A One Question Customer Feedback Form

chillibreeze writer — Vilasini Kumar

The January 26, 2004 issue of the Business Week caught our attention because it covered ‘The Future of Outsourcing’. What was more interesting was an article it carried, about a new way of getting customer feedback, which is gaining popularity. So popular is this methodology becoming that a book on it, called ‘The Ultimate Question', by Fred Reichheld, is to be published in March 2006.

The article is written from the perspective of how McCabe, the chief quality officer of General Electric’s Healthcare business was instrumental in triggering its usage in the entire company. Here is the gist of the article.

1. What is that only question in the ‘one question customer feedback form’?

“On a scale of zero to 10, how likely is it that you would recommend us to your friends or colleagues?”

2. Who thought of this and has it been tried?

Fred Reichheld first wrote it about in the Harvard Business Review. Companies like American Express; Intuit Inc., a software company; BeringPoint Inc, a Management and Information technology consulting firm have used it.

3. So how does one analyze the result?

By calculating the net promoter score.

The steps:

All those who rate 9 or 10 are called promoters.

All those who rate between 0 to 6 are detractors.

Net promoter score = the difference between the two

( %age of promoters - % age of detractors.)

4. What happens to people who rate 7 or 8?

They are considered passively satisfied and ignored for the analysis.

5. How did McCabe use it in the GE Healthcare?

McCabe happened to read the Harvard Business Review article in 2004. He and other GE executives implemented it soon after - even tying 20% managers’ bonuses to the scores. In Jan. 2005 they shared the idea in GE’s annual global leadership meet in Boca Raton, Florida. So taken up was the CEO, Jeffrey R. Immelt, that it has been adapted company wide and GE businesses is expected to report net promoter score in 2006. This is what Immelt had to say “ I have little doubt that this will be as big and long-lasting for GE as Six Sigma was”

6. Is everyone in agreement?

No. Many in the customer satisfaction industry think that it could give wrong indications. According to Claes Fornell of the Univ. of Michigan and member of the team behind the American Customer Satisfaction Index, which tracks national customer sentiments about 200 companies, “ to have something simplistic that points you in the wrong direction is not recommended.”

7. Have any companies have benefited?

The article cites AmEx’ consumer-cards unit. Low score tipped them off that something was not right. One co-branded card suffered low scores despite high customer usage and acquisition rates. On probing they discovered the need to simplify the complex application procedure and make card rewards catch up with customer spending. After implementing these changes they found that the net promoter score almost doubled.

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—About our writer:

Vilasini, seen here with a cat, is actually a dog lover! Started her stint with Chillibreeze as a writer and is presently the Chief Operating Officer of the content division. This is who she says she is "a Masters in Math by qualification, a Coordinator by birth and a 'people person' by nature." Seeing Chillibreeze become a globally recognized company, adding value to clients and making a difference in the lives of Chilli writers, is her mission in life now! You can reach her at vilasini@chillibreeze.com

A One Question Customer Feedback Form

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