Momentum Matrix

Two of the best known measures of customer experience are the Overall Satisfaction Score (rating of 1 to 10), and the Net Promoter Score (likelihood to recommend on a score from 0 to 10). These measures work well but they are not so good at anticipating changes in customer experience. Using these traditional measures can produce boring results that change little and therefore get ignored. To solve this problem, Marc Brokenbrow, a research consultant at B2B International, developed the Momentum Matrix.

The Momentum Matrix is designed to measure current levels of satisfaction and crucially how satisfaction levels are changing. It does this with two simple questions:

1. Overall how satisfied are you with Company X on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is not at all satisfied and 10 is extremely satisfied?

2. In the past 12 months, would you say that customer experience from Company X has improved a lot, improved a little, not changed, has got a little worse, has got a lot worse?

Mapping answers to these two questions produces a grid which drives a number of actions.

Act now: a low score on current levels of satisfaction and a low score on the improvement of customer experience points to an obvious need for further investigation. What is it that is causing low levels of satisfaction and in what way is the customer experience deteriorating?

Reassess: a score of high satisfaction but low scores on improvement could point to complacency that needs addressing. The obvious question to ask customers giving these scores is "where is deterioration in the customer experience taking place?"

Continue: the happy combination of high satisfaction scores and strong scores in the progress of customer experience indicate the need for more of the same.

Monitor: a low satisfaction score combined with an indication that things are improving bodes well. It is certainly worth finding out what is causing the improvements in customer experience because these are actions that should be continued and monitored.

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It is very easy for customer experience programs to stagnate. Simple measures of customer satisfaction may not change drastically from one survey wave to another. This may mean that they are ignored. The Momentum Matrix is dynamic and points to areas that could be improved or that need attention.

Some things to think about:

• Do you know how satisfied your customers are with your company on a measurable scale?

• Do you know whether customers believe that their experience with your company has improved or not over the last 12 months?

• You need to have answers to these questions in order to plot the vulnerability or otherwise of your customers. Some companies have half their customers giving a score of less than 7 out of 10 and who do not believe that any improvements are taking place. All these companies are at risk of moving to competitors. You need to know what percentage of your customers are at risk and who these customers are so that you can take appropriate action.