Following the success of our McCrindle Baynes Village Census in 2013 which generated a Net Promoter Score of 25 for our retirement village sector, the New Zealand Retirement Villages Association commissioned us to discover the Net Promoter Score for the NZ village sector.

New Zealand achieved a massive NPS score of 47 and are now joyfully pointing out that their residents are twice as satisfied with village life compared to Australian village residents.

The Net Promoter Score was created by consulting firm Bain & Co and is the recognised international measure for customer goodwill and loyalty. Our Australian survey measured 5,200 residents across 236 villages nationally. For New Zealand, the survey encompassed the majority of their 363 villages.

The size of village operator was not an influence in NZ, with the top five operators accounting for 49 per cent of the village market. And the positive goodwill is reflected in sales with the number of village residents doubling in the past eight years.

While a number of questions are asked, the significant question is: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely is it that you would recommend this village to a friend?”

Customers respond on a 0-to-10 point rating scale and are categorised as follows: 

• Promoters (score 9-10) are loyal enthusiasts and motivated promoters who will keep engaging and refer others, fuelling growth.

• Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but not yet passionate customers who are potentially open to competitive offerings.

• Detractors (score 0-6) range from being somewhat satisfied to unhappy customers who are not strongly engaged and can impede growth through faint praise or negative word-of-mouth.

The NPS score of 25 still ranks Australian retirement villages as the top industry sector in Australia for customer loyalty and goodwill. The closest sector is online retailing at 24.

The 2015 McCrindle Baynes research project for the Australian  village market will be announced in the next four weeks.