NPS Detractors are to be treated with the same, at times, with a bit more care than promoters!
Don’t believe it?
This simple example would clear your thoughts:
The product doesn’t work
How often do you come across this type of review under the purchase page of a product?
Quite often!
The product works just fine
Now, how often do you come across such reviews?
Rarely!
Customers often don’t care to express their positive experience with a product, but they are keen enough to warn fellow customers if the product shows the slightest hint of problems.
Thus, customer feedback matters – both the negative & the positive ones! But do companies make maximum use of the opportunity to turn those NPS detractors into customers?
I say, rarely!
A Quick Overview Of NPS
For those who haven’t jumped on the NPS bandwagon or confused what the terms NPS detractors and NPS promoters mean, I have simplified it for you:
NPS or Net Promoter Score is simply a metric used to gauge a customer’s loyalty to the brand. You can easily measure the score with the help of an NPS survey and analyze it later to find the current NPS score of your brand.
Take up this sample NPS survey created using SurveySparrow. You would easily understand how it all works:
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While the NPS survey may contain many questions, the most important and the must-have question is:
On a scale of 1 to 10, How likely are you to recommend our products to your friends/peers?
Based on the score they selected, the respondents are categorized into three:
Promoters are customers who answered with a score of 9 or 10 and are loyal to your brand.
Passives are the ones who responded with a score of 7 or 8. They are satisfied with your products but not too happy to be the promoters of your brand.
Detractors have responded with a score ranging between 0 to 6, and they are totally unhappy with your service or product. Unfortunately, these customers often leave those negative reviews to alert their fellow customers of the unpleasant experience they had with your company.
NPS Score = % of Promoters – % of Detractors
Who Are Detractors
Detractors are customers who care about your brand just like the promoters, but the main difference is the former isn’t satisfied or marveled by your product. They are currently quite dissatisfied with your product and are reaching out to you in ways possible, hoping that they get a good experience from your side at some point.
But why should you care?
If the number of detractors exceeds the number of promoters, your NPS score becomes negative, and this would repel customers in the future. Further, the more the churn rate, the less the revenue generated.
Detractors Vs. Passives:
Passives are customers who buy your product out of habit or because their peer suggested so. They aren’t exactly interested in your product or don’t have a concern to help you improve.
With that said, passives aren’t dissatisfied with your products. They aren’t just happy enough to recommend it to their friends. In short, they are “just satisfied” with your products, and you weren’t able to deliver the WOW experience they were expecting.
On the other hand, detractors care about your product. They were calm enough to leave a review (even if negative) in the hopes that you might hear their call and sort out the issue asap. These customers know their rights and expect only the best. With the right push, you can instill a sense of satisfaction and convert them to promoters.
So why care about detractors more than passives? You may ask.
Well, it’s easy to turn a bad experience into a good one. All you need to do is rectify the problems that the detractors mentioned. But it takes extra effort and patience to turn the good experience into a WOW moment. Further, you don’t precisely know what particular area your passives have problems with.
With that said, you should definitely value your passives, but make sure you take care of the detractors before, as it might be too late when you finally have time for them. As we all know, bad news spreads faster than good ones!
5 Steps To Turn NPS Detractors Into NPS Promoters
Promoters are your loyal customers, always prefer your brand over your competitors, and constantly contribute to your overall revenue and reputation.
So how do you convert those detractors to your loyal customers?
Encourage Your Customers To Give Feedback
Many a time, companies forget to collect feedback from their customers, and at other times they are too scared of the results. Just because there isn’t any negative feedback doesn’t mean your products are all good. You simply haven’t found the customers who are dissatisfied with the products.
Try collecting feedback through a less irritating channel. Instead of pestering them with long, boring questions and a form that takes years to load, rely on good survey software. Forward the survey forms at appropriate touch points and seriously consider the reviews.
The more you are enthusiastic about what customer thinks, the more they feel valued.
Consider customer satisfaction surveys a need for your business, and don’t conduct them just for namesake. With perfectly targeted questions, you can easily understand the areas where you fail to impact your customers, and then act on them to improve your services.
Be Active And Respond Immediately
Whenever you receive a complaint, respond to it as quickly as possible. Never let the customer wait. Even if it’s an email or a comment on your social media channels, ask the respective representatives to take quick action by connecting with the customers and attend to their needs.
Every customer would like to get some attention, and they feel great when their efforts find fruits. So don’t let the comment sit on your social media platform unanswered for hours. Remember, the world is watching. You would quickly lose a customer and gain a negative reputation if you fail to tend to the angry customer.
At times, the representatives may not be able to tackle the issue as such.
Say it’s a technical issue. The representatives may not be well versed with the queries or problems the customer is facing. In that case, let the customer know that you have looped in the product developers and promise them a deadline.
Be Empathetic: Don’t Always Rely On Chatbots
It’s great to have chatbots on your website! But when a customer is desperate and needs immediate answers, the pre-recorded messages will not do any good.
Be empathetic and always have a human touch to your conversations with them. If your representatives aren’t available during a particular time, let the customers know it. Ask them to leave a message and promise them that your representatives would get back in touch as soon as they are available.
Accept The Mistake And Evolve
Never commit a mistake twice. For example, if a customer contacted you with some glitch in your software, make sure that future customers don’t experience the same.
The software keeps on crashing!
There’s some glitch in the software I can’t complete my payment. The app closes automatically!
The crux of both these comments is the same. Think how much harm it can cause your brand if these messages or different variants keep on accumulating on your social media channels.
The surveys you conducted opens up a plethora of ways in which you can better your services. However, all those efforts you put in go straight to waste if you aren’t keen enough to look into your customers’ queries.
Deliver The Promises You Make
Never make promises you can’t deliver!
Stay true to your word and never give your customers false hopes. Those NPS detractors are already agitated; you really don’t want to warm up them more.
If you promised that the issue would be solved in two days, try to stick to it. If not, let the customers know that you require some time and share your current progress. This way, they would see that you are taking some action and valuing their opinion.
Wrapping Up…
NPS detractors aren’t your brand’s enemies!
The faster you realize this, the better.
The road to delivering a WOW experience takes extreme patience and constant improvement. The detractors help you with the improvement factor as they point out what needs attention.
Start by converting the not-so-good reviews to good ones. Then consider the good ones and work on your product to deliver the WOW experience that would make even the passives your NPS promoters.
I know it’s easier said than done.
But now you know where to start from and what to focus on. Baby steps to success!
