The Key Common Points of High NPS Companies

Think about high NPS companies that set the “benchmark” in terms of good reputations: Nike, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, etc. They seem to have skyrocketed out of nowhere (though some have been around decades) and hold their place as a “staple” for customers. What generates that consistent success? What makes customers so happy?A high NPS or Net Promoter Score indicates that a company has a high amount of enthusiastically happy customers who find consistent value in their product or service. A lot of “promoters”, or highly satisfied customers, means a lot of good press, peer recommendations, and high customer loyalty. How do these companies generate a high NPS and maintain superiority in the eyes of their customers?

Here are commonalities among high NPS companies with satisfied customers:

1. Easy-to-use products and services.

Their product offering is simple, easy to understand, and easy to use right away for their customers. Let’s take a look at high NPS companies like Amazon, Netflix, and Airbnb for example.

• Amazon: simple search and filtered review of products tailored to your search
• Netflix: tailored movies and series in an extremely simple interface on your laptop or TV
• Airbnb: a simple search of different rental types

Keyword: simple. The second you get to any one of these sites, what you’re supposed to do is clear. They even encourage you to take action and try out the service or product.  They are leading with a product-led approach to customer engagement and retention. And they can because their product and service is simple and clear as to what the value is. The more work and learning it takes to understand and use your product, the fewer satisfied customers you’re going to have. Of course, for some products that are more complex, there is a learning curve. But keeping it as simple as possible will always make the value of the product clear which is most important for creating satisfied customers.

2. Excellent customer service.

If you take a look at high NPS companies, they tend to have a really positive reputation with their customers not only for the actual product or service itself but also the team behind it. Customers talk when service is both exceptional and bad. In a world where everything is done automatically and online, strong customer service goes a long way and people appreciate it more than ever. A great example of great online customer service is Amazon. Everyone knows that on Amazon you can expect fast delivery, fast response times, and free returns. So despite being able to easily use the website yourself,  you can expect support when necessary. Another one is GoDaddy who has a 24/7 team ready to help you through tech issues. Despite being self-serve, which is a perk of SaaS, these companies give you the option of personal support and flexibility which can get lost in an online world. And people talk! These companies have built a reputation and loyalty with their customer service and customer support policies.

Here are ways you can provide great customer service for SaaS:

• A chat bot
• A help center with content to help customers with common issues
• 24/7 phone or online support

3. UX and features are intuitive and encourage engagement.

If you’ll notice, a lot of high NPS companies like Netflix, Amazon, Starbucks, Airbnb, and Tesla have “fun” and “sticky” features and elements that keep customers coming back, are easy to use, and boost engagement. Their interfaces and interactions with customers are intuitive.

Here are some examples:

• Netflix: When you login, you’re presented with fresh new, highly rated content and a visual stream of options tailored for you. You know to expect this and the “discovery” process keeps you coming back after finishing a movie or series.
• Amazon: Amazon makes it easy to search, compare, get others’ opinions, save for later, get suggestions, etc. all in one easy interface you’re familiar with.
• Starbucks: Starbucks is very good at interacting with their brand, getting the latest news on new drinks (which they consistently change) and ordering and earning loyalty points easy with their app. It takes less than 2 seconds to get your “regular” and have it waiting by the time you get there.
• Airbnb: You can scroll through simple listings and galleries in nice places, quickly view reviews, and create “wish lists” with everyone going on your trip in a really intuitive flow - with features that support the way you would naturally plan a trip.
• Tesla: Tesla has changed how people buy or consider cars with minimal “dealerships” and an online buying process that is like an eCommerce experience that customers are used to in 2020. You order online and your Tesla gets delivered like an Amazon package.

High NPS companies tailor their process and experience to be intuitive to what customers are used to.

4. They consistently innovate to their customers’ needs.

No stagnant company keeps loyal customers for too long. If you get something right, continue to listen to customers and learn how you can get more right. That’s what high NPS companies continue to do. There are always alternatives coming out of the woodwork, so companies need to constantly innovate to keep up. High NPS companies listen to customers’ feedback to better understand how they can improve their product and move quickly to do so. They collect customer feedback both directly and indirectly.

Here are ways you can collect valuable customer feedback:

• Use NPS survey tools to send out surveys and ask specific questions
• Watch how customers interact with your product and it’s features
• Monitor social media and support emails/calls

High NPS companies not only make changes and new features that fit what their customers want but they make sure that customers know about it. To keep customers engaged and in the loop as you improve your product, you have to effectively communicate changes to them. Beamer is a great way to do this. Instead of just sending emails that get a low engagement rate, show users how your product is improving within your product and on your website. Beamer is a changelog that can be opened from your product or website as a discreet sidebar and stand-alone page. You can announce updates to your product, new features, bug fixes, sales, etc. on Beamer. You can include photos, videos, GIFs, and CTAs to your updates to get users engaging with your product. You can also utilize push notifications to bring users back to your product when you announce new features. It’s a much more engaging way to make announcements and to ensure that your users see progress from your team.

5. They encourage word-of-mouth marketing and engagement.

With a high or even decent NPS, you should have a good number of promoters. Promoters are the customers who are seeing great value from your product and are most likely to share your product with peers. They are most likely to write a good review that drives qualified leads. They are great case studies to help you qualify your product. High NPS companies not only have a lot of promoters but they leverage promoters to bring in new customers and improve their product’s reputation. They leverage happy customers to encourage engagement.

Let’s take a look at Netflix, Amazon  and Airbnb for example:

• Netflix: Netflix is driven by customer recommendations, engagement and choices, and their reviews of movies and series. Netflix deliver customers the content that they will talk about. Word of mouth and recommendations are key to Netflix driving subscribers. To boost this initially, Netflix had a “tell a friend” program to leverage promoters but no longer need it because their customers do the talking themselves!
• Amazon: What is one of the first things you do when you check out a product on Amazon? Check the reviews. Amazon leverages ratings and reviews of products to sell more products and boost engagement with their customers. Amazon makes it easy to save products, build wishlists, and share products with other people.
• Airbnb: Airbnb encourages users to engage with the platform and get their peers to engage by allowing users to create “trips” with friends and add houses to wish lists that everyone can review. They make it very easy to share houses of the site and bring new users in.

This has an interesting effect on customers. Customers trust each other more than they do brand content and anonymous reviews. The more you can leverage the power of peer to peer marketing, the better as it's the strongest tool you have. With trust in your product comes the authority of your brand.

6. They personalize interactions with their product.

We’ve become spoiled online a bit thanks to social media. We’re used to algorithms creating experiences that are tailored for us. Customers expect that same with all interactions with your product. High NPS companies work to make customer experiences personal and tailored to what they want. The result is higher customer engagement, loyalty, and more intent to purchase.A couple of good examples of companies that really highly leverage personalization are Amazon, Nike, and Apple. It reflects in their NPS as well.

• Amazon: If you’ve ever had an Amazon account, this is obvious. They tailor recommendations, emails, notifications, deals, etc. Even your checkout and mobile experience is simple and easy because they save data on you.
• Nike: Nike has long been a champion of personalization, especially online. They encourage users to set up accounts with their preferences, sizing, etc. so they can track interactions both online and instores and make suggestions, offers, and a smooth omnichannel shopping and checkout experience. And it works! Nike was able to make an easy transition to all-online purchases during the 2020 pandemic as a result of their highly personalized effort.
• Apple: Apple has a really high NPS score for their industry of 47. They’re also excellent, like Nike, at omnichannel and digital personalization. Every interaction with the company as an Apple customer is personalized from your Apple ID to all of your customer support interactions  - in store or online.

You don’t have to be a retail/eCommerce giant to deliver personalized interactions with your team and product.

Here are other ways to deliver tailored experiences:

• Send tailored messages based on past interactions
• Use a CRM for customer support
• Use segmented updates on Beamer based on location, language, demographic, and past interactions

Overall, the way to high NPS is to deliver what helps makes customers’ work and lives easier and continually innovate to do so. That has stood true across industries and over time. For an easy way to track NPS while boosting engagement and learning from your customers, try Beamer NPS.