Client Success

Mellon Investor Services

Turning Net Promoter® Scores Into Action and Growing the Bottom Line

“…we were able to easily roll out a nationwide client loyalty solution based on the Net Promoter methodology and transform Mellon’s decision-making processes”
-Barton Hill, CMO, Mellon Investor Services

Business Issues

• Highly competitive, shrinking market with little differentiation among competitors
• Client referrals are key to sustaining and growing the business
• Ample customer satisfaction data with no method for making data actionable

Phelon Group Solution

• A Voice of the Customer practice built upon a Net Promoter framework to unlock Mellon Investor Services’ account intelligence and transform members of its client base into advocates who now help drive growth

Results

• Net Promoter methodology put customer insight at the center of Mellon’s decision-making process
• Defined actionable levers Mellon could control to increase loyalty and drive growth
• Organization-wide realignment empowered employees and executives with information and dashboards to track pulse of the customer

In 2006, Mellon Investor Services was facing the same business challenges as its competitors.  They needed to win new customers and grow revenue in an extremely competitive market that was shrinking 3-5% each year. There was no shortage of transaction processing companies for customers to choose from and offerings were essentially the same among these many competitors. 

Barton Hill, CMO for Mellon, knew that if they were going to successfully increase top line growth, they needed to differentiate themselves and secure customer loyalty.  An internal audit revealed that the two biggest wins in 2005 came from customer referrals and not from any Mellon-driven new customer incentives. Hill was determined to figure out how to positively impact and leverage customer references. 

Gathering a New Kind of Data

Mellon, like many companies, issues customer satisfaction survey’s every year and this data revealed that Mellon customers across the country were generally satisfied. But the data never seemed to answer key questions about the casual link between satisfaction, profitability and growth. Hill needed a method for getting closer to the voice of the customer to identify Mellon’s promoters, increase the number of promoters and hear what customers were thinking in their own words.

To achieve this goal, Hill turned to The Phelon Group who he knew were experts in the area of Voice of Customer and Net Promoter programs. Working with Steven Nicks, EVP for The Phelon Group, they put together a very simple, two-question Net Promoter survey, 1) How likely would you be to recommend Mellon to a colleague?, and 2) What is the primary reason for your response?  The survey response rate was over 50%, far exceeding what Mellon had experienced with longer, more involved satisfaction surveys.

The initial Net Promoter scores (NPS) were compared to the satisfaction data in Mellon’s CRM database and it revealed surprising contradictions. Some clients that Mellon thought were highly satisfied with services where in fact not very satisfied at all. For example, the San Francisco and Seattle regions were both rated 91% satisfied in previous satisfaction surveys, but their NPS score was much lower, meaning accounts that had been considered good references might not actually be so good after all.

“After the initial pilot, it was clear that we needed to dive deeper into the data to determine who our promoters were, what traits they held in common, and what were the drivers behind their NPS scores,” says Hill. “Using these insights, we could define action plans that would have a positive impact and turn clients into promoters who buy more Mellon services and recommend that others do the same.”

Fully committed to the Net Promoter methodology, Mellon continued to work with The Phelon Group to conduct in-depth, qualitative profiling interviews to identify commonalties of each group – promoter, passive, detractor – and the levers that drove their Net Promoter Score.

“The ultimate goal was not to drive a score, but to drive growth by identifying the levers that drive customer behaviors,” explains Nicks. “With this data you can then develop a systematic program that allows you to monitor what occurs when the levers that control those drivers are adjusted. The simplicity and immediacy of a Net Promoter methodology allows companies to do this with an affordable and relatively easy process.”

Companywide Realignment

The Net Promoter methodology helped Mellon put customer insight at the center of the decision-making process and defined the actionable levers that they could control to increase loyalty and drive growth. With the impact of the research very apparent, mandated that NPS be used to drive organizational realignment around this methodology. 

As part of a phased and ongoing realignment process, Mellon implemented three programs. The first was Event Based Loyalty Monitoring in which Mellon conducts a short NPS survey directly following a significant interaction with the client, such as quarterly reporting or delivering annual reports. This metric allows Mellon to test the reaction between company actions and client reactions, giving them a continuous read on how actions are impacting customer loyalty.  It also functions as an early warning system to quickly identify detractors or account issues and take corrective actions immediately.

“Event based monitoring was a big process change for us, but it enabled us to have more action-oriented, open conversations with our clients which is improving the quality of our relationships,” says Hill. “Clients see that we are listening to them, that we want to hear their feedback, and most importantly, that we are making changes based on what we hear.”

The second process change Mellon made was to create Relationship Account Maps within a company to identify all relevant clients that should participate in ongoing NPS surveys. With detailed account maps, Mellon ensures that a client’s NPS rating is reflective of the overall pulse of that client and not that of a single point of contact. With this information, Mellon has plans to put an NPS rating directly on the desktops of the executive, marketing and sales teams to provide an instantaneous view as to the pulse of a customer.

The third part of the realignment strategy what to find a technology that could support the Net Promoter methodology. Mellon wanted a solution that would integrate easily with their existing CRM solution, could easily be deployed nationally and would provide a good visual representation of the NPS data. In partnership with Salesforce.com and Clicktools, Mellon has been able to build on top of their existing CRM solution and create an effective tool for managing its NPS data without having to compromise the NPS methodology.

“…we were able to easily roll out nationwide a solution that supported the Net Promoter methodology and enabled a transformation in Mellon’s decision-making processes,” says Hill. “The technology enables us to empower employees and executives with information and dashboards that allow them to monitor change and see the impact of their decisions on customer satisfaction.”

About Mellon Investor Services
Mellon is a world-class provider of company equity and investor services. With more than 150 years of professional expertise, we offer a comprehensive suite of products and services to address all of your equity and shareholder needs. From record keeping to corporate actions, demutualizations and employee stock-purchase plans, we can help you navigate through today’s rapidly changing and competitive business environment. Mellon Investor Services is headquartered in Jersey City, NJ, and has offices in New York City, Hartford, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. MIS is a subsidiary of Mellon Financial Corporation.