How often should you measure the NPS?

It is recommended to measure the satisfaction of your customers regularly. However, also bear in mind the following considerations:

• Can you react? Knowing that there is constant change in customer satisfaction levels is one thing, being able to address issues quickly is another. If they cannot be addressed on short notice, there is no need to measure in short intervals.
• Try to avoid events that can interfere with a satisfaction survey. For example: It is not recommended to send an NPS survey after a large corporate change, like after rebranding, as audiences might confuse their like/dislike of a new corporate design with their overall satisfaction.
• Are structural changes taking place? Another situation that can interfere with the results of an NPS survey, and should therefore be avoided, is surveying just after the introduction of new product lines or the setup of new production facilities. Such big changes might lead to short term operational issues and skew the results.

There are also wider aspects to consider, which determine the ideal time to run an NPS survey:

• How responsive is my customer base? Depending on the nature of the customer base it is wise to adjust the frequency of data collection. If the audience consists of senior stakeholders for example, it definitely shouldn’t be addresses too often to avoid risking reputation damage.
• Is it necessary to survey all customers at once? A phased approach, either by only including a sample of customers or split by business units might be a good way forward.

From experience, a good starting point is to look at the NPS in a baseline study, which also identifies drivers and motivations. This can then be followed-up annually or every second year with either a re-run for comparability or a tracker. It is not often in b2b markets that an industry requires a more regular measurement than once a year.

We are happy to advise based on the individual circumstances of your business and industry.