The Net Promoter Score
More than two-thirds of the companies surveyed said that they used NPS methodology with their customers. Some are using it to measure employee satisfaction as well.
The P stands for ‘promoter’, but of course, it doesn’t actually measure promotion.
If that many of your customers are actually promoting and recommending your business to others, you would be so busy you wouldn’t have time for a survey. “Would you recommend” is not the same question as, “how many people have you told?”
What the respondent is actually saying is whether or not they like you.
Being liked is important. Trust, comfort and delight are useful things to strive for.
Liked doesn’t get you promoted, though. People promote a brand or activity when it increases their status or the affiliation they have with others, not because they owe you something.
Smart marketers understand that peer-to-peer recommendations are scarce and precious, and we shouldn’t be distracted by an NPS that doesn’t actually measure that.