In our last blog post, we described how you can measure the impact of your localization efforts using several Customer Success metrics – one of which was NPS Score. NPS stands for Net Promoter Score, and it measures how likely a customer is to recommend your product to other people. Generally, NPS scores are used to gauge the overall satisfaction customers have with your brand and the likelihood that they’ll stick around.

With NPS, customers are classified according to their answer to one question, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company’s product to a friend of a colleague?” Based on their answer, your customers are placed into one of three defined categories: detractors, passives and promoters.

Detractors give scores below 6 and are generally unhappy with your product, which means they are unlikely to re-purchase from you in the future. If asked about their experience, they’re likely to pass on this negative view to others.

Passives rank their experience in between 7 and 8. This segment of customers feel fine about your product, but it’s unlikely they’ll go out of their way to give you a stellar recommendation.

Promoters on the other hand, give you either a 9 or 10 on the NPS scale. This is the group of customers who love using your product so much that they become brand advocates. Your promoters are happy to recommend your company to their friends, colleagues, and potential buyers.

When comparing NPS scores across different markets, you might notice that your customer rankings vary. Culture plays a huge role in how your customers rank their experiences and so different countries have different expectations for their software. Take a look at the infographic put together by Medallia, which features data on cultural bias across 13 major global language groups. What they’ve done is rank countries as either easy graders or harsh graders, with the US as their baseline.

 

Localizing your NPS scores

The first question that pops into someone’s head after seeing these scores is often, “How can we get these folks to rate us at a 9 or 10?” Although it’s a great question to ask, it’s not one that can be resolved with a one-size-fits-all kind of solution. Your global community is subject to cultural norms and differences unique to their contexts. That said, your best bet is to stick to comparing apples with apples.

Wait, what?

Well, start off by segmenting your scores by country. If the products and services are the same in different countries, you can go ahead and do some benchmarking. But instead of trying to figure out how you can transform all of your customers into being advocates, try focusing on what you can do to improve your scores by a full point in a particular country. Assess and analyze which factors are affecting your scores in different regions, and then take action. Use those initial NPS scores as a starting point for your company’s progress and measure it monthly to check for improvements.