The Ultimate Question 2.0 (Revised and Expanded Edition): How Net Promoter Companies Thrive in a Customer-Driven World

I recently completed reading The Ultimate Question 2.0[i] by Fred Reichheld. This is the second version of his book explaining and extolling the virtues of the Net Promoter Score or NPS. I was already quite familiar with the NPS methodology having pioneered its use in IT outsourcing. However, I found that the book still had much to commend it.I took a number of key lessons from the book:First, and foremost, the real power of NPS is as part of long-term strategy that places the customer at the heart of business. Reichheld contrasts "good profits" - earned from delighted repeat customers who promote the product to others - with "bad profits" where customers are "misled, mistreated, ignored or coerced". If, other factors cause companies to pursue "bad profits", NPS results will inevitably be poor and cosmetic improvement programs will achieve little.A good NPS score (absolutely or relative to competitors) is NOT an end in itself. The end is sustained competitive advantage and profitable growth.The NPS question and zero-to-ten scale is a straightforward, highly effective approach. It is easy to calculate, understand and compare with others. It does not need to be tailored.Contextual factors are critical to success. These include:Executive commitment and sponsorship. All of the successful case studies featured a direct personal involvement from the CEO;Pervasiveness of NPS-focus. NPS results must gain equal currency and importance within an organization as other management information including financial targets and performance;A closed loop feedback system. The process must embrace timely follow up to the survey respondents from those who have the ability to act upon their comments.Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS) have a strong correlation with customer results as engaged employees play a vital role in building customer loyalty.The lessons learned from the many companies cited in the book (e.g. Charles Schwab, Intuit, Phillips, Allianz, Virgin Media) parallel my own experience in implementing the methodology. Despite (or perhaps because of) its simplicity we encountered serious resistance to its introduction. Those responsible for existing customer satisfaction surveys doubted the validity of the NPS methodology, wanted to customize the question, and include it in a much large survey. In the book Reichheld quotes a dictum from Upton Sinclair "it is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon not doing so". My version would "it is difficult to get a man to explain things simply, when his profession requires them to be complicated". We also encountered sample bias, with the exclusion of probable detractors. Ironically, one major customer opted out of the survey completely as our use of their feedback would provide an unfair advantage over other suppliers. A preserve rationale if ever there was. As with the examples of the book, patient persistence was necessary to implement a global approach.The one area where the methodology remains incomplete is in the "cost benefit analysis" of implementation of the methodology and improvement of the score. Whilst intuitively, a higher NPS would suggest better financial results "remarkably few firms can confidently quantify the value if improving loyalty (more promoters, fewer detractors) for specific customers or segments". The book provides examples of microeconomic analyses for the impact of NPS on business-to-consumer (b2c) companies. However, the business-to-business (b2b) market is more complex. Here the average NPS for all consumers of the service should, in theory, suggest the overall "loyalty" of the customer organization. However, in practice, many other factors - such as governance, contract duration, and switching costs - come into the equation.So, back to the ultimate question" about "The Ultimate Question 2.0". My answer is 10. I do recommend it and furthermore recommend that you go on to implement the methodology. As Reichheld evangelizes, "The knowledge you can gain from implementing the Net Promoter System is in fact priceless. It will help you run a better business, do more satisfying work, and build relationships that yield a more fulfilling life". Now who would not recommend that?

I have been in the field of marketing and market research for more than 8 years. As one of the people involved in managing Brand Trackers, Customer Sat and NPS at the companies I work in, I have always been intrigued by this concept. I have to say, this book is an absolute winner. Loads of amazing examples, description of NPS in practice and adequate explanation of concepts makes it a perfect reading. Moreover, it makes you think about other things you can do around NPS. The book talks about all things that can be impacted by NPS and things that can impact NPS. Makes your mind move. One downside - some things do get repetitive in the book. You think - did I just read this earlier? The book can be cut down by 5% I think. But overall, I love the book and recommend to anyone who is in marketing, research, customer experience teams OR in general to anyone who is interested in learning about how to create a customer focused company and measure such success. So many books waste your time and money. Worth every penny and a keeper for the rest of my professional career. I am a promoter for this book - 10 on 10. I also will wait for the 3.0 version - which will of course bring the next set of learnings on this amazing topic. Or - will simply try and join the NPS Loyalty Forum. :)

Rating a book about people rating things. It's like Amazon Inception. Its not the most thrilling read, and it looks at NPS through rose colored glasses. This second version should really do something to address criticism of NPS, instead of just saying critics are wrong. But I think it's part of a plan to get you to hire Bain for your company.But it's also been really helpful for me. I took a job in my company where we are implementing the system and this has helped fill in the gaps with terminology and certain plans we are looking to act on. So if your company or organization is an NPS org, or moving towards it, a recommended read for sure.

Fred is an expert on the field of satisfaction and loyalty. This book does not enter on complicated questionaires or profounf maths, but goes to the point. There is always a percentaje of customers satisfied, also unsatisfied and some indifferent ; some promote the sales of the company, some others detract and of course some are indifferent.In applying this simple principle , a company can have a clear understanding and very fast, on how is handling this issues, and of course the impact on profitability.Any company shoul try this measurement for sure, either outside with customers, but also inside with employees. Gives a very good idea on what it is needed to survive, to increase profits and even to understand the competition.

NPS is kind of a tough subject. While the book spends some time trying to promote the idea (not sure if this is a case of consultants trying to milk the commercial element of the idea), I do think it does put forward the key arguments for and critical success points for the theory. We are looking at using this in Indonesia and I wonder to what extent the cultural aspects of this will come into play. But nonetheless, I think the Apple and Enterprise examples were quite interesting. It also makes some good points about internal communication. What I can say is that the authors came in knowing their stuff and had researched this quite well. The theory is certainly enthralling and it does provide a different way of looking at customer and employee value.

Me gustó mucho el libro y el material.

Great concept. Well explained. Great examples. Happy that I bought a hard bound edition as I wish to preserve this book for many, many years

If you are looking for a book on NPS and how to manage customer KPIs - this should be your go to book.

Good insights, I recommend it. Part 1 feels long for people with an understanding of the topic. Part 2 is definitely worth reading from start to finish, even in 2017

Sou fundador do Publicista.com.br - uma plataforma online para clientes que buscam agências de publicidade e consultorias de marketing. Um dos nossos diferenciais é que postamos, no perfil das agências, depoimentos de clientes reais, obtidos por meio de entrevistas telefônicas curtas (5-10min) mas que seguem uma metodologia rigorosa. Isso significa que potenciais clientes tem acesso a informação sobre a qualidade do trabalho da agência com uma profundidade e confiabilidade que não conseguem encontrar em nenhum outro lugar. Estamos sempre buscando aperfeiçoar a metodologia por trás dessas pesquisas, e o Net Promoter Score é um dos pilares que usamos. Tendo trabalhado na Bain & Co., consultoria da qual o autor do livro Fred Reichheld é sócio, li a primeira versão anos atrás e comprei agora para reler. Por um lado é brilhante como conseguiram derrubar décadas de dogmas sobre como pesquisa de satisfação 'deveria ser feita' (questionários de dezenas de perguntas que são chatos, difícieis de analisar e que acabam não sendo usados) e estabelecer algo mais prático - melhor uma técnica simples, imperfeita, que seja amplamente usada! Mas por outro lado as críticas dos demais praticantes da indústria ao método são sim válidas (e não apenas inveja ou interesse próprio, como insinua o autor) - algumas das afirmações do livro são realmente muito mais marqueteiras do que técnicas e chegam até a ser bem questionáveis (uma boa discussão está no capítulo 6 do Measuring Customer Satisfaction do Bob Hayes) e é uma pena que esta versão 2.0 não tenha abordado alguns desses pontos. No nosso caso no Publicista.com.br aplicamos sim o NPS, mas com algumas alterações. Por exemplo - a pergunta 'how likely are you to recommend....' não funciona bem em Português, porque vira algo como 'qual a probabilidade de que você recomendaria...' o que simplesmente soa estranho, os clientes se confundem com a pergunta, se assustam com a palavra 'probabilidade', etc. As pesquisas indicam por exemplo que existem outras perguntas que tem o mesmo grau de eficácia e que funcionam melhor em português. Pesquisas também indicam que existem sim outras dimensões relevantes para 'lealdade' do consumidor e que não são correlacionadas com a recomendação. Mas dito tudo isso, o NPS teve o grande mérito de tornar esse tipo de pesquisa algo prático e rápido e de disseminar o conceito. Vale a leitura.