10 Actionable Tips To Improve Your Net Promoter Score (NPS)

In the world of customer service, Net Promoter Score is a wildly popular metric. Everyone’s heard of it. Many service teams track it religiously.

But few people know how to improve it.

So what do you need to do in order to improve your NPS?

Well, remember the formula for NPS:

% of promoters – % of detractors = NPS

At the most basic level, you need to turn more customers into promoters and eliminate detractors.

This can sound intimidating. Where do you even begin?

Don’t worry, it’s not rocket science. With the right approach and execution, you can boost your NPS in no time.

How can you improve your Net Promoter Score?

Unfortunately, there is no magic Net Promoter Score button. There are, however, a number of best practices you can implement to improve your NPS. It takes time, effort, and energy, but if you track your NPS and care about customer loyalty, then working to improve it will pay off.

1. Be transparent.

Make sure your whole company knows about your NPS, what it means, and why it’s important. If you have a low NPS, it’s a company-wide issue. Nurturing promoters needs to be a group effort.

2. Get other departments involved.

Especially sales and marketing. Encourage your sales team to think about ways they can improve communication with potential customers. Ask your marketing team if there’s anything they can do to get customers more excited about your business. Featuring case studies on your website can be effective — customers will appreciate the extra attention. You can even use marketing automation to improve your NPS.

3. Refine your brand.

Does your company have any unique or powerful values that resonate with customers? It should. Finding ways to establish real connections with customers is essential to growing your brand. If you have a unique company culture, consider making a culture deck to show it off. If your brand is lacking, you may need to take drastic measures, like Comcast’s customer experience transformation.

4. Encourage sharing on social media.

Make it easy for customers to promote your brand by lowering the barrier to entry. Hold contests or ask questions to increase engagement. There are numerous customer service statistics that prove that customers are more likely to share negative experiences than positive ones. Brainstorm creative ways you can incentivize customers to share their positive experiences.

5. Create a customer advocacy program.

This will help you turn more customers into promoters through personalized interactions. Your goal should be to build a community where customers hang out. You can use software like Influitive to scale your efforts. Come up with creative tasks that customers can complete to receive points or rewards. Offer irresistible prizes for referrals.

6. Ask promoters for suggestions.

These customers will be happy to help you out. Find out why they feel connected to your business. See if there’s anything they’d like you to do differently.

7. Get feedback from detractors.

These customers have valuable ideas about what exactly you can do to improve. Take their criticisms to heart and work relentlessly to meet their requests.

8. Focus on your high detractors.

These are people who responded 4-6 to your survey — they are borderline passives (people who respond 7-8). Improve the customer experience for these people and strive to convert them into passives.

9. Improve front line customer service communication.

Make sure your customer service reps are making customers feel appreciated and human. Personalize the service experience for your customers. Call them by their first name. Ask them how their day is going. Be genuinely interested in them. Show them that you truly appreciate and value their business.

10. Develop your product.

Maybe customers aren’t willing to promote your business because your product is lacking. Make sure your product meets the wants and needs of your entire customer base. Conduct focus groups and visit customers to observe and analyze how people actually use your product. 

If you’re going to spend the time to track your Net Promoter Score, you need to actively and continuously try to improve it. By turning more customers into promoters and eliminating detractors, you will increase customer loyalty significantly.

Making an effort to improve your NPS will pay dividends for your entire organization. It may not be the only number you need number you need to grow — sales metrics and quick ratio matter, too — but it is one of the most popular ways of surveying customers and gauging their loyalty.

Look at other customer service metrics, like first response time, time to resolution, and average handle time, to get a fuller picture of your customer service team’s efficiency and effectiveness. It’s critical to analyze various metrics to identify areas where you can improve.

Have you used other tactics to improve your Net Promoter Score? Share your insights in the comments below.