Customer Satisfaction Metrics Every Business Should Track

I used to think I was measuring customer loyalty the right way. Every quarter, I’d report out our NPS score, and every quarter, I’d get the same pushback from leadership: “If our NPS is so high, why are sales down?” “If customers love us, why is churn up?” And honestly? I didn’t have a good answer. I felt dejected as I could feel my credibility and social capital with the execs slip away. I was stuck in the CX trap of measuring advocacy, not behavior. NPS told me customers said they’d recommend us—but it told me nothing about whether they’d actually buy from us again. The lightbulb moment came when I stopped chasing how much customers liked us and started tracking how much they actually spent. That’s when I realized: Loyalty isn’t a feeling. It’s a behavior. So, I pivoted. Instead of leading with NPS, I built our CX strategy around three core metrics that actually predict revenue: 🔺 Likelihood to Purchase Again (Intent) – Are they signaling they’ll come back? 🔺 Repeat Purchase Rate (Behavioral) – Are they actually returning? 🔺 Time to Repeat Purchase (Behavioral) – How long does it take? And guess what happened? 💡 Our CX efforts finally had credibility in the boardroom. When we improved post-purchase experience, I could prove it led to faster repeat purchases. 💡 Marketing and Finance finally saw CX as a growth lever. Instead of reporting on ‘customer happiness,’ I was driving revenue conversations. 💡 We made better investments. Instead of obsessing over ‘improving NPS,’ we focused on shortening the time to second purchase—and sales shot up. The reality is: NPS won’t save you when revenue is down. If you want to be taken seriously as a CX leader, you have to connect the dots between emotion, intent, and action. It’s time to stop measuring how much customers like you and start measuring how much they buy from you. If you’ve had this realization too, let’s talk. Let’s get your CX unf*cked.

Try this "useless" metric from service businesses... eCom brands track NPS (Net Promoter Score).....But you're missing the more actionable cousin: CES (Customer Effort Score) NPS asks "How likely are you to recommend us?" It's broad. CES asks "How easy was it to solve your issue today?" It's specific and brutal. After a customer service interaction (a return, a support ticket, a live chat), trigger an automated email with one question: "On a scale of 1-7, how easy was it to get the help you needed today?" 1 = Extremely Difficult 7 = Extremely Easy The magic is in the follow-up. Automatically tag anyone who scores you a 1-3. Then, have a real human from your team call them. The script is simple: "Hi [Name], I saw you recently had a tough time with [issue]. We really dropped the ball and I wanted to personally call to apologize and see if there's anything else we can do to make it right." This isn't scalable for everyone, but for the handful of super frustrated customers? It turns a 1 star review waiting to happen into a loyalist for life. You just proved you listen.

The MOST critical metric you can use to measure customer satisfaction: (This changed everything for my company) We had a daily deal site with 2 million users. Sounds great, right? But about 18 months in we had a massive problem: → Customer satisfaction was TANKING (we were in the daily-deals business, largest Groupon competitor) Why? Our customers weren't getting the same experience as full-paying customers. They were treated as “coupon buyers”, so they: - Had long wait-times - Didn't get the same food - Got given the cr*ppy tables at the back They went for the full service and they got very low-quality service. And it was KILLING our business model. We tried everything - customer service calls, merchant meetings, forums. Nothing worked. Then I learned about NPS (Net Promoter Score) at EO and MIT Masters. It was an ABSOLUTE revelation. NPS isn't a boring survey asking "How happy are you with our service?" It's way more powerful. It asks, on a simple scale of 0-10: → "How likely are you to recommend this service to a friend or colleague?" 10-9 → Promoters (Nice!) 8-7 → Passive (no need to do anything) 6-0 → Detractors (fix this NOW) It’s such a simple shift on our end and so easy to respond on the customer end: “Hey, would you recommend me or not, out of 10?” “Hm, 7.” “Ok, thank you” — that’s it. Simple reframe, massive impact. We implemented it immediately. But here's the real gold: → We contacted everyone (one-on-one customer service) who used our service and provided a NPS score. They scored us less than 6? - Give them gift cards - Interview them to make them feel heard - Do ANYTHING to flip detractors into promoters Because if they’re scoring you less than 6, they’re actually HARMING your business. These are going to be like e-brakes in your company. NPS became our most important metric, integrated into everything we did. The results? - Improved customer satisfaction - Increased repeat business and customer LTV - Lower CAC (because happy customers = free marketing) - Higher AOV (people were willing to spend more) But it's not just about the numbers. It's about understanding WHY people aren't recommending you and fixing it fast. (Another great feature is that people can also add comments to get some real feedback, but just using the number is POWERFUL). If you're not using NPS, stop what you're doing and implement it tonight. Seriously. And if you are already using it? Double down on those 0-6 scores. Turning your detractors into promoters is where the real growth potential lies. Remember: in business, what gets measured gets managed. And NPS is the ultimate measure of how satisfied your customers REALLY are. So, what's your score? — Found value in this? Repost ♻️ to share to your network and follow Ignacio Carcavallo for more like this!