The Net Promoter Score

The Net Promoter Score is a simple research technique that comes as close as you can get to a silver bullet.
CFM has used this clever technique to assess customer views on products, services and even professional association memberships. Our clients like the Net Promoter Score because it works. Here is what they say about the Net Promoter Score:

•     It is easy to understand;
•    Provides insights on what customers are thinking and saying about products and services;
•    Provides an excellent measurement of customer satisfaction;
•    Helps assess the most important product and brand characteristics;
•    Enables managers to focus on operational deficiencies;
•    Highlights themes that marketing, advertising and PR can use for promotion; and
•    Enables the entire organization to manage to strengths.

Created by the consulting firm Bain and Associates (Read: The Ultimate Question by Fred Reichheld), the Net Promoter Score measures how likely customers are to recommend a product or service using a zero to 10 scale.

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The Race for Speed

New research shows major corporations rely more on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube to convey their timely messages and less on blogging and podcasts. The reason is a race for speed.

Messages circulate faster on widely used social media platforms, especially Twitter, which has emerged as an essential tool for news aggregators and message advocates. Twitter and Facebook also are now mainstays in the toolkits of crisis communicators.

Blogs, video blogs, message boards and podcasts remain in the mix, but have leveled off in use and adoption because they typically take longer to produce and post. Wikis and MySpace have fallen into disuse by corporations.

These findings come from the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. It began benchmarking corporate use of social media in 2007 and has conducted annual studies since then. Study results are compiled from telephone interviews with the top 500 companies in the United States as listed by Inc. Magazine. Researchers said 34 percent of the top 500 companies participated in the survey.

If there is a general reluctance among businesses to embrace social media, the research shows that hesitancy isn't shared by the larger, fast-growing companies.

Not surprisingly, corporate use of social media has changed, even in the last 12 months, as business has evolved and —perhaps more important — as use of mobile technology has exploded, giving users real-time access to news and other content.

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Online Research Works If Done Right

When conducted correctly, online research can accurately collect opinions among voters, the general population and consumers.

Recently, New York Times reporter Nate Silver took to task an online voter survey conducted in South Carolina. Before Citing a Poll, Read the Fine Print.

Yes, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) is an appropriate cautionary note for any research. But what factors should decision-makers look for to determine if an online survey is valid or not.

CFM has found the following are key elements to conducting successful and accurate online studies.

• Cast a wide net for emails. For general population surveys we collect emails addresses from a variety of valid sources, such as e-billing, e-newsletters, website registrations and existing online panels. Using multiple sources for email addresses makes the final email list representative of the community.
• Diversify sources. If appropriate, use several online panels for community surveys. Each panel has its strengths and weaknesses. Using several sources helps avoid potential biases inherent in all commercial panels.

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Measuring Pints Good Way to Measure Minds

Don’t sweat the Smuttynose vote. Win or lose the Republican primary vote in New Hampshire today, MItt Romney can say he swept the CNN barstool survey this weekend. Not bad for a non-alcohol drinking Mormon in a state that loves its beer.

The former Massachusetts governor held a commanding lead in CNN’s highly informal and non-scientific “average person in the pub" survey.

Close on Romney's heels, Texas Congressman Ron Paul appeared to pull in the vote of fans of Shipyard Brewing of Portland, Maine, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich saw support from Coors Light and Dos Equis enthusiasts.

For those who say “Make mine a Smutty,” few advocates of Smuttynose Brewing of Portsmouth, N.H. let their voices be counted. (Smuttynose is named after a small island in the Isles of Shoals off the boundary between Maine and New Hampshire.)

Romney collected most of the fans of Sam Adams (of Boston), but former ambassador Jon Huntsman had at least one vote from a devotee of Sam Adams’ chocolate cherry bock.

The barstool nose count offers a fresh perspective on research. Just wait for the Oregon primary. There will be fewer candidates but more brews to cover. Bottoms up!

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Ask and They Will Tell

Verizon Wireless is the latest corporate culprit to learn the hard way it is better to listen before acting.

The 24-hour turnaround by Verizon Wireless on a proposed fee for online transactions showed good sense, but it still scarred its reputation. How hard would it have been for the marketing department to conduct a couple of focus groups to test consumer reaction to the fee? Video footage of consumers who pay online saying "no way" should have been enough to convince C-suite officials to scrub the fee – before announcing it.

The tone-deaf Verizon Wireless move is all the more puzzling because, not long ago, Netflix and Bank of America committed the same kind of klutz. Bank of America faced customer rebellion and ditched its proposed $5 per month debit card fees. Netflix watched its subscriber base shrink in the face of what consumers viewed as a huge price increase for bundled online streaming and home delivery of movies. A CEO apology for failing to listen didn't seem to help much.

Companies need to raise prices from time to time to cover their rising costs. The key is to think about how to position increases so consumers believe they are getting additional benefit. That's where active listening comes in. Consumers can offer clues about what they value.

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