuable data will guide us in making data-driven decisions, improving customer service, and strengthening our brand reputation.
What benefits does the Net Promoter Score (NPS) bring to our retail business?
The implementation of NPS offers several significant benefits for our retail business. Firstly, NPS allows us to focus on customer-centricity by understanding our customers' needs and expectations. Secondly, it helps us identify our most loyal customers (promoters) and turn them into brand advocates, thereby increasing positive word-of-mouth marketing. Thirdly, NPS feedback provides actionable insights to address areas where we may be falling short, leading to improvements in customer satisfaction and retention. Overall, NPS empowers us to create a culture of continuous improvement and customer loyalty, ensuring our business thrives in a competitive market.
N