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The Promise Index

We believe brands should keep the promises they make and ensure they deliver for their customers by meeting or exceeding their expectations. Promise has a range of co-creation processes that are designed to close the gap between customer expectations of brands and their actual experiences.

 

The Promise Index is a simple diagnostic tool to measure the gap between your brand's image - the key determinant of expectations - and customer experience. Produced with the London School of Economics (LSE), the Index gauges the relationship between brands and their customers. It sits in the co-creation space, mediates between brands and customers, and brings the two together.

 

 

The Promise Index Chart

 

 

What the Promise Index measures

The Index surveys 1000 customers on the image/perception they have of over 230 brands (the image score) and the quality of the experience they got from using the product (experience score). Together, these two make up a brand's Index score which we use to form our Promise Index League Table.

 

What the Promise Gap measures

The Promise Gap measures the difference between customers' expectations of brands and the actual experiences they encounter when using its products. It quantifies and reveals, in the format of index numbers, which companies most commonly exceed or fail to meet customer expectations and how this varies across different sectors. In other words, the Promise Gap measures which brands keep their promises.

 

Promise Gap = Customer Experience - Customer Expectations

 

A correlation between our work & revenue growth

Statistical analysis carried out in conjunction with the LSE has shown that Promise Gaps are positively correlated with revenue growth. In 2006, revenues of brands with positive Promise Gaps grew at an average of 10.5%. Those with no significant gap grew at a moderate 4.1% and companies with negative gaps grew at a significantly lower 2.8%.

 

This link with revenue growth is solid evidence that Promise Gaps need to be managed. Ensuring the quality of consumer experiences while managing your brand's image and perception is one of the surest ways to outperform the market. Inevitably, it is a business skill that will become more important in the coming years.

 

 

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Interested in finding out more?

Want to see the data in detail? Interested in finding out how your company fared this year, or where you sit in your sector?

 

Please contact Lilli Allihn for more information.

 

Previous coverage

Promise Index 2012

Promise Index 2011

Promise Index 2010

Promise Index 2009

Promise Index 2008

Promise Index 2007

Promise Index 2006

'Promises Promises' (Marketing, 2005)

'Mind the Gap' (Marketing, 2004)

 

We've run the Promise Index for 9 years. Download a preview of the Promise Index 2012 here.