NPS Is BS and We All Know It

Is there anyone reading this who can reliably defend the way the Net Promoter Score is calculated, checked and used? As in genuinely defend it. Anyone who can say, hand on heart, “Yes, this measurement concocted 20 years ago by some random guy is one that gives us clarity regarding how we are doing as a company, predicts our growth and what a lucky coincidence, we can also use it to know both how our clients love us and how our employees do!” - I don’t believe there is.

We all know -or at least suspect if we won’t read research and measured arguments such as these laid out in this “Net Promoter Score Considered Harmful” article.

Now, why do we use it if it’s unhelpful and we all know it? Because we need *something*. We need to know how we are doing. Despite what the state of the feedback culture will have us believe, we all crave knowing how we do.

Measurements are essential. This article isn’t arguing against them, -how could it, seeing how we make a product that includes data- on the contrary, what I am saying is that we need real, worthwhile actionable data that is followed up with action and human work, not garbage data that tells us nothing. At PeopleNotTech we witness the crucial importance of data every day. The more people can see how their behaviours play out, the more likely they are they can enhance the positive ones and decrease the negative ones.

All of our clients that use our Dashboard where they can granularly see what each of their actions and interactions yielded, see massive gains and huge improvements when they get used to the cycle of data collection, analysis and then action. They need the data. It forms the bedrock of their behavioural change. That’s because it’s data that’s smart, it matters, it’s emotionally important and they find it truly valuable because they can see how to affect it. Neither can be said for NPS.