Delighting customers and engaging employees pay dividends

Satmetrix, held its fourth European Net Promoter Conference in London this month. Over 250 senior executives attended from all corners of the globe. Brands such as Belron (Autoglass), Dell, Experian, O2, Sony and Verizon were in attendance and presented successful case studies to the captive audience.

 The two main themes of the conference focused on the financial benefits of delighting customers. Gary Lubner, CEO of Belron (Autoglass), a Satmetrix customer and a leader in their sector, explained how their customer delight programme had helped it deliver 12% compound growth in a sector growing at only 1.5% per annum.

 Karine Del Moro, Director of Marketing at Satmetrix Europe, said: “The Net Promoter discipline is evolving very quickly. In 2009 the focus of our conference was on driving improvements of the customer experience through closed loop feedback programmes. This year the full benefits of real-time access to customer feedback became fully apparent as companies strive for fully engaged employees who aim to delight the customer on a daily basis. The fact that companies like Sony who have invested in customer experience and delight programmes are now leading their sectors in terms of customer loyalty and advocacy proves that it is an investment that delivers sustainable value to the business.”

At the conference, the delegates were presented with the findings of the 2010 European Net Promoter Industry Benchmarks for the banking, car insurance, ISP, mobile phone carriers, mobile phone handsets, computer hardware and television/DVD industries across UK, France and Germany before the rest of the world.

 Some of the featured Satmetrix customers beat off fierce competition and won their sectors, namely Sony for the TV/DVD market and Virgin Media in the ISP industry in the UK.

 Furthermore, in the five UK sectors where Satmetrix customers were represented, all scored above the industry average, two were first in the sector and another two were second in their sector.

 Neil Berkett, CEO of Virgin Media, said: “Our goal of putting the customer centre stage is starting to be achieved. We’re not there yet but we've gone from bottom of the pile, comparing ourselves with everybody in our space, to a pleasing result today. We recognise that there are still a number of challenges if we are to get to where we want to be, but we're seeing continued and solid improvement in the results of our Net Promoter scores and we're clearly seeing customers enjoying our products and staying with us longer.”

 Rachel Waite at Sony Europe says: “I am delighted that this single-minded focus on improving the customer experience has seen us achieve the highest level of consumer personal recommendation in our sector in the latest Net Promoter benchmarks. It is reward for all our hard work and recognition that focusing on the customer does create promoters for the brand."

http://www.netpromoter.com/conferences/index.jsp