Customer Evangelism in Public K-12 Schools Kim Schroeder

What is a Customer Evangelist? Evangelists passionately recommend your company to others. Evangelists provide true sustainable growth because they love doing business with your company. Evangelists believe in your mission.

My Challenge “Throw out everything you know about marketing, we’re going to do it my way.” The CEO’s way was reliant on viral marketing. Viral marketing works in the K-12 marketplace. K12 educators rely on nearby technology innovators for recommendations.

About Infinite Campus Develops, distributes and implements software used to manage K-12 public school student data. Founded in Blaine, Minnesota, where our first customer is located. Serves 1,200 district customers in 44 states.

Fred Reicheld To test evangelism, ask the Ultimate Question. Companies need to ask just one question to understand if it has an evangelist network. Harvard Business School Professor More powerful than typical satisfaction and loyalty surveys.

Customer Satisfaction Crucial to customer retention. Measurement is difficult. Results lack precision – what does “satisfaction” mean to each individual? 60 to 80% of company defectors respond to surveys that they are satisfied or very satisfied right before defecting.

Customer Loyalty Loyal customers have an emotional bond with the company. Loyal customers are tolerant when things go slightly wrong. Loyal customers do buy more over time. Loyal customers may never recommend the company to others.

The Ultimate Question “Would you recommend company ‘X’ to a friend or colleague?” Answer: Yes (Promoters) No (Detractors) Promoters minus Detractors equals Net Promoter Score (NPS).

NPS Industry Examples Average U.S. companies score an NPS of Loyalty leaders like Southwest Airlines and American Express score an NPS of 50. Harley-Davidson scores an NPS of 80.

Research Question “Is there a positive perception of Infinite Campus leading to customer evangelism?”

Methodology Online survey Distributed Nov , ,279 Campus Contacts – Example: 3 Campus Contacts at St. Paul Public Schools for 40,000 students and 6,300 staff Response rate of 690 = 21%

Have you recommended Infinite Campus to others? Yes = 45.8% No = 35.9% Promoters minus Detractors equals NPS = 9.9 NPS

If yes, how often have you recommended Infinite Campus to others? 58.2% recommended Infinite Campus more than once. 26.2% of respondents recommended two to three times – largest single citation.

If yes, why have you recommended Infinite Campus to others? Benefits of highest value include: District-wide integration State reporting functionality Web-based client access

If no, why haven’t you recommended Infinite Campus to others? The most frequently cited reasons include: Other schools nearby already use it. Product quality issues. Not on the product long enough to recommend.

NPS Excluding First Year Customers Yes = 66% No = 34% Promoters minus Detractors equals NPS = 32 NPS

Research Question “Is there a positive perception of Infinite Campus leading to customer evangelism?” Yes

Results NPS of 9.9 was disappointing. NPS of 32 excluding the first year customers was good, but not great. Organization needs to improve overall to become a loyalty leader like Southwest Airlines and American Express.

Recommendations to Encourage Customer Evangelism Improve product quality. Develop a communication program to improve the first year transition. Grow client executive program to build strong relationships with each customer. Establish customer advisory groups to gain input and recognize evangelists.

Our Evangelists They have been on the software longer than one year. They have recommended the product 2-3 times. They are the most important customers. Questions?