Hal Bloom, VP Market Research, Sage North America
Category
  • Next Generation Customer Experience
The Project

At Sage, we began the Sage Net Promoter Program to improve Net Promoter Scores (NPS), a metric that measures customer loyalty and satisfaction, and to provide our customers with the best possible service. As part of this program, we identify the key moments of customer interaction with our brand, establish action plans and implement unique strategies to ensure we are meeting customer expectations: We analyze customer feedback from surveys to shape and customize our departmental goals, and to identify any disconnect between customers and employees. As a result, we now better understand customer wants, and our NPS scores have more than doubled in less than three years.

The Technology

Clarabridge

Metrics Matter

Through this project, we have already fulfilled our main goal of improving NPS scores: Typical Net Promoter Scores for software companies tend to lie between 10-14.  Before Sage embarked on this program, we rated an NPS score of around 8.  In less than 3 years, we saw our NPS scores more than double, landing at a remarkable score of 18-19 on the NPS scale.

We have also seen other successes: Increased Word of Mouth Advertising through online customer communities, personalized customer service strategies have turned 30% of unsatisfied customers into promoters for the Sage brand, and improved online shopping experience through less time- consuming transactions. Internally at Sage, employee morale, efficiency, and productivity have increased as well. 

Disruptive Factor

Customer Experience programs are nothing new, but the strategies we use to ensure that we are completely aligned with our customer expectations set us apart as leaders in this field.  By analyzing customer surveys, we actively make the customer’s voice an integral part of daily business decisions, and we leverage customer suggestions and opinions to guide our product development roadmap, to improve our service team operations, and by interviewing our employees, we ensure that employee and customer perceptions are aligned. 

We also implement creative leadership techniques, such as starting discussion forums, empowering internal loyalty champions, and creating employee surveys, to promote cross-departmental collaboration and to integrate the customer-first mindset across the entire organization. Today, the world’s leading brands follow in our footsteps and leverage customer feedback data to improve their customer experience as well. 

Shining Moment

We work very hard to ensure the customer’s voice is an integral part of daily decision making. One moment that really made the program worth it is when we started seeing our customers choosing to provide personal testimonials on an unsolicited basis in our Customer Relationship Surveys. Hearing first hand how we have made it easier for them to navigate our website, to get in touch with our service agents, and the personalized attention they receive from our service representatives truly make all our efforts worth it. 

 

ABOUT Sage

Sage is a leading global supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs more than 12,600 people and supports more than 6 million customers worldwide. For more information about Sage in North America, please visit the company website at NA.Sage.com.