Why NPS can fall but customers remain satisfied

We often have clients querying why their satisfaction and net promoter scores (NPS) don’t always trend in the same way, and why, for example, satisfaction may be flat wave on wave, while NPS is falling. There are a number of reasons this can happen:

• Comparing two scales which are calculated differently can sometimes be the culprit. Reviewing the full distribution of scores and (for example) netting top 2/3 box on NPS or working out satisfaction in the same way as NPS (top boxes minus bottom boxes) can sometimes show that the difference is purely down to the way the different metrics are reported. These questions are often asked using different scales, but there is usually a rough proxy you can use to work them out in a similar way and check whether you are still seeing differences.
• NPS is typically measured using an 11 point scale (0-10), where the proportion giving a rating of 0-6 is subtracted from the proportion rating 9-10, leaving the net promoter score. On a seven point satisfaction scale (extremely dissatisfied to extremely satisfied) you could take the proportion rating ext/very/quite dissatisfied from the proportion rating extremely/very satisfied (or even just extremely satisfied) as a proxy, as shown on the right.
• The drivers behind satisfaction and NPS, while usually similar, are often subtly different. For example, in financial services, competitiveness of products/interest rates is often a more important driver of recommending a brand than it is for a customer being satisfied overall. There are often (subconscious) differences in the weight product vs. service has in the mind of the consumer for these metrics, so understanding what the drivers of each metric are, and looking at changes in the scores behind them, can often explain why changes may be present in one measure but not the other.
• Media noise can also play a part. You might be very satisfied with a particular service experience – e.g. last time you spoke to the call centre or managed your account online – but you may have seen something in the media which deters you from recommending – such as huge profits, or advertising which really grates on you. You might then think twice before telling your friends about using this brand – although you might be very happy with your experience of them yourself.

Some sectors typically struggle to attract high NPS scores anyway – think finance or utilities, or other lower engagement categories. We’re seeing an increasing trend of customers being less likely to recommend brands, while remaining satisfied. You could hypothesise that in today’s climate people are just less inclined to recommend to others, and they would be looking for a really exceptional experience to drive them to put their neck on the line and recommend a company.

When was the last time you recommended a brand? For me, admittedly, it doesn’t happen often – I have to be really wowed to put my name next to a recommendation. Although I recommended my car insurance company recently – see my last blog to find out why!