There has been a lot of discussion around the NPS surveys, but one question, however, remains unanswered –
Should you color code the NPS scale?
Mr. Tanuj Diwan, Head of Product at SurveySensum, took this discussion to LinkedIn, and many interesting and informative insights were shared by CX thought leaders.
And with many expert people sharing their thoughts, we collated everything here to give you a comprehensive picture of the controvertible topic of color coding the NPS Scale.
An example of a color-coded NPS scale
Why SHOULD you NOT color-code the NPS scale?
– It leads to biased customer feedback.
The NPS (Net Promoter Score) question in surveys is effective, but the response options being color-coded can influence respondents and result in distorted data. For instance, if a participant intended to choose a ‘6’ but sees the red color associated with it, they may alter their rating due to the impact of the colors.
Just as you drive when the traffic signal is green, similarly, customers are likely to click on the green color score, regardless of their actual experience. This results in biased responses, which is not suitable for a customer-focused organization.
By coloring the NPS scale, there is a significant chance of obtaining biased answers, which limits the ability to understand what customers genuinely feel, expect, and experience.
Rahul Sharma, Agile Coach and Customer Logistics at Delivery Hero, commented on the same – “The scale should not be color-coded because it can influence the customer to choose the color that might not reflect their honest feedback, instead go for conceptual recommendation on the full scale.”
Rahul Sharma, Agile coach and Customer logistics at Delivery Hero, talking about his thought on color coding the NPS scale.
Michael Brandt, Founder, Senior Consultant & Trainer at CX-Excellence, strongly agrees with those who don’t support color-coded NPS scale because it blatantly guides the respondent. And here, he shares his experience:
Michael Brandt, Founder, Senior Consultant & Trainer at CX-Excellence, expressing his view on color coding the NPS scale.
Sandip Gupta, Senior Manager of Customer Experience Transformation Specialist at HCL Tech, asserts the same opinion about not color coding the NPS scale. He believes that the core purpose of the survey should not be influenced by other factors.
The customer experience transformation specialist, Sandip Gupta from HCl, saying no to color coding the NPS Scale
– Customers tend to shift their responses from yellow to green color.
Karthik Srivatsa, the CX consultant at Cisco, says that most of the responses are polarized in NPS surveys because respondents who’re happy or unhappy with the services will give a definite score. However, the passive respondents will get biased while responding because if they wanted to give an 8 yellow score, they might give a 9 because it’s green.
Having said that, he believes that coloring helps in reducing false positives or negatives. Moreover, in a country like India, it is best to make the survey as simple as possible and A/B test it before jumping to any conclusions.
Karthik Srivatsa, CX consultant at Cisco, explaining how color coding the NPS Scale impacts the survey results.
– Orgs sway from their objective of listening to the customers.
The reason we launch surveys is that we want to listen to the voice of the customers, and we need reliable, honest feedback for it. So, to make the best use of it, it’s best to use a neutral or colorless scale while gathering customer feedback.
– this will give you honest responses.
Sergio Rossini, Sales, Marketing & CX Director at Sagres, says that we should avoid guiding or influencing customer feedback and should ‘learn the art of listening’ to capture the feedback.
For Further details: https://www.surveysensum.com/blog/color-coding-nps-scale/