The reasons for Apple’s High NPS^®

Relieving Purchasing Anxiety: 

The factor that inhibits customers to purchase an expensive product is the anxiety that follows about whether or not the product will work effectively. There are also concerns that the company will not respond if the customers receive a faulty product. Apple eases this anxiety by providing excellent customer service that lets consumers know that for any purchase that they make at Apple, they will receive full support from the company. According to Brain X. Chen, the review of any product does not provide the full understanding of a company without an insight into the company’s customer service facilities. Customers don’t purchase a product just based on its quality but also on their faith in the services provided by the company. 

So what is Apple’s customer service like? It provides a 1-year warranty on all the products from ipods to macbooks, it does not charge extra for the repair of the products and even offers to replace the products for free if they end up malfunctioning during the warranty period provided. Apple also has a huge network of retail stores and that is another added reason why it does not feel like a risky decision to purchase one of their products. If the product malfunctions, customers know they can easily track a local Apple store near them and use their services. 

Apple’s Support Page is a brilliant solution to serve customers too. It contains ample content for the customers to help themselves. Some customers find it easier to read an article and help themselves than to seek help from customer service representatives. 

All of the strategies and techniques have proven to have a positive impact on helping reduce purchasing anxiety in customers which contributes to Apple’s high NPS^®.

Apple’s Attention to Details:

Apple has a long lasting practice of paying a ton of attention to the finest details along with offering quality products that are reliable in nature. Customers actually notice this habit of Apple paying attention to details. If you simply type “Apple’s attention to details” on google, you will come across plenty of articles that highlight the brand’s excessive or sometimes even unthinkable obsession with details. 

We have highlighted some of the examples to portray this:

‑  The weight of Apple Pencil is designed and distributed in a way that ensures that irrespective of the way it is placed, it will always roll over and display “pencil”. Its weight distribution is designed in a way to reduce momentum while rolling and reduces the risk of falling off the table.

‑  The new Mac laptops contain a “smart” fan feature which reduces the speed of the internal fan automatically when the user uses the voice dictation feature. This is so that the laptop can hear the user more efficiently when the user is speaking.

‑  In order to prevent accidental strokes on the Caps Lock key, MacBook Air and the newer version of MacBook Pro have a feature of “smart Caps Lock”. This feature requires the users to hold the Caps Lock key a little longer than usual to turn on to avoid the annoyance of accidental Caps Lock keystrokes.

Apple’s attention to detail is not only limited to its products but also to the packaging as well as the experience that is attached to unpacking an Apple product. Instead of simply delivering a purchased item in the standard cardboard package, Apple has hired a dedicated packaging designer whose sole task is to open prototype boxes made by the designers working at Apple. This packaging designer ensures that the unpacking experience is as joyful to the customer by excessively testing the packaging.

This results in giving customers a sensory experience when they purchase and open an Apple product. From the get-go, Apple has captured the attention of the customer and the customers get an understanding of its priority to details and the philosophy of Apple’s design. This small factor has shown to have huge effects on the purchasing behavior of the company and helps it stand out from the competitors in the field by delivering this extremely unique experience to the consumer.

Apple’s strength can be summarised as selling an experience to the customer instead of a product. This sensory experience of unpacking the box of the first purchased product from Apple can leave a mark on the customers’ subconscious memory. This memory influences them each time they use an Apple product and makes the experience even more meaningful. This practice has a huge impact on increasing Apple’s NPS^®.

Focusing on Employee Satisfaction:

Making sure your employees are satisfied in your organization is a good practice. It is often said that when you have happy employees, they transform that satisfaction into productivity. This is because they identify with their workplace and are hence more motivated to work there. This has led to the development of eNPS^® survey (employee Net Promoter Score^® Survey) which is crucial for all organizations to address the issues that the employees may be facing. In a nutshell, eNPS^® helps one find out how happy their employees are while working in the company, and how likely it is that they recommend your company to be a good place to work in. 

This is important because studies have found a positive correlation between employee satisfaction and productivity. It has been found that when employees are satisfied, their productivity increases by 12% while less satisfied employees are 10% less productive! It has also been found that employee satisfaction not only increases productivity but also increases profits and decreases employee turnover. Studies have also found that trusting, easygoing, and empathetic leaders increase employee loyalty, voluntary behaviors, as well as fosters a good social network between employees. 

Happy employees also mean happy customers! This is why eNPS^® alarms you about the levels of satisfaction in your employees so you can take action when needed. Apple was one of the very few companies that first adopted eNPS^®. They survey their employees every four months to inquire about the likelihood of the employees recommending the store they worked in as a good place to work. Apple as a company is aware of the importance of having a loyal staff (employee Promoters) because employees who believe in the products they are selling, are the ones who can transfer that excitement to customers. They are the ones who can turn other customers into Promoters as well.

The eNPS^® is calculated similarly to the NPS^® score, and the scores range from -100 to +100, where -100 indicates all employees are Detractors (unsatisfied) and 100 indicates all employees are Promoters (satisfied). Apple has an eNPS of 24, which may seem like a small number but it is considered to be a good score. This is considering the fact that employees tend to give stricter ratings and criticisms as compared to customers, thus, the eNPS^® is generally lower than NPS^®. 

So, how does Apple achieve this? We have highlighted some of the practices of Apple that aims to keep the employees inspired and happy:

‑  When employees are assigned to work in teams, the rewards systems are based on the performance of the team.

‑  Employees at Apple are given regular training sessions that are aimed to improve their skills and help them make advancements in their individual careers.

‑  Apple does not rate employee contributions on the basis of how long an employee has worked at Apple but on the number of projects undertaken by the employee. The best performing employees are also rotated between several projects to help them enhance their skills.

‑  Apple employees also get a raise without necessarily being promoted. Hence, a designer is likely to get a raise without being promoted to a higher position if they would not be happy doing the job at a higher position. Apple’s focus is on employing people in the areas that are best suited for their performance.

Apple Focuses on Personalised Consumer Experiences:

In today’s era, customer satisfaction and the experiences of customers will be the key factor that will decide brand differentiation in the market. The importance of product and pricing on the brand will be a close second to customer experience.