The CX Lens: Rethinking leadership through the customer lens

NPS: Metric, Myth, or Movement? Rethinking the Role of Net Promoter Score in Modern CX Leadership


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šŸŖž What This Episode Is About:
The Net Promoter Score was supposed to be the one number to rule them all. But as more leaders look beneath the surface, a question emerges: has our obsession with NPS made us forget what it was meant to serve—understanding the customer? In this episode, we explore the rise, misuse, and rebirth of NPS. It’s not about abandoning the metric, but about moving from scores to stories—and reclaiming CX as a strategic leadership tool, not just a scoreboard.

šŸ“Œ Key Themes:

  • The Simplicity Trap: Why NPS works—and where it fails

  • Score Chasing vs. Systemic Improvement: The culture risk behind tying NPS to bonuses

  • Beyond the Number: The growing shift toward multi-metric CX ecosystems

  • Customer Stories, Not Just Sentiment: Moving from one-dimensional scores to root cause learning

  • Leadership Shift: From PR metric to operational insight

šŸ’” Featured Examples & Lessons:

  • Apple, Virgin Media, LEGO (Post-turnaround): Success via NPS-informed culture, not just measurement

  • Wells Fargo, United Airlines, Target Canada: Cautionary tales of score manipulation and shallow CX insights

  • NPS 3.0 / Earned Growth Rate: Integrating NPS with behavioral and financial outcomes

  • Fujitsu, Adobe: Leading with holistic VoC programs and AI-powered feedback analysis

šŸ—£ļø Memorable Quotes:

ā€œNPS should be the beginning of the conversation—not the end.ā€
ā€œYou can’t solve a customer’s pain with a dashboard.ā€
ā€œCustomers are messy. They don’t fit into tidy categories like ā€˜Promoter’ or ā€˜Detractor.ā€™ā€
ā€œCX excellence isn’t about scoring points. It’s about winning hearts.ā€

šŸ“ˆ Why It Matters:
Too many leaders use NPS as a mirror—when what they really need is a microscope. This episode is a call to stop worshipping the score and start listening to the story behind it.

āœ… Takeaway for Leaders:
Use NPS wisely. Don’t chase it. Build feedback systems that go deep, close the loop, and turn customer frustration into organizational learning. Your customers are talking—are you really listening?

šŸ” Listen Now and Reflect:
Is your NPS culture measuring loyalty—or masking what your customers are trying to tell you?

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The CX Lens: Rethinking leadership through the customer lensBy Ludo Raedts