According to Pat Heaslip, research director at Customer Service Benchmarking Australia, the variations in results from 2009 to 2011 may be attributable to differences in the sample of funds surveyed and the wider investment environment. She notes that while volatility in returns during the global financial crisis impacted members’ enthusiasm for their funds, clear trends seem to be emerging. “What is interesting is how similar the results have been year-on-year,” she says. “There is quite a distinct pattern and you start to look at what it is that makes the difference between what the top performers are doing and what the others are doing.” Constructive criticism One reason the average NPS has increased may be because funds are acting on the data they received in earlier surveys. This is certainly the case for Queensland fund BUSS(Q) Super. According to David O’Sullivan, CEO of BUSS(Q), the fund received slightly above-average NPS scores in 2009 and 2010. This was positive but the fund felt it could do better. The results have been dramatic. The fund’s NPS rose from +15 in 2010 to +48 in 2011 after it reengineered a number of its business processes. “We were a bit blown away by the results,” O’Sullivan says. “Over the past 12 months, we’ve really had a decent go at extracting some value. After the second year of the survey, we decided to really drill down on the comments we got from members and put a lot of programs in place and see if it would change our results.” Among the BUSS(Q) initiatives was a program to try and answer more telephone enquiries on the spot for members or by using email instead of slower physical mail.

The fund has also found gains by driving members to its website then talking them through content and processes, and from streamlining its processes for managing financial hardship claims. According to O’Sullivan, the NPS has been most useful as a tool for improving performance within BUSS(Q) rather than benchmarking its performance across the industry. He adds that BUSS(Q) is now using the NPS methodology to conduct other customer research, such as calling premium members a week after an interaction to gauge their satisfaction. “We just really like the simplicity of it and that it’s a short survey,” he says. “People don’t want to do 20-minute phone interviews.” Further questions To get a better understanding of what the most popular funds are doing well and to learn more about what drives members to become promoters, the survey asks five additional questions. These ask whether members believe their fund: • Has knowledgeable customer service people; • Provides the information they require; • Provides them with clear and concise information; • Provides excellent financial returns; and • Handles enquiries quickly and efficiently. In the 2011 survey, members gave the highest scores for ‘Provides the information I require’, with a mean score across all respondents of 8.2 out of 10. The next highest was ‘Handles enquiries quickly and efficiently’ (8.1) and ‘Provides me with clear and concise information (also 8.1).