Net Promoter is both popular and controversial, so naturally we in Forrester’s customer experience (CX) research practice get lots of questions about it from CX leaders whose companies have adopted it or plan to adopt it in the future. Overall, we know that Net Promoter can effectively support CX efforts when companies implement it correctly. But we also know that correct implementation from a CX perspective is in no way a given.

Here’s what CX pros in particular should do to make sure that they ( . . . and their companies, and their customers . . . ) get the most out of the Net Promoter methodology:  

• Use the Net Promoter language to explain customer experience efforts. Perhaps the most valuable thing that Net Promoter provides is a clear language with which to discuss customer loyalty. CX pros can capitalize on any momentum around Net Promoter at the corporate level by connecting planned experience improvements to it. Wherever possible, explain how a change to the experience will help reduce Detractors or increase Promoters.
• Focus on the system more than on the score. The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is only valuable if it helps an organization improve customer loyalty. CX pros must ensure that they have a system in place to examine the drivers and root causes of NPS determination, identify the ones that are related to the customer experience, and initiate improvement efforts accordingly.

I just added up the time that I spent last week having frustrating interactions with companies as a customer: 1 hour and 10 minutes (roughly). I owe most of that to my wireless carrier, but a few other companies also made generous contributions. In each case, I ended the interaction feeling worse than when I’d started — edgier, tenser, and more negative in general. It’s not as if I could turn those emotions off either. Petty though they were, they lasted awhile. How did this affect my subsequent interactions with co-workers, friends, and family? I don’t know exactly, but I’m sure it made them at least somewhat worse. And the impact rippled out from there.

Not surprisingly, I’m not the only one feeling the social effects of bad customer experience. In a recent poll from the UK’s Universal Channel, Brits reported spending an average of 1 hour and 19 minutes per day feeling angry.* The most frequently cited reason was bad customer service. Actually, many of the top 10 reasons relate to customer experience — some, like the last one, are just funny. Take a look:

I don’t advise organizations to invest in improving customer experience because it’s the right thing to do socially. I advise that they do so because it will drive long-term financial success. But what really helps me sleep at night is the knowledge that improving customers’ experiences is actually improving customers’ lives. It’s creating less irritation and more happiness. No rationalizing required — it’s just true (or else you’re not doing it right).

Voice of the customer (VoC) leaders are constantly on the hunt for better analytics to identify what customers are saying and doing and, in turn, where companies should focus their attention. For the most part, the hunt is worthwhile. Just think about the value that text mining has delivered during the past few years. However, this focus becomes a problem when it turns into tunnel vision, leading VoC pros to ignore other research tools that yield deep customer understanding.

Analytics based on customer feedback and interaction data can determine important things like which known experience attributes drive customer loyalty and where customers encounter problems, and these insights can lead to a variety of operational improvements. But big changes require deeper understanding. As we were all reminded recently, customers didn’t tell Steve Jobs to build an iPod, nor did any sophisticated analytics.

Fortunately, other customer understanding tools are well suited to fill gaps in traditional VoC activities. Qualitative research methods like ethnography and related tools like personas and customer journey maps dig into what customers really need on both emotional and functional levels. As a result, they can help VoC leaders figure out:

• What to look for in feedback and interaction data. On the front end of VoC efforts, personas and journey maps can help identify the things that really matter to customers. VoC leaders can then ask about and look for those things in customer feedback and interaction data, leading to more relevant insights.
• What to do based on the findings. On the back end of VoC efforts, these tools can help firms figure out what they should do in response to issues or trends identified through analytics, leading to more valuable solutions.

(This post was co-authored by Megan Burns and Andrew McInnes so appears on both of their personal blogs.)

Customer experience management (CEM) has become a marketing buzzword for technology vendors as of late. While this isn’t surprising given the current energy around customer experience in general, it is a problem. Here’s why:

• Customer experience management is a discipline, not a technology. To truly manage customers’ experiences, an organization must understand its customers’ needs, how it intends to meet those needs, and how it is currently performing. It must also have people, processes, and tools in place to use that insight in order to design and deliver the right experiences and continuously improve them over time. Vendors that currently claim the CEM name (Adobe, Medallia, RightNow, Tealeaf, and others) help clients with various aspects of the management process like experience insight and delivery. But they can’t replace the overall discipline and activities required for a company to get customer experience right.

We just announced the winners of Forrester’s 2011 Voice Of The Customer Awards at our Customer Experience Forum this afternoon. We received more than 40 nominations, and the nominees really upped their games again this year — another sign that voice of the customer (VoC) programs are rapidly maturing.

To evaluate the submissions, each of our four judges graded each nomination based on five criteria: clarity of approach, impact on customers’ experiences, impact on business performance, degree of innovation, and lessons provided for other firms. The nominees with the 10 best scores were named finalists. The top three scorers were named winners.

And here are the results . . .

The 10 finalists (in alphabetical order) are:

Adobe Systems

Ceridian

EMC

Fidelity

Intel

JetBlue

OpenText

Pitney Bowes

Symantec

Vanguard

The three winners (also in alphabetical order) are:

Adobe. The software provider stood out with its comprehensive approach and focus on executive engagement. In addition to other activities, the firm created a Customer Immersion Program where executives step into customers’ shoes for a day, attempt relevant customer scenarios, discuss opportunities for improvement with frontline employees, and engage with actual customers. This effort brings customer and employee experiences to life and keeps executives connected with the on-the-ground reality of Adobe’s business.