NPS Retail: What Do All Promoters Have in Common?
We recently carried out a mystery shopping project to a range of different retailers (n= 163) to evaluate current face-to-face service standards as more consumers return to pre-pandemic shopping habits. Within the questionnaire we included the Net Promoter Score (NPS) question.
Based on your experience today, how likely would you be to recommend the brand to friends & family (0-10 scale). (What is Net Promoter?).
We visited a diverse range of brands (located on the High Street and within Retail parks) and we experienced a wide range of service standards (26.9% - 100%), with 1 in 3 shoppers classified as a ‘promoter’ of the brand they visited.
Within their report commentary, our shoppers may have mentioned more than one area of their shopping experience as a reason to recommend (or not recommend) the brand, but every store had one thing in common. Every brand ‘promoter’ cited ‘friendly, helpful colleagues’ as a reason for recommending the store to friends & family.
Top 5 themes mentioned within ‘promoter’ comments:
| n= | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Friendly & helpful colleagues | 56 | 100 |
| 2 | Clean / pleasant store environment | 33 | 58.9 |
| 3 | Displays | 16 | 28.6 |
| 4 | Knowledgeable colleagues | 15 | 26.8 |
| 5 | Product range | 13 | 23.2 |
Top 5 themes mentioned within ‘detractor’ comments:
| n= | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lack of colleague engagement/friendliness | 38 | 76.0 |
| 2 | Dirty / tired store environment | 22 | 44.0 |
| 3 | Untidy displays / gaps | 14 | 28.0 |
| 4 | Colleague availability | 13 | 26.0 |
| 5 | Product range | 6 | 12.0 |
The most frequent reason cited from our detractors was lack of colleague engagement & friendliness, highlighting that the principal point of difference to the customer experience (CX) is the colleague. The personal interaction can make or break the customer experience, and in turn, an individual consumer’s opinion of the brand. Shopping in a well laid out, tidy and well stocked store all contribute to a positive customer experience, but if these areas are not hitting the mark, a friendly, personable, and knowledgeable colleague can mitigate against customer disappointment or frustration.
As footfall across the High Street steadily increases, making sure frontline service teams are friendly, available, and willing to engage with customers will make the greatest difference to the customer experience. In turn, this will drive brand loyalty - generating return visits, an increase in positive word of mouth and ultimately an uplift in sales.
To find out more about this project and our expertise in customer experience measurement programmes that deliver a better customer experience, please get in touch with ABa via the details below.
Danielle Sones Experience Director danielle@aba.co.uk / 0161 431 1221 (Source: ABa Experience Retail project, Feb 2022)
