Not everyone understands one of the easiest and most useful metrics called Net Promoter Score (NPS). Here’s a dummy’s guide.
The Basics
NPS measures outcomes. It is a single number that goes from -100% (meaning everything is awful) to +100% (everything is marvellous).
The heart of NPS is to establish what people would say to others about you. The higher the score, the more likely they are to speak highly of you and recommend you to others.
How to Gather NPS Feedback
The core of the question you need to ask is “How enthusiastically would you recommend us?” on intuitive 0-10 scale. If you ask a second question, “Why?” people will explain the main reasons why they gave that score. Due to the simplicity, NPS data can easily be collected through SMS text messaging, email, web forms, feedback cards or through call centres.
Calculating NPS – Promoters and Detractors
People who score 9 or 10 are called promoters (these are people who would talk highly of you). People who score 6 or less are called detractors (these are the people likely to speak badly of you). To calculate NPS simply take the percentage of people who are promoters less the percentage of people who are detractors. People who score 7 or 8 are called ‘passives’ or ‘neutrals’ and aren’t taken into consideration when calculating the NPS score.
How is it displayed?
It can be displayed as a simple number, but also graphically displayed like this:
What would an NPS questionnaire and report look like?
Here’s a simple feedback card and a colour-coded report which displays the results and comments for each promoter, neutral or detractor.
So in this example, one tickbox for the 0-10 score and area for comment is all that is required. In the report, the NPS, average, score breakdown and comments are instantly available as a real-time report.
Why you should consider NPS over traditional satisfaction metrics?
- It’s a much easier metric to understand by anyone. People ‘get it’ easily.
- It can be quickly deployed anywhere, in hospitals or in the community.
- When used it quickly drives improvements.
- Being simple, it’s easier to engage patients and hear their voice.
The down side of NPS
Well, it’s upside is its simplicity. The downside is its simplicity. It is never designed to provide complex analytics without performing textual analysis on the comments. So if you need lots of metrics, NPS is not suitable and you should rather go for a satisfaction survey instead. Also, if the object is to collect lots and lots of data, it’s easier to analyse questionnaires with lots of questions rather than one or two. If however, you need actionable insight, NPS is worth considering.
