It’s common for these users to not recommend your product, not because they’re a detractor, but simply because they know it’s “not ready for prime time”. By the same token, Facebook has introduced a new standard of asking consumers to “recommend” a service or application before they’ve even started using it!

It’s great to know who your promoters are – answer their emails and they’ll write blog entries about you and tell their friends. But for web apps, if I had to pick between measuring NPS of 1000 users vs. asking “WHY” of 50 users, I’d pick the latter.

However, Derek brings up a good point. A third-party comparison company would be another valuable resource for more scientifically comparing yourself against others.

Customer Satisfaction, as the term suggests, is more about a wider general perception in the field and therefore, perhaps, the ownership of that measurement is not necessarily best placed inside the company about whom the rating are being taken. Do you believe any surveys that are funded by one of the contestents? Do you believe the car adverts from XXX that say that the XXX car is better than the YYY car? Neither do I.

There are however a number of industry-respected organizations who will add the objectivity piece that might help yield a more marketable, visible and transparent approach to cust sat management. Omega (http://www.omegagroup.com/) is one such example.