Analysing and developing our customer experience was a key driver for us this year. Looking at where we stood within our market and anticipating where we wanted to be, we knew we were doing something right, but wanted to quantify this and improve on any gaps we could find.
Using Net Promoter Score to measure Customer Satisfaction
Realising the best way to measure this experience was to ask clients and applicants directly for feedback, we invested in a Net Promoter Score (NPS) system to gain an overview of how our customers are engaging with us. The NPS system is an easy to ask question, with a 1-10 answer. We asked “How likely are you to recommend Build Recruitment to a friend or colleague?”
We then grouped responses into three sections. Responses below a 6 are classed as Detractors, those between a 7 or 8 classed as Passive and those above a 9 are classed as Promoters. Sounds easy right?
From here, we take the percentage of Promoters and minus the percentage of Detractors to give a figure between -100 and +100.
Our experience of NPS at Build Recruitment
I’ll be honest, when they first asked me to send out a few surveys to customers I was worried. Recruitment was a new world for me and had always been marmite in my eyes; our customers could really either love us or hate us. I had heard that the overall NPS score for the recruitment companies was as low as +1, whilst the average across all companies sat at +40.
Setting that +40 as my target, I send out those initial surveys in February and sat back in anticipation as the results rolled in over the next few days. Managing to split our customer base, our initial results were outstanding; clients sat at +57, candidates +60.
Over the next few months, we expanded the number of customers surveyed, and began to map responses on the lookout for any target improvement areas. We often saw that not receiving feedback was an issue, as was covering our consultants during the holiday season. We worked on these over the course of the surveys and I am pleased to report that only once did we drop lower than our +40 target, with candidates giving a +33 back in May.
Using Feedback to Improve Performance
Over the next few months, we expanded the number of customers surveyed, and began to map responses on the lookout for any target improvement areas. We often saw that not receiving feedback was an issue, as was covering our consultants during the holiday season. We worked on these over the course of the surveys and I am pleased to report that only once did we drop lower than our +40 target, with candidates giving a +33 back in May.
In October, we received our highest ever score and it happened to be a record month for us as a business. With the highest number of placements made over a 4-week month, we were thrilled. Knowing that these were all happy customers, with both clients and job seekers giving us above +70, we really are over the moon and it really does emphasize just how important this feedback can be to any business.
If you are not yet utilising NPS in your business, or wish to hear more about how we have used it to develop relationships and build careers, please contact Mitch O’Brien, Marketing Executive at Build Recruitment on 020 3176 4790.
To see more content like this, please follow us on: