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Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) surveys tell you a lot about customer loyalty and satisfaction. Find out how new versus returning customers are likely to respond and how segment-based feedback analysis can help inform your customer service strategy.

Customer feedback matters. Surveys and other collection methods need to be a top priority so your business can better understand who you’re serving and how to best meet their needs. 

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey are two of the most common surveys that businesses use to take the pulse on customer sentiment. While both these tools help you track and measure customer satisfaction, they differ in important ways. By understanding these differences, you can pull unique insights from each type of survey.

NPS tracks how likely a customer is to recommend your brand to others. It reflects your customer’s overall loyalty and sentiment. On the other hand, the CSAT gives you a clear picture of a customer’s experience with a specific interaction or service. This difference in scope will reveal unique things about your customer’s long-term and short-term satisfaction.

What’s even more helpful is understanding your different segments – primarily new versus returning customers. How do these different groups respond to surveys? This guide walks you through what to expect from different NPS and CSAT customer segments, and why that segment-based feedback analysis is essential.

How new customers respond to NPS and CSAT Surveys

First, let’s look at how new customers respond to these surveys. When clients are new to your business, they’re more likely to focus on their initial interactions. Factors guiding their responses include:

• Ease of onboarding: Did they have to jump through a lot of hoops to get started?
• Quality of initial support they received: Did they feel like a top priority to your business?
• Speed of service or product delivery: Was everything received promptly and as promised?
• Clarity of communication: Was there any confusion? Were expectations outlined clearly?

When answering the NPS and CSAT surveys, both of which should be short and sweet, new customers think about first impressions. Keeping this in mind will guide your feedback analysis.

How returning customers respond to NPS and CSAT Surveys

Your existing customers live on the other end of your segment spectrum. These are repeat buyers who have already shown a little loyalty. Here are factors that they’re more likely to focus on when responding to NPS and CSAT surveys:

• Long-term satisfaction: Have they consistently had good experiences? Have they built trust with the brand?
• Value: Do they feel they get good value for their money, and do so consistently?
• Ongoing support quality: Is the support crew always helpful and available?
• Relationship over time: Do they have a strong relationship with their account managers?

Even while one negative experience could sway a returning customer in a survey, in general, they’re thinking about their overall impressions across multiple purchases and interactions.

New vs returning customers: key differences

Because these customers are at different stages of the customer lifecycle, it makes sense that they show different behavioral trends when responding to surveys. Here’s a quick summary of the differences you might see with these two segments:

• New customers may give more black-and-white feedback (e.g., they may say they love or hate something off the bat). Their experiences are fresh, and so reflexive reactions are more likely to occur.
• Returning customers may provide more nuanced, well-rounded feedback. For example, they may know more about the business and are able to provide opinions on which service areas need improvement.

With both segments, the NPS results can tell you a lot about your customers’ likelihood of returning for another service, since they’re essentially saying whether they would or wouldn’t refer your business to other people. The CSAT results can help you nail down where an experience or interaction went wrong (or right).

How to leverage feedback to improve the customer experience

Learning to interpret feedback at these different stages gives you a better understanding of your customers and helps you improve their experience. Use the results to take steps like these:

Improve products or services

You won’t fully know what is or isn’t working with your deliverables until you understand how their value and consistency is perceived.

Tailor communication

Each of the two segments – new and returning customers – have different expectations for communication. For example, new customers may need more frequent touchpoints to return for a second purchase. Use NPS and CSAT results to find better ways to connect with these different audiences.

Address specific concerns

The benefit of segmenting in the first place is to recognize that customers have different needs and goals at different  stages of the customer lifecycle. Feedback helps you understand their specific concerns so you can address them more effectively with custom solutions.

Work on long-term improvements

Those existing customers may give you greater insight into how to improve in the long term. Pay attention to what they’ve seen over time as they’ve gotten to know your business from different angles. This helps you retain them and build even more loyalty.

Using segmented feedback to boost satisfaction and retention

Your customers drive business success. Knowing them better can only help you increase revenue and improve your brand’s reputation. With NPS and CSAT surveys, you can dig into customer sentiment with simple questions and scoring systems.

Existing customers can deliver insight into long-term improvements and consistency over time, while new customers give you information about first impressions and initial interactions. Both perspectives are necessary to understand where your business stands and how to increase satisfaction. After all, satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal, which is a top concern at any lifecycle stage.

With a platform like Crewhu, your business can easily integrate customer feedback mechanisms and segment-based feedback analysis into your employee recognition and rewards system. Recognizing your people internally helps you improve productivity and provide better service and customer support – a win all around.

Find out more about how Crewhu can easily integrate into your existing systems to help you incorporate customer feedback best practices. Schedule a demo now.