Case study of how our client Weber used Net Promoter Score NPS to really learn about their customers needs and apply that knowledge in new marketing campaigns to drive sales.

1. HOW THIS BRAND DOUBLED
THEIR SALES BY LISTENING TO
THEIR CUSTOMERS
FUTURELAB
Net Promoter Score, Net Promoter and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Satmetrix Systems and Fred Reichheld
A STORY OF A PREMIUM GRILL BRAND THAT DOUBLED THEIR SALES IN JUST 3
YEARS
BY LEARNING FROM VERBATIM NPS® CUSTOMER STATEMENTS
AND IMPLEMENTING A CLOSED LOOP PROCESS
OUR FAVOURITE CASE:

2. HOW CAN WE LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE
CUSTOMER?
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB
The road to doubling sales started with a simple question:
What is a practical way for an organisation like ours to better listen to the voice of
our customers?
Weber decided on implementing an NPS©programme with a focus on:
1. Understanding our best customers and how we can serve them better
2. Empowering the people across the organisation to take ownership and action of
customer issues

3. LESSON #1
ADAPT YOUR MARKETING TO
YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS’
PERCEPTION
(even if it sounds illogical)
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

4. By digging deeper, Weber discovered an
unexpected customer perception.
Their best customers believed that meat tastes
better when prepared using the Weber grill.
“The meat tastes so much
better”
Would I recommend you? Ha,
I already sold 3 grills for you.
Why?
Because the meat tastes so
much better!
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

5. MARKET FOR YOUR BEST CUSTOMERS
Weber developed new marketing initiatives based on this insight. A key component were
Grill Academies for both consumers and retailers, to deliver more of that tasty meat
experience that clearly was driving customer recommendation.
Result?
In one of its markets, Weber has doubled their sales in only 3 years time.
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

6. LESSON #2
LOOK AT WHY
CUSTOMERS SAY
WHAT THEY SAY
(it saved us lots of money)
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

7. Many remarks
about pricing...
The accessories
are too expensive.
(7)
The prices are very
high. (10)
Price is high but the
performance is good.
I like the design. (9)
Unfortunately, the prices
are quite high. Could you
offer a cheaper series? My
friends look away when
they see prices that high. I
am super satisfied with the
performance! (10)
Well, the prices are
“juicy” (10)
Lower the prices ;) (9)
Weber’s handling of
defects is unsatisfactory
and is out of proportion
with their pricing(1)
Hmmm, maybe make it
a bit cheaper? (9)
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

8. HMMM… SO WE SHOULD LOWER THE PRICE?
We decided to dig a bit deeper.
When comparing verbatim statements across different categories (promoters,
detractors and passives), we found out that price was just a default complaint —
made by satisfied customers who didn’t really have much else to say.
This allowed Weber to keep their profit margins high and remain positioned as
premium product.
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

9. LESSON #3
GENERATE
QUICK WINS
WITH A
CLOSED LOOP
PROCESS
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

10. RO
I
Customer
Action
Root
Cause
Prioritise
Action Capture
Alert
DRIVING ACTION USING THE CLOSED LOOP
The closed loop feedback process
involves identifying root causes
throughout the customer lifecycle
and seeking out feedback at those
touchpoints.
In addition to collecting feedback,
then, closing the loop with
customers also requires listening to
and acting on that feedback.
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

11. THE ULTIMATE QUICK WIN
80% of all customer unhappiness is in the end
caused by communication shortcomings.
By using an effective closed loop process we
were able to solve these issues immediately
and easily, and turn it into a major source of
quick wins, such as:
• Winning back (almost) lost customers
• Recovering lost sales
• Getting recommendations
• Referrals from promoters
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

12. FUTURELAB
1. Direct Voice of the Customer versus blind averages
1. Ability to solve the issue immediately on the spot , without dropping it or
escalating unnecessarily
1. Gives responsibility to people, not to management – promoting
proactivity
1. Allows to pick up dropped leads and even upsell
1. Possibility to stop detraction even if the issue is impossible to solve,
because customer gets closure.
1. Stimulates promoters to actively go out and recommend you
OTHER BENEFITS OF THE CLOSED LOOP PROCESS
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB

13. SUMMARY – WHY NPS?
Starting point for Voice of Customer
▪ Proof of concept
▪ Quick identification of issues
▪ Science vs implementation
Simple questions
▪ High response rates
▪ Low cost
▪ Straightforward Analysis
Simple results
▪ Everyone can understand
▪ Short attention span executives
▪ Easy to make actionable
If you want to learn more about how you can also draw profit and grow from customer
feedback and word-of-mouth, download the free Smart NPS® Blueprint.
Smart NPS® is a do-it-for-you Net Promoter service for mid-size companies who require
the results of the full-scale NPS program, but don’t have the time or resources to manage
this internally.
How This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELABHow This Brand Doubled Their Sales By Listening To Their Customers © FUTURELAB