Kuoni uses a customer rating system known as the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is used by some of the world’s leading brands. It asks one simple question: ‘On a scale of 0-10, how likely is it that you will recommend Kuoni’s products or services to a friend or colleague?’ Derek Jones, Kuoni’s CEO, tells us why Kuoni has one of the highest NPS scores for any brand, anywhere in the world.
It should go without saying that a balanced, independent view of a product or service is really helpful, that’s why we’re increasingly being asked for our feedback. TripAdvisor, Feefo, Review Centre, Trustpilot… reviews are everywhere these days. But how are we supposed to know which ones to trust?
Five years ago Kuoni introduced a customer feedback and rating system known as the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Many people working in retail will already be familiar with NPS; it’s used around the world by many leading brands, ranging from Apple to John Lewis.
The concept is straightforward – just one simple question: ‘On a scale of 0-10, how likely is it that you will recommend a company’s products or services to a friend or colleague?’ Anyone scoring 9 or 10 is a promoter, ratings of 7 and 8 are passive, and anyone scoring 6 or below is a detractor. The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. So an NPS score can be as low as −100 if everyone is a detractor; or as high as +100 if everyone is a promoter. An NPS that is higher than zero is considered good, and an NPS of +50 is excellent.
Most brands that use NPS will do so after you’ve bought a product, but we wanted to embed NPS as part of our company values and culture so decided to measure NPS twice – once when you book a holiday with us and again when you return home from your trip. By doing this, we can measure the booking experience and the holiday experience.
Since we started using NPS in 2012, our post-booking NPS score has steadily increased and now stands at 81, one of the highest NPS scores for any brand, anywhere in the world. This is down to the experience you get inside our Kuoni stores. Booking online might be the norm these days, but we actively encourage you to close your browser, book an appointment and come and see us face-to-face. It might have been a while since you’ve chatted about a holiday with someone in person, but the experience is so much better and you can get the best advice and recommendations from someone who has actually been there. Your appointment can last as long as you want – and often takes far less time than going round in circles on the internet. We make the experience a pleasure, open a whole world of new experiences and get the details right. When you walk out of those Kuoni doors, our aim is for you to be brimming with excitement about the holiday we’ve just created for you.
NPS is not just a score for us, it’s a system. We’re now able to capture everyone’s comments – good and bad – and respond immediately to issues. Our score means that over 93% of our customers are saying that they’d recommend Kuoni to a friend. Of course, we’re super-proud of that, but never complacent. We’d love it to be 100 and that’s what we’re striving for.
The comments from our customers are streamed live in our head office, visible to all of our staff on big screens. It means that all of our employees, from our Personal Travel Experts to those who look after you if an emergency arises, can see exactly how customers are reacting to the service we provide. We read all of our customer feedback and take action to rectify any concerns. Our store managers personally call every customer who scores their experience as six or below on the survey and the whole team are empowered to resolve any complaints and make sure you’re holiday experience is the best it can possibly be.
We want to ensure every moment – from booking to returning home – is a positive one. The Net Promoter Score is firmly embedded into how we run our company – in fact, it’s part of what we call ‘the Kuoni way’, where service is at the heart of everything we do. We believe that if you have a good experience, you’ll naturally want to tell people about it – and that can only be a good thing for us and the friends and family you talk to.
Inspired?
Book an appointment in your local Kuoni store to discover The Kuoni Difference or search for one of our destination experts to talk to someone who has been there.