What’s your net promoter score?

The key to business growth from social media is the online talk that stems from actual, delightful experiences of your customers. A tool called the Net Promotor Score can tell you how likely this is to happen. Developed by Fred Reicheld, here’s how it works:

Ask your customers

Select 10 customers at random. No fair picking just the ones you know will give you high marks. Call or e-mail them the following question:

On a scale of 0 to 10, where 0 means ‘no way’ and 10 means ‘absolutely, without hesitation.’ how likely would you be to recommend our firm to your colleagues or others who feel could use our __________________ (product or service)?

Count the number who give you a rating of 9-10. These folks will be your conversational evangelists. Divide this into the number you called to get your Promoter score.

Count the number who give you a rating of 6 or lower. These folks could possibly speak negatively of you. Divide this into the you called to get your Detractor score.

Subtract your Detractor score from your Promotor score, to get your Net Promotor score.

I recently ran a workshop in which I used an evaluation form that asked this question of participants. The results were as follows:

I would have been happy with a Net promoter score of 40%. A score of 70% would have been terrific! But there it was in front of me – only 20%. Clearly I had some work to do on my workshop.

Fortunately the evaluation form also included the question “If you were not able to fully complete your purpose, why not?” Several participants said something to the effect that it was valuable as a general overview, but they had expected more detail. So my job is to change the balance in order to meet unspoken expectations. To try to get traction in social media without fixing my workshop would be futile.

Be warned!

To be successful in social media involves more than marketing effort. It’s primarily an operations effort. Be sure your service and products meet the expectations set by your marketing. Then, once your Net Promoter Score reaches higher then 40%, help your customers find ways to talks about you in social media.

Now it’s your turn.

What’s your Net Promoter Score?