AskNicely is built around the principle that taking action based on your NPS responses will have the greatest impact on both your contact's experience and your organization as a whole.
Here are a few blog posts that provide some context on why it’s so important to respond, and what to do when responding.
- Hug Your Haters (even if they don’t hug you back)
- See in particular Steps 2 and 3 on ‘Listen’ and ‘Respond'
- Should I follow-up with with all detractors after an NPS Survey
In summary, the most important things to remember are:
1. Respond quickly - Ideally same day or within 24 hours. Break the cycle before a Contact can tell a friend or leave a negative review. To facilitate this, we suggest setting up an internal alert so that the store owner receives an email every time a detractor comment comes in, and setting an SLA to measure overall response time (I can show you how to do this in the product if helpful). If the Contact is asking a question or making a request that you can’t answer at that time, still acknowledge that you’ve received the request and will look into it.
2. Respond personally - The response should come from someone who has ownership and authority to make things right - the store owner in this case sounds like the right person, or even the store manager. It’s important that the Contact feels their grievance is being heard and actioned by someone who can actually help them.
3. Understand the context - Contacts, especially upset contacts, don’t like to repeat themselves. Before following up with the contact, take a moment to read their full comment, any historical comments or information on their account (e.g. are they a regular contact? have they had issues in the past?) and, if possible, speak with the associate or store manager who might have more context on the situation. We actually do not suggest providing templates to respond to detractor contacts, as each response should be tailored to the specific comment and context.
4. Be open, not defensive - it’s always tough getting a low score, especially if the reason seems unreasonable or outside of your control. Nevertheless, being open to the feedback will help the Contact feel heard - acknowledge that the experience was not optimal and apologizing if appropriate, take ownership, ask additional questions if needed, provide an explanation to the extent helpful, while trying not to be defensive.
5. Rectify the situation, if you can - Depending on the complaint, taking steps to actually solve the underlying issue - and letting the contact know of the steps you have taken (again, if appropriate) - is usually the most impactful way to regain loyalty. If the issue cannot be resolved, consider other gestures of goodwill (e.g. gift card for future purchases).
6. Follow-up - If the contact has asked a question, suggested a change, or something else that can’t be resolved straight away, remember to follow-up with them. This can be as simple as setting up a calendar reminder. Follow-ups, especially if unexpected, can be incredibly powerful to convert detractors into future promoters, and it sets the company apart in the eyes of the contact.
We love to practice what we preach here at AskNicely - please reach out to your CSM or our Support Team if you would like further tips on how to make the NPS System work for you!