I love Netflix. It is simple. You can start and stop it when you want. My recent experiences with my cable company have been the complete opposite. This poor Customer Experience is one reason I now use Netflix more than my cable company.

For those of you that don’t know, Net Promoter Score® (NPS®) represents the likelihood a Customer would recommend your product or service to other people (i.e., the higher the score, the greater the likelihood they will recommend).

The NPS® score has been around for years and has seeped its way into business vernacular. It has become a standard metric used to determine if your Customer Service and Experience improvements are effective. Harvard Business Review called it “The One Number You Need to Grow” way back in 2003. One of the frequent questions I get is, “Our NPS® is XX. How does that compare with the rest of the market?”

Well, there is a simple way of finding out the answer to that question: Speak to the man that knows!

Brendon Rocks is that man. He is the Head of Data Science (self-described as Chief Statistics Wonk) for Satmetrix, a company devoted to combining their software, data, and Customer Experience (CX) expertise to help organizations achieve Customer-Centricity. In their 15th annual Net Promoter® Benchmark Study, he gave a great presentation of some really interesting stats on NPS®.

So the question is, what can we learn about what works for Customer Experience by looking at trends in NPS®?  Quite a lot, it turns out. For example, Rocks has discovered that brands that have made providing a simpler Customer Experience their priority have performed “especially well” with regards to NPS®. So perhaps the most important thing we can learn is:

Simple experiences are king when it comes to NPS®.

Simplicity is part of the reason that Netflix has fared better in NPS® trends than cable companies. According to Rocks, the following brands do simple to success:

• Boost Mobile: They have the highest NPS® in the mobile service study, performing 33 points higher than Sprint, who own Boost and provides their infrastructure.
• Tesco Mobile: The UK-based mobile firm has a larger base of loyal Customers than O2, the telecommunications provider that Tesco rebrands for their Customers.
• First Direct, a phone and online retail bank in the UK, scored the highest in the UK study, 61 points higher than the HSBC, the bank that owns them.

Looking at the data, Rocks explains, “Technology companies have been superb at offering smooth customer experiences, and increasingly consumers want and expect to do business online. Comparing scores from Netflix and the cable companies’ in recent years has been interesting, especially in the context of cord cutting, and the PR war over Net Neutrality. It doesn’t look like the cable companies are winning.”

Simple is important to your Customers. Really Important.

What we can learn from this data is that Customers don’t want much hassle these days. They want it easy; they want it accessible; they want it smooth. There are many reasons for this, but perhaps the biggest is the concept of cognitive depletion.

Cognitive depletion refers to the amount of energy you have left to think about something, which, as the name implies, isn’t much. There is intuitive thinking, that doesn’t require a large amount of energy to do and rational thinking, which does require a lot of energy to do. complicated Customer Experiences do not appeal to the intuitive part of one’s thinking, and instead, require the less energy-efficient thinking of one’s rational mind. If a person is cognitively depleted (Read: tired), then they are far more likely not to participate and look for an easier path of resistance (read: your competition’s experience).

Who doesn’t feel cognitively depleted from time to time? And who hasn’t abandoned a purchase (online, via mail, in a store) because the next steps were just “too much?”  We all feel like this from time to time, and when we do, we appreciate easy. It’s why more and more people resort to ordering groceries online for delivery. It’s the reason people like setting up an Apple computer for the first time over a PC, and it’s why we prefer to bank online instead of going to a branch. We are a society of people who just want it simple. And the proof is in the NPS® data.

Rocks and I will be presenting more information from Satmetrix’s 15th Annual Net Promoter® Study in the upcoming webinar: “15 Years of Tracking Net Promoter®: What Have We Learned?” on September 24th at 12 p.m. EST. Rocks will share his insight on simple experiences, as well as other interesting trends and discoveries Satmetrix has made over the years.  Please CLICK HERE to join us for the Webinar.

If you enjoyed this post, you might be interested in the following blogs:

•   Case Study: Increase Your Sales by 47% By Doing This…
•   The One Question To Ask When Making Decisions
•   Have You Done These 3 Things to Improve Your CX?

Colin Shaw is the founder and CEO of Beyond Philosophy, one of the world’s leading Customer experience consultancy & training organizations. Colin is an international author of five bestselling books and an engaging keynote speaker.

Follow Colin Shaw on Twitter & Periscope @ColinShaw_CX

The post Key Learning from 15 Years of Net Promoter® Stats appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

September 26-29 I will be in Budapest! Fortunately for you, instead of strolling along the Danube after drinking plenty of pálinka (a local Hungarian spirit), I’ll be speaking at the 2011 Customer Experience Management in Telecoms Conference. I look forward to presenting “Seven Strategic Questions Critical to Improving Your Customer Experience” in person.

Although some of you may have attended my related CEM in Telecoms virtual webinar this past July, I invite you to join me to hear more. For a sneak preview of this presentation, please listen to my Q&A with the conference organizers via this podcast.

Over the past couple years, I’ve published books that establish the theoretical foundations of what we do at Beyond Philosophy: Building Great Customer Experiences, Revolutionize Your Customer Experience, The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value, and Customer Experience: Future Trends & Insights. While you could spend the time reading each of these books (which I certainly recommend for those of you who are serious about improving your customer experience), you also have the option of hearing the rules of the trade from my speaking engagements, like the upcoming CEM in Telecoms conference.

I hope to see you there.

The post Customer Experience: Palinka, the Danube, and Telecoms appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Following up on his speaking appearance at last year’s SXSW, we’ve put together a compelling proposal for Beyond Philosophy founder and CEO Colin Shaw to speak again this year. Now we need your help.

Crowd-sourced voting accounts for nearly one-third of every speaking proposal’s selection score. In other words, we’d like to ask you, our readers, to help us by voting for Colin’s submission on the SXSW PanelPicker. The more votes we get, the higher we score.

The process is easy:

1. Click here to register for a free SXSW account, which will allow you to vote on submissions. Don’t worry; it’s really simple and quick.
2. Once registered, visit Colin’s proposal, “Customers are irrational: Stop fighting it,” to vote.
3. Then simply click the thumbs-up icon so your vote can be registered.

I’d also like to encourage you to share this information with everyone in your network who values customer experience.

Thanks so much. We hope to see you in Austin!

The post Pick Me, Pick Me! Help Colin Shaw Get Selected for SXSW appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Colin attended the DMA event in Cleveland to talk about Customer Experience relating to three major trends: experience psychology, neuroexperience and social media.

Find out more about the DMA Cleveland

By COLIN SHAW | Published: FEBRUARY 9, 2011

The post Colin Shaw’s key takeaways from DMA Cleveland’s February luncheon appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Author: Colin Shaw

One of my favourite bloggers and marketing guru, Seth Godin, has brilliantly summed up the impact of customer loyalty:

“Loyalty is what we call it when someone refuses a momentarily better option.”

What is experience is your organisation offering to entice loyalty and maximise your customer retention? The business case for loyalty has been established for a long while now, and I have previously blogged about how Tesco reaps benefits of Customer Loyalty, and we have also written extensively on the subject:

The fundamental assumption of all the loyalty models is that keeping existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. However, great Customer Experiences will increase customer lifetime value and reduce costs. Long term customers tend to be less inclined to switch and also tend to be less price sensitive. This can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in sales volume.

Read our tips on How To Improve Customer Loyalty and make sure you read Seth’s full post on Loyalty. We’d love to hear from you on your experiences of Customer Loyalty – whats the organisation or brand you choose and to paraphrase Seth “momentarily refuse a better option?”

By COLIN SHAW | Published: JANUARY 28, 2011

The post What is Customer Loyalty? appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Alan brings over twenty years of strategic consulting expertise to the firm, having previously built and managed one of the top three brand strategy firms in the United States. He will be responsible for guiding Beyond Philosophy’s growth and presence in the US and managing client relationships.

“We are extremely pleased to have Alan Bergstrom on our team. He brings unparalleled experience and credibility in the field of strategic branding and customer experience consulting”, said Colin Shaw, CEO. “He has a successful track record helping some of the world’s top brands achieve significant results by designing and delivering compelling brand experiences. His expertise ideally complements the work we undertake with our clients.”

“It is great to join such a great company as Beyond Philosophy”, comments Alan Bergstrom. “They have made outstanding advances in the discipline of Customer Experience and are undoubtedly seen as the leaders in the field. I look forward to being a key part of their continued growth and success.”

Mr. Bergstrom holds a Master’s degree from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, Monterey, California and an undergraduate degree from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. He began his consulting career with the Naisbitt Group, the consulting organization of futurist John Naisbitt, author of Megatrends and Megatrends 2000. He also served as an intelligence officer in the US Air Force, where he prepared President Reagan’s daily global intelligence briefing.

Mr. Bergstrom established The Brand Consultancy in 1995 and guided the firm to its successful peak with three offices and a staff of 45 before selling his interest to his other partners in 2002. During his career, Mr. Bergstrom has been a frequent speaker and author, recognized as a leading authority on strategic branding issues, and has often been quoted and featured in the national press. Some of the organizations he has assisted include Holiday Inn Worldwide, Visa International, Saab Automobile, PNC, US Bank, Motorola, A&E Television Networks, Disney, Master Lock, National Geographic, HP, Transamerica, and Rabobank.

By BEYOND PHILOSOPHY | Published: OCTOBER 1, 2010

The post Top branding guru to head Beyond Philosophy US office appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

A Get Well Card for Healthcare Sectors: 
New Customer Experience Trend Tracker research reveals patient centered healthcare not taking care of patients emotional wellbeing

DATE

April 15th, 2010
4-5 pm UK; 11 am-12 pm ET; 8-9 am PT

SPEAKERS PANEL

Qaalfa Dibeehi, Chief Operating and Consulting Officer; healthcare management background includes roles with Schering-Plough pharmaceuticals, New York City public health; clinical background at Booth Memorial hospital (NYC).

Kalina Janevska, Emotional Signature® expert and project lead for numerous health insurer and pharmaceutical client engagements; Business Psychologist.

Colin Shaw, CEO, Founder, and author of three international bestselling Customer Experience books.

     Qaalfa Dibeehi       Kalina Janevska          Colin Shaw

In this webinar, you’ll learn from New Customer Experience Trend Tracker (CETT) international research on the current emotional experience of healthcare consumers, revealing interesting findings and insights on customer’s perception of the healthcare experience across four categories: Physicians, Insurance, Pharmaceutical, and Hospital.

•Understand how important emotional wellbeing is to healthcare consumers within each category within the general healthcare sector.

•Learn unique perspectives on patient centered healthcare from an emotional engagement point of view. Top positive and top negative emotions evoked.

•Learn interesting insight into the US health insurance debate – see the difference in emotional profiles between US (private only) and UK (public and private) health insurer. We’ll also review the emotional profile of the sector benchmarked against other industry sectors.

•Have an opportunity to participate by asking questions of the Beyond Philosophy thought leaders.

Register
To register please click here

By Beyond Philosophy | Published: March 29, 2010

The post WEBINAR – A Get Well Card for Healthcare Sectors appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Join us at the 2010 Net Promoter® Conference to hear Colin Shaw discuss findings of ground breaking research with London Business School that culminated in his latest book, The DNA of Customer Experience: How Emotions Drive Value. Colin will also reveal how all organizations have an Emotional Signature® and the massive effect of the subconscious experience.

Stay to hear best practices and innovative ideas from companies including American Express, Asurion, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Carolina Biological, Citrix Online, Cummins, CustomerBLISS, eBay, Experian, Export Development Canada, FirstService, ING, Ingenix, Jet Blue Airways, Kronos, Orange Business Services, Southwest Airlines, Symantec, TD Bank, USAA, Wright-Patt Credit Union, VeriSign, and 1-800-GOT-JUNK?

The 2010 Net Promoter® Conference has been produced by Satmetrix,
Sametrix has reorganized the break-out tracks this year for a more personalized conference experience. Case studies on Day 1 are organized into Getting Started, Intermediate, and Advanced Tracks and break-outs on Day 2 are grouped by industry.

Visit the Conference Website

Discount Registration
for Beyond Philosophy Referrals

We are pleased to offer $200 off regular conference price for our clients and their colleagues.

Enter discount code “ColinShaw” in the boxed marked “Promo Code” toward the bottom of the Request for Invitation form.

After receiving your request for invitation, you will receive a special discount email with a link to complete your registration with instructions for how to submit payment ($1595) and other conference details.

Request Special Discount Invitation to Attend

By Colin Shaw | Published: December 1, 2009

The post 2010 Net Promoter® Conference. New York. appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.

Annual Conference.

At the Brewery in London
23 and 24 March 2010

We are an associate of the conference offering our expert advice and support and Colin Shaw will be interviewing speakers live on stage on day two of the conference.

We are able to offer you, our customers, a 20% discount on the non-member rate saving you up to £220 on the full conference package.

To get the discount, simply go to the event website

www.customerserviceconference.co.uk

Click “book now” and enter the code: BPAC10 in the “Discount code” box of the online form.

Please click here to find information about the full programme and venue .

By Colin Shaw | Published: November 23, 2009

The post Institute of Customer Service Annual Conference. appeared first on Beyond Philosophy.