Innovating Analytics: How the Next Generation of Net Promoter Can Increase Sales and Drive Business Results

Chapter 4

WoMI—The Next Generation of NPS

As I said in Chapter 2, the concept of NPS has done a lot of good for business. However, as customer metrics have evolved over the past decade, NPS has not. While the minimalism of NPS was initially a huge advantage for executives like John who were looking for a simple tool, it has now become apparent that asking one question (or even one question with one or two follow up questions), with what is essentially a three-point scale, is not accurate, precise, or actionable. It is time for the Net Promoter to catch up with the sophistication that companies and managers like Anna and Alex expect from their analytics. It is time for the next generation of NPS. It is time for the Word of Mouth Index, or WoMI.

As you'll read in this chapter, WoMI evolves NPS by measuring both likelihood to recommend and likelihood to detract from a specific brand by adding a second question: “How likely are you to discourage others from doing business with this company?” This additional question helps to deliver on the promise of NPS by creating a more precise, accurate, and actionable measurement that evaluates the customer experience and allows organizations to foster the type of changes that affect the customer experience.

WoMI significantly advances the measurement of the customer experience because its scores offer four primary benefits for businesses operating in today's high-speed, word-of-mouth-driven culture. WoMI provides:

1. A single score—Any measurement ...