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Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the industry gold standard for measuring customer experience. At its most basic, NPS is a simple measurement of customers’ or users’ experiences with an organization. It has become very popular with leaders because it’s both simple and can help companies and organizations improve.

Joe Pinto, Chief Customer Experience Officer at Pure Storage, reinforces the importance of NPS: “Nothing is more important than customer feedback. It builds long-term loyalty by listening and helping support their business needs. NPS is a concrete measure Pure Storage uses to see how we are doing in terms of building and sustaining a positive customer experience.”

About Your Net Promoter Score

Here is a quick summary of NPS:

  • NPS is determined by a survey that asks one question, answered on a scale of 0 to 10, similar to: “How likely are you to recommend this company to your friends and colleagues?”
  • Scores of 9 and 10 are positive, 7 and 8 are neutral, and 0 to 6 are considered negative.
  • Total scores can range from -100 to 100, with 100 being the best score. Note: It’s a calculated score and not a simple percentage.
  • The survey also asks for write-in, verbatim answers.

For more information about how NPS works, the Medallia website is a great resource for NPS facts, articles, and use cases. The company conducts the NPS survey for Pure Storage and provides us with the verbatim comments.

Why NPS Matters

A common reaction when a vendor touts their NPS number might be: “So what?” But NPS isn’t some marketing tactic. It’s the real sentiments of real people. And how good (or bad) their experience with a company has been.

Here at Pure, delivering an outstanding experience for our customers is a priority. NPS helps us gauge how we’re doing, what our customers think about us, and what we can do to improve.

This year, we achieved an NPS of 81.4, which is an industry-leading score. In general, an NPS above 50 is considered excellent. The average NPS for technology companies is 60.

Pure has maintained a score in the 80s for over eight years now. We invest in the survey, third-party certification, and the process of responding to NPS comments because we believe it makes Pure a better and more customer-focused company. Like many companies, we use NPS as an important internal metric for improving our customer experience.

Three Reasons You Should Care about Pure’s NPS

  1. Your voice can be heard: In addition to the score, the NPS survey includes verbatim comments. These comments provide insights into the “why” behind the ratings. Pure has a process for reading, responding to, and acting on each one. Cross-functional customer-listening teams review all the survey feedback. All insights from the survey are reported to executive teams. NPS feedback is also shared with the account teams. We take non-promoters as seriously as promoters. We talk to each one if they’re interested in providing feedback directly to us. Customers, whether in the survey or not, know that Pure listens to feedback. Through customer focus and listening, we see enhanced relationships both inside and outside our company. That means you can be confident that Pure is hearing your voice loud and clear.
  2. It makes us a stronger partner: Research shows that organizations with high NPS scores are healthier businesses. At Pure, we use the NPS survey results to guide our business plans. They help us shape process and system improvements that impact customer experience. We’ve taken on and delivered product and feature enhancements that are highlighted in the NPS survey feedback. For us, our NPS process is a way to translate our customer focus into tangible actions and results. Know that we’ll be your partner for the long term.
  3. You’ll get the best customer experience: Our end goal is to develop long-term, win-win relationships with all of our customers and partners. We want to remove the stress of doing business with us. In fact, this goal is a founding principle here at Pure, and it’s reflected in both our products and how we do business with you. NPS provides an objective evaluation of where we are relative to that goal. It indicates specific areas for improvement. And, it gives our team a simple metric to rally around as we try to accomplish these goals. NPS is our guide when it comes to improving your customer experience.

We’re proud of our NPS and to be among the very best B2B companies in terms of customer experience. NPS is a tool that we can use to remain a trusted partner for you over the long term.

Your Net Promoter Score Is More than a Number

We believe that it’s important to share our score and process so that everyone who does business with us knows we’re serious when we say we’re focused on our customers and partners. We want to use the discussion of NPS to open the channels for listening to you. We want the discussion of NPS to encourage you to hold us accountable to the highest standards.

So, next time you hear us talking about our Net Promoter Score, don’t think of it as bragging. Think of it as our process for making customer focus real and measurable so that we can give you the best customer experience in the industry. Hear it as an opportunity to engage with us and tell us how you really feel about Pure. And, most of all, hear it as our commitment to help you accomplish your own business goals.

For us, NPS is so much more than a number. It’s a reflection of who we strive to be with each and every customer, invested in your success as much as our own.

Learn more from Pure Professional Services!