We use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure client satisfaction.

But when we get a score of 10 (indicating a promoter), I definitely would NOT call most of these clients “promoters.”

Sure, most are satisfied with the work we’ve done, but that’s not the same as true advocacy.

And with “survey fatigue,” consumers often give companies good scores without much thought.

I think of real promoters as the motorcyclist with a Harley tattoo.

The fans camping outside an Apple store.

Or the tween who dresses up as Mario or Luigi for Halloween.

To be called a promoter, customers need to be passionate brand diehards and vocal advocates.

And most of us simply don’t have a customer following that rises to that standard.

Here’s one example of someone I might consider a “promoter:”

An unhappy customer gave us 3/5 stars on Google. We jumped on the issue, resolved it quickly, and left her thrilled with the final result.

Once we were done, she updated her online review without prompting from us. She explained what we did to change her mind, and bumped our score from a 3 to a 5/5.

That level of follow-up and acknowledgment?

I’d call her a promoter.

But she’s the exception.

Notice how deeply she engaged with our brand, both when she was dissatisfied and again when her issue was resolved. She invested real thought and time in providing feedback and interacting with us. And luckily we were able to make her happy.

So why does this matter?

Well, if I truly believed that most of my “satisfied” 10s represented actual promoters, I’d be grossly overestimating our ability to delight customers.

Understanding this difference forces me to dig deeper:

“What are we doing that inspires genuine customer enthusiasm?”

“What can we do to turn satisfied customers into fans, and (even better) fans into a passionate community?”

And “what would make a customer camp out in front of our office just to buy something from us?”

In most businesses adding in a few moments of “wow” to the customer experience can move the needle from merely satisfied to delighted.

See a customer seated near a blowing air conditioner in your restaurant? Offer them a shawl.

See a puppy shaking as they walk into get groomed? Offer a “fast pass” that speeds the dog in and out quickly.

In our case, we simply solved an unhappy customer’s problem quickly.

None of these things are complicated or costly, but they do require a culture of noticing – a mindset where the staff is empowered to act when they see opportunities to improve the customer experience.

This is something we work on constantly.

When someone does something to “wow” a client, even if it’s just dragging the customer’s trash cans up from the street, it’s celebrated.

Turns out word-of-mouth promotion is not as easy as just doing a good job.

We’ve found to earn real promoters, we have to go beyond.