Nov 20
I was recently asked the question about how do you prove that measuring NPS is worthwhile (or any other loyalty metric). It was an interesting and good question but it is sort of like asking how do I prove that love is better than not having love. I know, I know… an odd example perhaps but also ephemeral to prove or disprove. Here is what I think about that (NPS not love – I’ll save that for another post):
Customer loyalty (or even the power of recommendation) itself is not what needs to be proven, we know it exists and operate on it many times when we make purchasing descisions, whether they are business or personal choices. What needs to be proven is how you can use measuring customer loyalty to actually drive positive change that not only results in growing your business but also in an improved customer experience. This actually comes down to the ability to monetize the value of score because money really does talk in this case. You have to be able to link the lifetime value, likelihood to recommend, frequency of recommendations and repurchase together to build a financial and customer focused picture of how your customers behave and what engages their loyal behavior. It can be done and I have done it, so I know it works. The interesting thing to me is how many times companies don’t take it this extra step, which enables you to make actionable business cases for change that benefits both customers and the business. Food for thought…
Tags: Communication, Customer Experience, Loyalty, Net Promoter Score
Nov 17
The Tea Fire here in SB is finally under control (I call it at 80% – I know that’s not a 100% but that is pretty darn good compared to completely uncontrolled). I don’t know about others, but I struggled with how to feel all weekend. On the one hand I felt so happy that we didn’t end up having to evacuate, much less lose our home. On the other hand, I felt so awful for those who did lose their homes (no lives lost, fortunately) and I ended up sneezing and wheezing all weekend from allergies to the air quality, which added a layer of yuck to the whole thing. It was a crazy surreal weekend, filled with thoughts like… is it okay if I decide we will still go out to eat this weekend, like we do as a family just about every weekend? And yes, we did go out to eat. And we saw a lot of others do the same but there was more greetings and “is your home safe? I am so glad to see you!” even from the staff. What amazing grace and strength we have as human beings, what wonderful small tales will go untold during this tragedy. So I can embrace the feel good and feel bad at the same time. Guess that just makes me human (-:
Tags: Change, Family, Health
Nov 11
Today, we get a call, bright and early from my daughter’s new pediatrician’s office letting us know there was a cancellation in the schedule tomorrow and could we please move our original appointment for our daughter’s annual well child from January 2009 to tomorrow. Now, to put this into perspective, we don’t know this doctor yet, that’s part of the plan for this visit. And now, we have a last minute switch. Well, I am a fortunate woman because my husband is a fantastic stay at home dad but there’s a line here right? What things are musts vs. nice to have when it comes to your child’s life? It’s not a lack of trust in my husband, it’s really about wanting to be present for certain things. So what do I do… I frantically go through my afternoon schedule and beg for patience while I reschedule the block of time so I can be there. Because it’s important to be present as part of the balance, in my view. Some choices and tradeoffs have to made, I know that but this time, I was lucky, because I could manage the last minute reschedules – next time I might not be so lucky. But for this week, I made it.
Tags: Balance, Family, Work