The net promoter score: the brand manager’s go-to diagnostic

The net promoter score survey, introduced by Fred Reichheld in 2003, is the simplest survey around. It consists of one question. "On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague?" The survey can either be run as a quick once-off or be chucked into a broader survey.

You divide the responses into three bands. A response of 9 or 10 indicates a promoter, someone who will recommend the brand and / or product. A response of 7 or 8 indicates satisfied customers, but who are disinterested and unlikely to recommend the brand or product. A score of 1 to 6 indicates dissatisfied customers who are unlikely to – or will not – recommend the product or brand and may even give negative feedback.

To get to the net promoter score deduct the aggregate score of the 1 to 6 responses from the aggregate score of the 9 to 10 band. If the score is positive, between 0% and 100%, you are ahead but depending on the aggregate may still want to take action. If the score is negative, between -1% and -100% you need to take action.

Why discard the middle band? By taking action on the 1 to 6 band, you will have a knock-on effect on the 7 to 8 band.

The proof of the pudding is not necessarily the promotion by the highly satisfied customer, although that is highly desirable, but the degree of satisfaction. It is tempting to place the upper brand promoters in a tribal brand scenario, but it may just be a case of individual satisfaction, so avoid that route until you have confirmation.

If your score is in the low positives, you will want to take action. You should run the survey again regularly to see if there is further decline.

If your score is negative, you definitely need to take action urgently. You will find the purchases of your product are grudge purchases in the absence of a better choice and / or the result of expensive push marketing.

Qualitative research, focus groups or interviews is the point at which you need to begin. Aside from examining the consideration set and parity, you will also want to spend time probing aspects of personal and socio-cultural, ‘tribal’ experience. If the qualitative yields ambiguous results, you can then head into quantitative research to get a clearer result.

The research should lead you in two directions, identity and the actual product, or a combination of the two.

Product aspects to consider are related to the actual product, pricing and product footprint in the 4P marketing mix. If parity cannot be obtained, or if pricing and the distribution footprint cannot be fixed, the outcome will be grim, suggesting phasing out of the product as the rational business choice.

Identity, what is communicated, is possibly an easier fix. Is the identity correct in relation to the image, the consumer’s interpretation of identity? If not, the brand gap will be wide, and push marketing will be required. The problem with push marketing is that it bleeds the budget, leaving limited financial resources to develop the product further or evolve and prototype its successor.

The obvious tactic will be to amend identity. The secondary intriguing tactic is to consider a shift of the consumer segment, one more likely to form the image that the identity seeks.

The net promoter score is possibly the most important diagnostic of the brand. Whether or not the brand is producing optimum results or not, the survey should be conducted regularly.