This article complements Brice De Marcillac's article on the subject of NPS.

Here, we look at how to exploit the results of NPS campaigns in a B2B context, and in particular responses from "Detractors", regardless of the overall value of your NPS, good or bad.

What to do when you receive an NPS of less than 7?

1. Gather as much information as possible internally (mandatory)

Who is this person? Is he or she really concerned by your solution? What is their role, influence or impact? How have you interacted with them (sales, support, etc.)? What have you done (or not done) for this person (a 360° view of your customers is essential).

Did you receive any other responses from this same company? Do these other responses confirm a high level of customer dissatisfaction, beyond just one person?

2. Qualify the reasons for dissatisfaction

Quite often, only the score is provided, with little or no commentary. It may then be necessary to talk directly to the person. Don't send an automatic email, but don 't be afraid to call or even meet (depending on the stakes) the "Detractor" (Forget the term "Detractor" in the discussion).

Active listening is key to understanding feedback and the reasons for a given 0!

Don't try to justify the reasons for the customer's frustration. Just listen and ask (open) questions. Let your customer "vent". Put yourself in the customer's shoes. Be empathetic.

3. Share the situation with your customer (optional)

Don't hesitate to share the situation with the Product/Project Champion on the customer's side; if the "Detractor" is himself the Product/Project Champion... um... be prepared to raise the situation with an Exec Sponsor and, above all, to escalate the subject internally (see below). Renewal is at stake.

4. Define a realistic... action plan

An action plan for the customer. An internal action plan. These action plans will depend on the analysis of the problem(s) reported.

Be careful not to add frustration with unrealistic goals.

5. Climb the subject internally (optional)

Feedback and comments should be centralized in order to identify and escalate certain recurring problems and reasons for dissatisfaction, for example: frequent billing errors, lack of a feature deemed essential, etc.

Finally, as mentioned above, certain situations deserve to be escalated to the appropriate management level: the amount of ARR involved, the customer's "nuisance" capacity in terms of recommendation...

6. Measure action plan and results

There's no point in defining an action plan if it's not followed up, and no one measures progress. Obvious?

Once you're convinced that the action plan has been completed, it may then be appropriate to launch a new NPS campaign with the same customer. On the other hand, avoid soliciting the customer as long as the action plan is underway (there's nothing more irritating than receiving satisfaction surveys when our problems aren't taken into account or solved).

Keep in mind that a Detractor can become a very active Promoter, once you've solved his or her problems!

7. Document the process and automate it!

If you have a Customer Success platform, you can define a "playbook" documenting and orchestrating the tasks listed in this article (to be adapted). It's important not to "reinvent the wheel" with each Detractor, but to have a consistent process between CSMs and between customers.

Finally, provide a (hopefully positive) post-mortem.

The next step could be to deploy similar approaches on "Passive" NPS (often more numerous but perhaps more worrying than "Detractors") and "Promoters" (of interest to your marketing teams).