The Net Promotor Score (NPS) is one of the most well-known metrics for measuring customer loyalty. Originally designed by Reichheld (2003), the measure asks participants to rate their likelihood to recommend the brand on a scale of 0-10, after which respondents are placed into a ‘detractors’ group, ‘passive’ group or ‘promotors’ group. While the measure has attracted much attention due to its simplicity and ease of use, there has equally been much criticism of its reliability, nomological validity and how it is connected to business outcomes. Therefore, the current study aims to understand whether the NPS can be used to identify brand advocacy, and secondly, does the NPS work in a care-based, low switching service context. The study included three unique contexts: at home care, residential care and disability care. In total, there were 611 participants, all of which were based in Australia. A questionnaire was developed and administered to each group and included both quantitative and qualitative questions to understand the consumer experience. The findings supported NPS as an effective metric in a care-based, low-switching context for identifying positive customer advocacy. The implication is that the NPS can be used to track organizational performance; and the extended NPS allows organizations to understand and encourage (address) positive (negative) advocacy. In addition, suggestions for an ‘earned advocacy score’ were provided which may offer a more effective way of understanding consumer experience, while providing clearer, more detailed and more actionable data. The current study provides much needed insight for brand and care organizations to understand how the NPS might be used effectively to facilitate better brand outcomes.

• Saadia Shabnam(Curtin University, Australia)
• Aziemah Othman(Curtin University, Australia)
• Graham Ferguson(Curtin University, Australia)
• Brian T. Hart(Trinity Western University, Canada)