The Net Promoter Score (NPS) – Data Collection Methodology DOES Matter

It seems everyone is “familiar” with NPS.

Many utilize this metric to continuously measure customer loyalty. Next, analytics is incorporated to correlate those independent drivers that move the needle to better understand the ups and the downs of loyalty. Then, internal changes are implemented to further enhance the customer experience…which increases customer loyalty. 

Makes sense, right???

Well…There is a current beneath the surface of this mode of data collection. These days – most data collection is online…and there are many great reasons for this (don’t get me started).  That said, this does create some bias and doesn’t always tell the whole story.

Our founder, Dave Sparks, always said – individuals who complete mail surveys (not entirely the same as online, but these days it kind of is) are older…and madder.

As we looked at four years of actual real consumer monthly satisfaction and loyalty tracking survey data, we dove deeper to see if this held true by looking at various loyalty, satisfaction, and ease questions by survey methodology: Telephone vs. Online.

Well, guess what we uncovered…

NPS, Ease of Working with the brand and Overall Satisfaction of the brand Top Two Box (9’s and 10’s on a 10-point scale) scores are significantly higher for telephone when compared to online….to the tune of roughly 12% to 14% higher at the aggregate level.  THAT is a lot and VERY important.

We also found…

Significantly higher proportions of respondents 55 years old and older complete online surveys when compared to those under 55 years old.

So, why is that?  Before we answer– I’ll bet you have received an online survey for a car rental, or a hotel stay and I’m sure you received that survey in the form of an email asking for your opinions.  If all was “fine” with your recent interaction…did you complete the survey???  I’m guessing probably not, because…well it is work per se.

Now imagine if you received this email survey request when your hotel room had no hot water or smelled like something very unfriendly. This experience could leave you feeling angry/grumpy because I know it would do that to me. So now you get a chance to give them this feedback…angry feedback.   

“The consideration of how you collect your data is just as important as the metrics that you are measuring and analyzing.” 

As researchers we find conducting online surveys fairly easy, fast, and inexpensive. But for respondents – completing a survey is work and can be time consuming.  Telephone surveys on the other hand almost fall in your lap.  You don’t have to do anything – you listen and answer questions.

Side Note: Telephone surveys will ALWAYS capture richer verbatim feedback. Typing a long response online about why you rated your satisfaction as a 7 usually results in a “It was good” type of response.

Now this is where we believe the mode of data collection is so important because, again, we have seen it happen with actual real data. If you don’t include telephone surveying as part of your data collection methodology, you aren’t receiving a true representation of customer feedback. Now, let that sink in for a moment.

If you are tracking customer experience metrics with online surveys only, I’d invite you to test to see if this holds true. Perhaps blend online and telephone surveys (what we call Mixed-Mode) for a month or two and analyze the results.  You may be very happy you did. Remember, what we found is from several years’ worth of data!

The consideration of how you collect your data is just as important as the metrics that you are measuring and analyzing.  If given an opportunity to propose a customer experience program for any client, I’m always going to strongly recommend a mixed-mode (telephone AND online) survey methodology if it is feasible.  Don’t forget – based on our findings, your customer sentiment may actually be higher than you think!  Now, let that sink in for [more] than a moment.

Serenity Now

We don’t always have control over our workload. Ideally, our day is full of fulfilling, interesting, meaningful, and enjoyable tasks. However, at times our work can be stressful, irritating, overwhelming, and/or boring. Most of the time I can handle all tasks with a calm, composed demeanor and a smile on my face because I’m nothing if not a complete professional. I’ll share some tips on setting up your environment to improve your mood and insulate yourself against negative reactions to work stress that have been helpful to me.

It helps to set up my environment in a way that is sensorily pleasant and comforting. Here are some ideas to use your six senses to reduce stress, increase calm, and/or self-soothe when you feel upset.

Sight.

• Your office should have comfortable lighting to minimize eye strain.

• Have pictures or other items near your desk that are pleasant for you to look at. For example, I have Frank Costanza taped to my monitor, and looking at him keeps me from screaming out loud.

• Adjust your display settings to reduce blue light and/or wear blue light blocking glasses.

Hearing.

• If you can, listen to music while you work. Make playlists to improve your mood and/or help you concentrate. Music with lyrics can be distracting, as it engages the same parts of your brain that you need to retain and comprehend information, but it can be used to elevate your mood! For concentration, classical and instrumental music without lyrics is best.

• Turn on white noise to drown out distractions.

Taste.

• Have favorite snacks, drinks, treats, or gum on hand.

• Have strongly flavored gum or candy to distract yourself from an unpleasant situation.

Touch.

• Have a fan or heater nearby if the office temperature is not optimal.

• Wear comfortable clothes and shoes.

• Have a swatch of material and/or some stones that are pleasant to the touch.

Smell.

• Wear your favorite perfume.

• Spritz your face with rose water.

• Keep a diffuser or scented candles at your desk.

Note: Be careful with this one if you share office space with others, as your favorite scent may not be pleasant to others (or even trigger a migraine). In this case if you need an olfactory boost, see if you can step outside or keep a scented item in your car.

Movement.

• Have some fidget toys to play with.

• Stretch your muscles.

• Do some jumping jacks.

There can be certain vulnerability factors that make us more susceptible to stress, making negative emotional and/or physiological reactions more likely to occur. People may react to stress with strong emotions (ex. anger, worry, sadness), or they may feel physically ill (ex. racing heart rate, sweat, pain).

When we feel emotionally overwhelmed, we may not be able to interact with our colleagues in a professional or productive manner, and we are prone to making mistakes. Dialectical Behavior Therapy suggests using TIPP skills to manage extreme emotions quickly and effectively.

Temperature.

Decreasing the temperature of your face has an almost immediate calming effect.

• Fill a bowl with cold water, hold your breath, and dip your face in.

• Put an ice pack on your eyes and cheeks.

• Splash cold water on your face.

Intense exercise.

If your body is revved up by emotion, a short burst of intense exercise will expend your body’s physical energy. Don’t overdo it – 10-15 minutes should be enough.

• Go for a run or a brisk walk.

• Jump rope.

• Dance.

• Do some jumping jacks.

• Go outside with a bowl of ice and throw ice against a (windowless) wall or at the ground.

Paced Breathing.

Breathing out more slowly than breathing in can reduce agitation and slow down your heart rate. Inhale for 4 seconds, pause, then exhale for 5 seconds. Repeat several times. If you feel lightheaded, take a break to breathe normally, then resume paced breathing. Try to focus fully on your breathing.

Progressive muscle relaxation.

Tense and relax each muscle group, one at a time, from top to bottom. Tense the muscles for 5 seconds, focusing on the sensation of tension in your muscles. Then fully relax the muscles and note the difference in how that feels.

Practice doing paced breathing and progressive muscle relaxation when you’re not distressed, and you’ll be able to recall and perform these skills with more ease when you need them.

Let’s Wrap This Up.

We spend so much time working either on-site or remotely. It’s a fact of life and not necessarily a bad fact as we are all in this together. We never know what one person is going through by reading an email, text, or seeing them on a computer screen – let alone in-person.  As stated earlier, most of the time we can handle all tasks with a fairly calm and composed demeanor, but it’s important to remember that some days/hours/minutes can be challenging…and that is okay – really okay.

Seinfeld Image ©Netflix

2022 Year In Review

Sparks Research marked its 51st year in 2022 with a number of projects that highlight the hallmarks of our approach: precision, insight, and timeliness. We provide companies of all sizes and in all industries with data comprehension and insights powered by best-in-class analysis, cutting-edge and flexible methods, and high-touch customer service.

Indeed, since our founding, we have translated marketing research findings into marketplace solutions for our clients. These findings include global Fortune 100 companies and leading national and regional companies in industries such as financial services, retail, automotive, professional services, utilities, higher education, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, manufacturing and general services industries.

In short:

The answers are here.

2022 Endeavors

We have been busy and 2022 was a great year! We added several new clients to our growing list in the higher ed, healthcare, energy, and financial services industries. Our new initiatives spanned the globe with several international and national survey engagements (consumer and B2B). We’ve also supplied some regional needs related to CX and brand health.

Our methodologies continue with online, telephone, mixed mode (online and telephone), QRE onsite surveys, online qual research and managed services (we are your Qualtrics programming experts). Our analytic offerings continue to grow as well, with CX/CES benchmarking and drivers, new product development (conjoint), pricing elasticity and defining ever-changing brand personas through segmentation analysis.

Our 6 Core Solutions

Our high-level and all-encompassing solutions allow Sparks Research to cover the range of the marketing research field for our clients.

We would welcome the opportunity to share more and to learn about how we can help you.

Happy Holidays to All!

As we here at Sparks Research begin to reflect on 2022, we are thankful that our existing relationships continue to grow, and that our new relationships allow us to grow.  

We are blessed with friends and family like you.

All of us here at Sparks Research extend our very heartfelt gratitude as we venture into 2023!

May God continue to bless you and your families.

Cheers!

The Sparks Team

Oh Maxims

1. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

2. Change is the only constant. 

3. Nothing ventured nothing gained. 

4. Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

5. You can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. 

6. You can’t boil the ocean (Ok, that is quasi-internal at Sparks, but you catch my drift!) 

Oh Maxims! It seems like they all are begging us to improve. We are on the constant search for our best selves. If we aren’t, then we should be! Now there’s a thought. 

 Here is a great example of a company striving to be better through change…  

In 1991 Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its official name to KFC. The biggest reason that the company changed the name was because the public, starting in the 1980s, was becoming more health-conscious and they wanted to play down the “fried” part of the name. The research suggested that people did not want to be reminded that what they were eating wasn’t as healthy as what the fat-free craze was suggesting/screaming to them! 

 What a brave move - right?!?! Well, you can bet they did a lot of research to come to this conclusion. Yes, it was a big move, but they knew it was a good move because they tested it through research. They did not run around, “like a chicken with its head cut off.” They had direction from the data. 

A question for us all… do we need a brand refresh on some level? 

Let’s end this the way we started. Oh Maxims…

 “Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching for what it gets.” - Henry Ford 

Cheers to your personal and business successes. 

- The Sparks Team 

If an email looks fishy…it probably is. This one example really shocked me on how crafty things are these days…. always be on the lookout!

About a month ago I got an email from someone that I haven’t chatted with in a long time. Actually when I saw his name, I thought, “Wow — it has been too long!”

The email was odd, though. All it said was “Hello! Please email me as I have an opportunity.” Well, this long-ago friend was a former client, so technically this could have been a new opportunity. But because I had not talked to him in a long time I thought the email seemed fishy. So instead of responding, I decided to email him directly. 

I went to Linkedin and emailed him to say hello and tell him that an email I received “from him” looked a little weird and within a minute I got a reply. Ok, I thought, lets see what he is up to — a new opportunity could be on the horizon. 

The reply was also weird. It said, “Hi, Rich. How are you? I sent it.” But, maybe he is busy, I thought, and that explains the truncated response. So I replied, “Things are good with me. How can I help you?” The reply was then, “I’m glad to hear that. Can you reply on my email. I am in a meeting.”

Now, I was obviously convinced that was weird, so I went a step further and called him. He answered and I immediately asked, “Did you email me today?” First thing out of his mouth was that he was hacked. 

So – imagine this: I get a weird email that seemed too short and odd AND THEN through LinkedIn, his network was also hacked. I could even see the little emoticons would light up within LInkedIn to show that “he” was typing his responses to me in real time — only it was NEVER him! 

I guess what really came to me is this: even though I feel like I have a good read on what is real and what isn’t, I learned a lot from this example and shared this story with everyone at the office. People can be hacked through multiple sources and while you think you are safe in chatting on one platform to verify that person sent an email, that isn’t enough anymore. This really blew my mind. Just imagine if I took the LinkedIn reply as legitimate and then emailed back like he asked? What then? 

This entire situation encapsulates my biggest fears today for online research. Each and every day there is someone learning how to better scam and impersonate a friend, colleague or a company. Who can you trust?  And, if people have more experiences like this, they are going to be less and less likely to participate in research needs — and that greatly concerns me. 

Aligning with customers to define better ways to communicate is imperative for research assignments. Sending a pre-survey communication is best served by identifying that a survey is coming, defining what the survey is about, introducing the survey company and then having a true contact name and email address from the company. Going a step further, identifying the upcoming survey internally so that all client relationship associates are also aware will help prevent panic from a legitimate request (if internal team members aren’t aware, things could become a mess). If budgets allow, the best way of all to communicate is through good old-fashioned mail correspondence (but when was the last time you received something in the mail?).

Lastly, it can become even trickier when companies attempt to collect data “inhouse” as well as carry on with their regular job responsibilities. Who has time to do this and watch out for sneaky scammers AND do real work? Be safe out there.

I Don't Cut My Own Hair

Have you ever thought of yourself as a coach?  It may surprise you that we all should! Each day we coach others whether we admit it or even realize it.

Hey, I am not an expert in EVERYTHING!  I can’t be, so I surround myself with those who are. I don’t “cut my own hair” or “cut my own grass.” These are NOT my fields of expertise! Not even close! However, I have been in marketing research for 26 years here at Sparks Research and a Fitness Coach for over 30 years. I still do not know it all, but I am constantly seeking knowledge in both fields AND surrounding myself within my fields of “expertise” with other “experts”.

I do not teach “BARRE” and I do not “Run tabulation” or “Calculate weights.” (At my fitness studio I do some different weight calculating, but that is for another day and another conversation!)

So why do companies who ARE NOT experts in data collection and data literacy attempt to collect and analyze their own data? It is just not smart. Do you cut your own hair?

Hmmm - You don’t have to hire Sparks Research BUT you must hire a Marketing research firm, “the experts!” Of course, you can always consult Sparks Research because... “The Answers Are Here.” I know a shameless plug - right!?

Cheers to being a coach in your field and to hiring and surrounding yourself with other field experts!

Putting Your Best Face Forward

Is this image distracting to you?

I have experienced a situation where a potential candidate for hire had on make-up very similar to this, possibly worse.  Now to be straight, there were many other things that went wrong with this interview! However, the distraction of such an overzealous make-up job created a situation in which it made it hard for me to concentrate on what really mattered; could this individual perform the necessary tasks to be successful in the position for which she was applying?

No matter how “fun loving” or carefree your personality is, this is not the first impression to make with a potential employer. If this is your inside self, mimicking art on the outside of your body (or your face) and you are someone walking down the sidewalk, I have no issue with you or your appearance and would likely find you to be an awesome individual. On the other hand, if I only have 15 to 20 minutes to spend with you in a workplace atmosphere in person or on a video conference in which we’ll be discussing pay rates, job duties, abilities, etc., I do not have time to parse the mental overload that such a distraction creates, in order to figure out if you’re just fun-loving, carefree, or artsy, instead of disturbed and full of drama. I need to find out all I can in a brief discussion and that is hard in any circumstance.  Now with Zoom and Teams as a “new” interviewing method there are even more distractions.  Am I on mute?  Oh my gosh does my hair really look like that?  Can she see that I have on bedroom slippers?  (and on and on)

Moving on, does this mean that people with face tattoos or ear gauges distract me, too? Honestly, the answer is no.  I am seasoned and feel I am really good at looking beyond the outside so I can get right to the meat of whether or not this person has all the skills necessary for the job at hand. Afterall, this is what I do!

So, I ask myself, “Why am I having such a hard time seeing the workplace potential of this one person?” Is it because of my own bias that she is wearing too much makeup? I have no clue, but I do know we all have our own personal biases whether we want to admit it or not. We can consider ourselves PC, cool, or unique, but somewhere, lurking in each of us is something distracting. We might not even know what it is in ourselves. I do know all I could think of during this job interview was that this candidate for hire should probably be auditioning to appear in Pagliacci instead of interviewing for this job position.

So, what is the purpose of this whole story?

For that one instance, when you are about to interview (if you are a person who likes to express yourself outwardly) take that one moment to express your desire for the job in which you are applying more. This is the long-winded version of simply a reminder - if you want, or even need a job bad enough, try to show that on the outside. I promise you won’t be considered a sellout. You may, however, be able to afford more make-up to continue expressing yourself once you get the job.