Promoters
This is How Companies Use Them with the Net Promoter System®
Which entrepreneur doesn't dream of customers not just buying their products but supporting, or even better appreciating the guiding principle behind the product, the company's internal philosophy—or best of all—being true fans of the company, the brand, and the product?
A promoter is a buyer who purchases from personal conviction and attracting such customers should be a company's ultimate goal. Not only in Marketing and Sales but in departments throughout the company, the aim should be to target promoters as buyers. What is necessary for this? A high level of customer satisfaction, which in turn strengthens customer loyalty.
Promoters in Detail
A friend overflowing with enthusiasm drags you into a newly opened shop that represents a well-known brand. She has been impressed by them for years and now wants to bring the whole company closer to you. She demonstrates one product after the other enthusiastically until she is interrupted with a laugh: "Are you getting money for this promotion, or are you doing it for free ?!"
When a brand really excites a buyer, your expectations are exceeded and the purchase puts a satisfied smile on your face, then it is all too understandable that you want everyone you know to be part of this experience. And that is exactly what smart entrepreneurs can take advantage of! Anyone who only thinks of cheerleaders swinging pompoms when they hear the term promoter is not entirely correct. A promoter can also act much more inconspicuously and still have a significant impact on the company's success.
Definition: What is a promoter?
Buyers who are really enthusiastic and convinced of a product or service and recommend it to friends, family, and acquaintances are referred to as promoters. The term can also be understood as supporters, advocates, or sponsors.
The Importance of Promoters in the Net Promoter System
Promoters became known primarily through the Net Promoter Score® (NPS®). The Net Promoter Score metric measures customer satisfaction, as only very satisfied customers recommend a company, brand, or product to others. Therefore, the willingness to recommend allows conclusions to be drawn about current customer satisfaction. The question to determine the Net Promoter Score is:
How likely are you to recommend the company/website to a friend or colleague?
The interviewed customer answers on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being very unlikely and 10 being very likely. Promoters are defined as those that give a value of 9 or 10.
How do Customers Turn into Promoters?
Customers are people who have bought or used a company's product or service. In marketing, customers are referred to as actual or potential buyers in a market or as a person who concludes a deal with an opposing party. This definition has a great advantage: It encompasses employees or sub-contractors and classifies them as a type of clientele—and that can be a real eye-opener for entrepreneurs who have not previously viewed their employees from this point of view.
Why this is so important can be seen in companies that look after their employees every day. These employees speak positively about the respective company in public, enjoy going to work, are friendly to customers, and stand up for the company's values. The employees are thus also promoters of the company.
If you call all of these people customers, you can already imagine that various factors are necessary in order to turn them into promoters. In other words, the company has to offer something and think about measures to meet—or better yet exceed—various customer expectations. Only in this way can one fulfill and also increase satisfaction. For simplicity, we break these expectations down as follows:
How can Detractors turn into Happy Promoters?
Understandably, when evaluating the Net Promoter Score®, it is more fun to listen to hymns of praise than to read through the reviews of dissatisfied customers. But critics hold great potential as they often reveal weaknesses that a promoter may otherwise overlook. Detractors, on the other hand, do not know such flattery, and their criticism is ruthless. After all, they do not (yet) bind emotions to the company.
This is exactly a great opportunity for the company: If you show that you take the feedback seriously, that you react in a friendly, empathic, and understanding manner, and that you are ready to improve or that you can admit mistakes, you can often win over detractors. Sometimes simply apologizing to detractors and thanking them for the feedback can often put them in a milder mood. Because they have such low expectations of the company that this first communication is often the first step in convincing the critics of the company—and thus taking a step to turn detractors into promoters.
The Role of Promoters in the Net Promoter System
Promoters can be useful for companies in two different forms:
- Promoters provide important feedback
Since promoters are usually emotionally attached to the company, they can provide valuable insights with their feedback. They generally show a high willingness to give feedback on what companies can use by involving them in tests for new products or processes.
If a promoter expresses criticism, it is important to take it very seriously because if the criticism fades away into nothingness, one can expect that the promoter will quickly become an indecisive buyer—who could even move away. Nothing fizzles out as quickly as enthusiasm for a company. After all, this voluntary connection is based on emotions that the customer has for the company, and this so-called customer loyalty must be earned over and over again. - Promoters can be used to recommend on rating portals
Positive feedback provides the perfect material to feed review portals. Online rating portals in particular are the first point of contact for many people who want to find out more before making a purchase. They put their trust in credible, authentic reviews from other buyers and include these reviews in their considerations.
This means that if you collect a lot of good and credible reviews from your customers, you can use them to attract additional prospects and first-time buyers. If you can convince this group of your achievements as well and reflect on efficient customer acquisition, you will succeed in winning over and over again new repeaters and many fans and new promoters. With the integrated experience management platform zenloop, promoters are automatically forwarded to review portals.
Closing-the-loop with Promoters
Gathering feedback with the Net Promoter Score is an ongoing process, a cycle that should never be left unfinished. “Closing-the-loop” is the marketing keyword that means nothing other than always closing the cycle that has started. With the Net Promoter Score, this means that the negative feedback received is analyzed for the problems described and the critics are called back or otherwise contacted. The aim here is either to eliminate the problems immediately or to provide feedback on the criticism in some other way.
This Closing-the-Loop in the Net Promoter Score guarantees that customers feel that they are being taken seriously, which has a positive influence on their attitude towards the company. In the case of promoters, this specifically means:
- Forwarding them to review portals
- Thanking them for positive feedback
- Dealing with complaints and contacting customers individually if necessary
„Closing the Loop” – an NPS® Guide
The Best is Yet to Come
Thanks to their recommendations, promoters are an indispensable part of every business. That is why Management, Marketing, Sales, and even the Human Resources department attach great importance to customer satisfaction—and as shown, these are by no means just the buyers. After all, employees also play a major role in the impact a company has on potential customers.
Anyone who manages to get an overview of their personal promoters and detractors through targeted feedback with the Net Promoter Score can use it specifically for their own business in order to continuously improve it and to win new customers through authentic reviews. But this requires some basic knowledge and also the willingness to undertake an entrepreneurial/mind change. Only when a company holistically focuses on its customers can their constantly changing expectations be met (or better yet, exceeded)!
Exceeding expectations is not only a guarantee for economic success but also a factor for a high level of employee satisfaction, a positive, authentic external and internal image, and a holistic company mission statement that all employees can experience. This makes a company a place of well-being for all customers and employees!