Turning NPS Detractors into Promoters: Strategies and Best Practices

Providing good customer service is a well-known necessity for most businesses. However, the ultimate goal is to convert your customers into loyal advocates for your brand. 

To achieve this goal, collecting customer feedback is essential. It provides valuable insights into customer satisfaction with your company and helps you improve their experience, ultimately turning them into loyal supporters. 

Customerly, our customer service solution, helps you measure customer loyalty with Net Promoter Score (NPS). 

Using our software, you can automate the creation and distribution of NPS email surveys, increase your email open rate and learn which customers are willing to refer your product to their friends.

You can define rules and filter customer feedback based on your top priorities and easily understand who are your brand promoters or NPS detractors.

Once you understand who NPS detractors are, addressing and resolving their discontentment is necessary to turn them into promoters.

To help you achieve this goal faster, in this article, we will provide a comprehensive guide to the strategies and best practices you can start implementing today to increase customer loyalty.

Let’s start with some basic information.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric that helps you identify how likely your customers will recommend your product to friends, family or colleagues.

Why is NPS important?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is important because it shows customer sentiments and gives you a benchmark for evaluating their experience with your company. It helps you identify areas for improvement and track progress over time.

Examples of NPS survey questions

To get a better idea of what an NPS survey question looks like, here’s an example:

“On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?” 

This question is simple yet effective, allows customers to respond quickly and easily, and helps you gather valuable insights into your customers’ loyalty. 

Once you collect NPS responses, you can calculate the NPS score.

How to calculate NPS score and assess customer satisfaction

You can create customer surveys and determine the Net Promoter Score by subtracting the percentage of dissatisfied customers (detractors) from the percentage of satisfied customers (promoters).

1. Promoters are customers who respond with a 9 or 10, indicating they are highly likely to recommend the product or service.
2. Detractors are customers who respond with a 0 to 6, indicating they are unlikely to recommend the product or service.
3. Customers who respond with a 7 or 8 are considered passive and are not included in the calculation.

The NPS score can range from -100 to 100, with a higher score indicating a higher level of customer loyalty and advocacy for the product or service.

What is a good NPS score?

According to CustomerGauge, a good NPS score is 0 and above. Above 50 is excellent, and above 80 is world-class. The SaaS industry shows an average score of +36.

Net Promoter Score detractors are customers who are unhappy with your product or service and are unlikely to recommend it to others. 

They are more than just dissatisfied customers. They hold negative opinions about your brand and can spread that negativity to others. 

They give you a valuable opportunity to identify and address areas for improvement and convert them into brand advocates.

How do NPS detractors differ from passives and promoters? 

While NPS detractors can spread dissatisfaction, passives and promoters will usually keep their positive or neutral experiences to themselves unless they decide to improve your reputation through word-of-mouth recommendations.

Why do unhappy customers become detractors?

Here are some common reasons why customers become detractors:

• Unmet expectations: Detractors may have had unrealistic expectations or have experienced a product issue that resulted in poor customer experience.
• Poor customer service: Detractors may have had negative experiences with customer service, such as long wait times, unhelpful representatives, or the poor resolution of their issues.
• Poor product quality: Detractors may be dissatisfied with the quality of the product and have issues with features, functionality, or reliability.
• Unsatisfactory pricing: Detractors may feel that product or service price is too high for the value they received.
• Lack of communication: Detractors may feel uninformed about significant changes or updates and ignored when their feedback isn’t considered.
• Poor overall experience: Detractors may have had a negative experience in several areas of their interaction with your company.

Understanding their specific characteristics and addressing their concerns is crucial in turning them into promoters and improving your overall customer satisfaction.

The impact of NPS detractors on your business

Detractors may seek out alternatives to your business and discourage others from using your products or services, leading to a loss in revenue and a decline in customer loyalty. 

When your employees constantly deal with a negative feedback loop, it can affect their morale and job satisfaction.  

Dealing with negative feedback and resolving customer complaints can also take time and resources, reducing productivity and efficiency.

These are just a few examples of how NPS detractors can impact your business. Let’s discuss how to start with NPS surveys to understand your current situation and boost your customer satisfaction metrics.

With Customerly, you can assess customer loyalty by conducting NPS email surveys and discovering your promoters, passives, and detractors. 

Our customer satisfaction tool provides ready-made NPS survey templates to help you gather and analyze feedback from your customers regularly.

Open the Feedback section in the Customerly dashboard, click Net Promoter Score, and then choose “Enable NPS.”

In the NPS settings, define the audience to send your NPS survey. 

You want to get feedback as soon as your customers experience the real value of your solution. 

To better target your audience, we recommend defining it based on web sessions or creating a custom-defined event you trigger, such as a user subscribing to your service or a specific activation event.

Choose when you want to send your NPS survey. Click “Enabled” and then “Save.”

The recipients will receive emails with Net Promoter Score surveys, answer your question, and Customerly will calculate your score automatically.

It’s that easy! If you want to learn more about our NPS surveys, we recommend you read the following guides:

• How to send your NPS survey?  
• Manage the timing of Net Promoter Score  
• Insights into your NPS results
• Understand the feedback from your customers with NPS

Join Customerly today and start turning existing customers into promoters!

Here’s a list of things you should remember when creating your NPS surveys.

Set a clear goal and purpose for the survey

Think about what you want to achieve with the survey and how to use results to improve customer experience.

Ask the right questions

To gain a deeper understanding of customers’ feedback, use Customerly to ask follow-up questions after a customer rates your product. 

You can also use Customerly to redirect your promoters to a review portal, such as TrustPilot, where they can share their positive experiences publicly. 

It helps encourage others to engage with your product or service.

Choose the right timing

The best time to send out an NPS survey is when customers have had a recent experience with the product or service. It allows you to capture their true feelings and genuine feedback.

Make it easy for loyal customers to respond

One way to do this is to ensure that the surveys are easy to understand. Create straightforward questions and use simple language. Send short questions so customers don’t get overwhelmed by the information they have to provide.

Ensure anonymity

Anonymity promotes honesty and openness in feedback and helps reduce social pressure, ensuring the customer feels comfortable sharing their opinions without fear of retaliation or negative consequences. It leads to more accurate and valuable feedback for your business.

Personalize the survey

Segmenting your NPS survey audience can improve personalization and relevance. You can target specific customer demographics based on their recent interactions with your business.

Analyze and act on the results

Identify trends in the survey results, note any areas that require improvement and take steps to address these issues. It could include making changes to the product or enhancing SaaS customer service.

Follow up with customers

As we mentioned, with Customerly, you can reach out to customers with a low NPS score to understand why they feel dissatisfied and those with a high NPS score to thank them for their loyalty. 

You can also create customized workflows based on customer responses.

For instance, you can set up a workflow to ask for referrals from customers who leave high ratings (promoters). 

Alternatively, for customers who leave low ratings (detractors), you can set up a one-to-one interview to better understand their concerns and work towards resolving any issues they may have had. 

You can engage with your customers in a more targeted and meaningful way, building stronger relationships and improving overall customer satisfaction.

Continuously monitor and improve

Regularly monitoring NPS allows you to identify trends and detect potential issues early on, making it easier to resolve them before they escalate.

Now, let’s answer the critical question – how to convert detractors into promoters.

Learning you have dissatisfied customers can be positive if you know how to turn them into promoters. Here are some suggestions on how to achieve this goal.

Provide exceptional customer support

Ensure your team has top-notch customer service skills and is easily accessible. 

A dedicated phone line, email address, live chat software, or active social media page will help customers get in touch with you quickly and efficiently when they have a question or problem. 

To go even further, you can implement customer service automation, one of the best-known Customerly features that will allow you to boost your customer service metrics.

Offer personalized solutions

To provide personalized solutions, you must monitor customer journeys carefully and assess their experiences with your product.

For instance, if a customer needs help setting up your product, a customized solution could involve providing them with a detailed guide that walks them through the setup process.

Offer product upgrades 

Upgrades include new features or improving existing ones, providing customers with a better user experience and increased value from the product.

Upgrades also help address any bugs or technical issues customers may have encountered, improving the reliability and stability of the product.

It helps customers stay current with the latest technology and gives them a reason to stay engaged and interested.

Enhance product features

Enhancing product features is vital for customer satisfaction because it improves the user experience, increases the product’s value, meets changing customer needs, and promotes customer loyalty. 

Regular updates and improvements show your commitment to delivering high-quality products and services.

Educate customers and provide learning resources

Providing detailed product information in the form of a knowledge base will help customers better understand how to use and get the most out of your product, leading to increased satisfaction with their purchase. 

Using Customerly, you can enhance your knowledge base by identifying missed searches that customers may be conducting. It helps you create additional articles to address the gaps in your current knowledge base and provide more relevant information.

They can resolve issues independently without needing assistance from customer service, which leads to a more convenient and satisfying experience.

Use customer feedback to drive innovation

Collect feedback through in-app surveys, video live chat, focus groups, and online reviews, then analyze the data to identify trends and common issues. 

Use this information to inform product development and make data-driven decisions.

Create a customer-focused culture

A customer-focused culture places customers’ needs and satisfaction at the center of all business decisions and actions. It prioritizes empathy, consistency, and responsiveness and increases trust and loyalty.

Invest in employee training and development

Well-trained employees are more confident and capable, leading to improved decision-making and problem-solving, which further improves communication, helps resolve customer issues more efficiently and effectively and leads to stronger customer relationships.

Implementing an employee recognition platform can enhance this process by acknowledging and rewarding employees for their dedication and contributions, thereby fostering a culture of continuous improvement and motivation within the organization.

Utilize technology

By implementing advanced solutions like Customerly, you can eliminate misinterpretations and track comprehensive customer experience data in one central location. 

You can monitor customer interactions, identify trends and areas for improvement and understand how to increase customer satisfaction.

Engage with customers regularly

You can set up and use live chat triggers to engage with your customers effectively and keep them interested in your product. With Customerly live chat engagement, you can welcome new users, share product updates, recover pricing page abandons, and encourage user feedback.

Since we covered some ideas on how to turn detractors into promoters, let’s share some tips on measuring the success of your efforts.

Tracking NPS detractors over time

Suppose you notice that specific customer segments consistently give negative scores or that customer sentiment decreases over time. You can use this information to design targeted strategies for addressing issues of these customer groups.

Assessing the impact of initiatives to improve NPS

It is essential to understand the effectiveness of initiatives by measuring changes in customer sentiment, behavior and attitudes before, during and after the implementation. 

You can combine insights from quantitative metrics such as customer retention rate, customer lifetime value, and Net Promoter Score (NPS) to determine if there is a trend of improvement or decline.

Measuring the customer experience beyond NPS

If you want to turn your customers into loyal brand enthusiasts, you need more feedback beyond NPS. 

Apart from NPS surveys, Customerly allows you to create several other types of surveys that focus on customer experience, such as

• Customer effort score
• B2B SaaS usability survey
• Product review survey
• Product improvement survey
• Feature relevancy survey
• Customer churn survey

These are only some of the options at your disposal. So why wait?

Start your free trial to collect customer feedback in minutes.

Balancing short-term and long-term NPS goals

Creating a balance between short-term and long-term NPS goals can benefit your business. Short-term goals help ensure customers are happy and satisfied in the present, while long-term goals focus on creating a lasting relationship with customers.

Using NPS data to inform business decisions

NPS data lets you understand customer perception. You can make informed decisions about improving the customer experience, attracting and retaining customers, and optimizing customer service initiatives.

Continuously refining and improving the NPS process

It is essential to continuously refine and improve the NPS process to ensure that the survey results accurately reflect customer sentiment.

For example, if the survey question is too vague, the responses may be too broad and difficult to interpret. Similarly, if the survey is too long and cumbersome, customers may be less likely to complete it.

Though NPS detractors are survey respondents who have had a negative experience with your brand, you can use their potential to foster your business growth. 

Applying the strategies and practices described in this article will help you turn NPS detractors into promoters, improve the customer experience and make your customers happy at every stage of their journey. 

Customerly is an excellent tool to help you achieve that goal. Our features go far beyond creating NPS surveys and measuring NPS scores. 

We provide you with a robust SaaS customer service platform, marketing automation tools, and onboarding software for SaaS.