How High Customer Allegiance Scores Reflect Customer-Centric Services
By Keith Martinko
Thermo Fisher Scientific
Most companies assume they are giving their customers what they want. But why then do many customers feel they do not have a voice with their suppliers to express what they really need? This perception gap exists because it's extremely difficult for companies to maintain a continuous dialogue with customers to ensure they understand and meet their changing needs.
To address this issue, many companies have adopted new customer survey metrics such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS) or Customer Allegiance Score (CAS) to help bridge this gap.
What is a CAS score and how is it generated?
A CAS measures customer satisfaction by posing one simple question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague on a scale of 0-10?” The resulting score is the percentage difference between its "promoters" (i.e., the customers most likely to recommend) and its "detractors" (those least likely to recommend). To take the pulse of the customer, CAS surveys are presented at important customer interaction touch points such as order fulfillment, installation and technical support. In addition, relationship surveys are sent out periodically to probe for overall satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to recommend. The relationship survey covers all functional business areas and gives customers the opportunity to provide comments on how to improve.
How Thermo Fisher Scientific uses CAS scores to improve customer relations
Thermo Fisher utilizes CAS metrics to develop a comprehensive set of prioritized actions based on facts — not hunches — about what their customers really want. Customer feedback is useful only if it’s actionable. Actions, not scores, drive customer satisfaction.
For example, a CAS survey was used by the Scientific Instruments Division (SID) Services Group to identify value issues cited by customers with instrument service contracts. A project team reviewed the surveys and quickly developed short and long-term action plans to address the findings. Follow-up CAS surveys showed that customers responded favorably to the improvements made to their service contract entitlements and benefits.
"It's about empowerment," Paul Harris, Quality Manager at Thermo Fisher SID, explained. "Our customers are empowered to identify their wants and needs. Our employees are empowered to take immediate action based on that feedback in order to ensure customer satisfaction."
Thermo Fisher’s divisions monitor CAS scores during the quarterly relationship survey, and report monthly on activities that address them. After updating its scorecard, each division applies that information in its process decisions. The overriding principle is to continuously listen, learn and improve.
CAS has made a profound impact on the company. It has transformed the company’s culture, making it much more customer-centric. CAS is now an important factor in their incentive systems, and part of the goal tree for each product division. "It’s one of our key business drivers," Harris said, "along with things like on-time delivery and out-of-box quality."
"One of our main goals is to make our entire company more customer-focused," Harris concluded. "We want everything we work so hard on to improve to have a tangible benefit for our customers. We feel that CAS helps to get us there."
Does your organization utilize a method to measure customer satisfaction? If not, you may be surprised by the number of “detractors” out there disguised as satisfied customers. For more information on the Net Promoter discipline, visit
http://www.netpromoter.com.
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