“What cannot be measured cannot be managed”. This phrase, attributed, like so many others, to the great Peter Drucker, has become a maxim for all Customer Experience areas, which have enthusiastically implemented experience measurement systems. Among them, the famous NPS stands out, a simple, actionable indicator that gives us real-time information on the experience of our customers. Its use is practically unanimous in all sectors of activity.
But what happens when the very act of measuring ruins the customer experience? And I am not talking about a theoretical case, but about something that is happening in many organisations. As an example, I will recount the surreal situation that a good friend and her siblings experienced a few days ago, just hours after their father died in a well-known hospital in Madrid. The insurance agent who took care of the funeral arrangements, after providing impeccable service and organising all the details of the funeral, said to them: “You will receive a call to evaluate the service I have provided. Please note that if you answer with less than a nine, it is considered that the service has been poorly provided and that directly affects me”. A nice way of finishing off a management that, up to that point, had been impeccable, don’t you think?
And this is not an isolated anecdote. I’m sure all of us have had similar experiences as customers. An inelegant behaviour on the part of touchpoint staff that, as well as generating inflation in the NPS indicator, leaves a terrible bad taste in the mouths of many customers who see their experience ruined at the last moment. Because, let’s not forget, Customer Experience is a remembered emotion. And the recency effect means that the end of any interaction is what sticks in the customer’s mind the most.
But why is this practice so widespread, and to what extent are Customer Experience professionals responsible for this madness?
Personally, I am convinced that NPS is a fantastic KPI and its use is very useful to improve the customer experience. But many companies are making serious mistakes in its implementation.
Mistakes in the implementation of the NPS
1) Indicator inflation. We live in the age of pan-inflation. Everything in our time has gone out of whack, not just the selectivity scores. Many companies set NPS targets of 70%. And that is not realistic. When clients tell me proudly that they have an NPS of 80%, I usually recommend that they review their measurement system because it is most likely adulterated. The most admired brands in the world (Apple, Amazon, Ritz-Carlton) have NPS of less than 60%. Are we really going to believe that a mobile phone operator’s customer service can have an 80% NPS? Obviously, if that is the case, it is because the measurement is being altered. And the consequences are terrible, because the real usefulness of NPS is to know what we are doing well and where we can improve. And if we are biasing customers to give us “good marks”, we are not only ruining the Customer Experience, we are also losing a lot of information. So, if we want NPS to be meaningful, let’s start by setting realistic goals and metrics.
2) Pressure on contact point staff. A direct consequence of the above is the enormous pressure that some companies put on their point of contact staff. As the saying goes, “It’s sad to ask, but it’s sadder to steal”. If the point-of-sale salesperson or the boiler repair worker at the customer’s home is under pressure with an unrealistic NPS target which, to make matters worse, is directly linked to their performance appraisal, or even their pay. How can we expect them not to do everything they can to tamper with it? Psychological safety is also important for point-of-contact staff. If we over-criminalise complaints, or bad customer experiences, touch-point staff will do everything they can to cover up their mistakes, and they will alter the indicator. Wouldn’t we do the same in their place? We all have to pay the mortgage. Tying the remuneration of point of contact staff to the achievement of unrealistic NPS levels renders the measurement meaningless.
3) Treat a KPI as a target. No one doubts the importance of management by objectives when it comes to managing a sales or operations team. But companies often make the mistake of turning KPIs into targets. KPIs are indicators that provide us with information about the performance of our point of contact team. Their real strength is that they allow us to understand where we are failing and how we can improve. Targets should always be business targets and the NPS should be used to learn and guide the business towards continuous improvement. As with other KPIs such as portfolio coverage in a sales force or conversion rate in shops, if we focus on chasing the KPI, we can actually harm the business results.
4) Not delving into the qualitative aspects of NPS. The strength of the NPS is not in the final number, but in the fact that it also allows us to know the percentage of promoters, detractors and neutrals, and to establish specific action plans for each customer segment. And not only that, the NPS also allows us to ask customers why they have scored in one way or another. Having an effective voice of the customer measurement system gives us the possibility to talk in person with detracting customers and also, why not, delve deeper into the reasons why our customers recommend us to their family and friends. If a company implements NPS, it is a pity that the effort is only about getting a number. It is also important to set up a whole “close the loop” process that allows us to obtain valuable qualitative information for the continuous improvement of our customers’ experience.
Ultimately, having an experience measurement system in place is a requirement for any organisation that wants to deliver a superior customer experience. But if we really want to get value from measurement, we cannot turn NPS into an end in itself, nor put undue pressure on touchpoint staff about survey results.The great potential of NPS lies in turning it into an indicator that allows us to learn and guide our organisation towards continuous improvement. In this way we will ensure that the measurement does not ruin the Customer Experience.
