(2017-12-21) Net Promoter Score Considered Harmfuland What Ux Professionals Can Do About It

Net Promoter Score Considered Harmful (and What UX Professionals Can Do About It). Even though NPS has been solidly debunked in many smart research papers, it’s still solidly embedded into many businesses. We hear about companies rolling out new NPS measurement programs every day.

Stephen Bennett when he was CEO of Intuit: “Every business line now addresses [NPS] as part of their strategic plan; it’s a component of every operating budget; it’s part of every executive’s bonus. We talk about progress on Net Promoter at every monthly operating review.”

An average gives a far better view into what’s happening with the numbers. It’s just as simple and reveals important improvements.

Yet, averages only work when the data makes sense. Unfortunately, the way respondents interpret the NPS question creates a data set that doesn’t make sense.

NPS uses an 11-point scale. That’s a large scale with a lot of numbers where the distinction isn’t clear. You and I could have the exact same experience, yet I’d give it a 7 and you’d give it a 6. Is there a meaningful difference?

In the original HBR article, the author claimed it correlated strongly with repeat purchases and referrals. Later studies show it doesn’t. Here’s why not: The best research questions are about past behavior, not future behavior

If we were truly interested in understanding someone’s loyalty, we could ask a different question: In the last 6 weeks, have you referred us to a friend or colleague? This, in fact, is the exact question Netflix asked its customers during its early years.

For years now, we’ve embedded the NPS question into our qualitative research studies, asking participants to explain their rationale for the scores they gave. Our top finding is people don’t understand the question.

Improve your results by asking the question later in the user’s flow. An ideal gaming technique is to ask the question after a successful task completion, such as a purchase.

Another trick is to ignore response rates.

NPS believers tell us no implementation ever asks only for the number. Every smart implementation follows up with a qualitative question, asking why?

To these NPS proponents, I tell them that it’s great they are getting this valuable data. Why should they bother with the score question at all?

If I can’t use NPS, I need another number. I need a number that tells everyone how we’ve improved.”

What could we do instead? Here’s some alternatives:

How delighted or frustrated were you today?

I don’t think it matters, assuming what you’re truly interested in is the next question or some variation:

What would’ve made it better?