Why NPS Still Matters - and What Happens When You Take It Seriously

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Key takeaways

We spoke with Jen Shailer, CX Programme Lead at HelloFresh, to understand why Net Promoter Score still plays a central role in her customer experience strategy - and what happens when companies go beyond the score to take real action.

• While some question NPS’s relevance, Jen Shailer believes it still has a role. She views the NPS score as a starting point, not the full story, and emphasizes that true insight comes from exploring the reasons behind the scores.

• ‍Jen’s team uses Chattermill to dive deeper into customer feedback to reveal the specific reasons behind NPS. This qualitative insight helps them identify pain points, detect recurring issues, and uncover drivers of customer retention and churn.

• NPS only drives change when the organization is listening. Jen stresses the importance of having leadership that believes in customer-centricity. Insights alone aren’t enough - it takes internal champions to turn customer feedback into decisions and investment.

A conversation with Jen Shailer, CX Programme Lead at HelloFresh 

Q: Tell me about your role, your team, and your objectives.

Jen: I represent the voice of the customer - which is a really exciting part of my role. I work with stakeholders across the business to improve our customer experience and help teams better understand our product and our customers through deep dives into customer behavior and trends.

One of my main objectives - and also one of my biggest challenges - is developing a voice of the customer strategy. I want to be known as the customer champion, the person others turn to for evidence-based decision-making, hypothesis validation, and driving meaningful change.

My number one goal is to turn insights into action.

Q: That’s amazing. Can you tell me a bit more about how your team is structured? 

Jen: CX can really sit anywhere - within marketing, customer care, or product. In my case, I sit within customer care, but I’m also part of the broader product team. It’s a great setup because we get both perspectives. On the customer care side, we see what customers are calling us about, what they’re using self-service and chat for, and that helps us analyze behaviors and find ways to create more seamless experiences.

We also have a CX improvement function in our team that leans more into the product side of things. I really like being embedded within product - it gives us the opportunity to influence change at a deeper level.

Q: Tell me about the areas of the business you're focused on improving using customer feedback. Where are you applying that knowledge and intelligence?

Jen: Our number one CX metric is NPS, of course. Within that, we’re able to identify the key drivers - what’s impacting our NPS, what needs improvement, and what should be maintained. Customer feedback allows us to dig into those areas and understand the root causes behind the scores.

While NPS is our primary metric, I like to take a more holistic view of customer feedback. I look at every touchpoint - starting from when someone signs up, to using the product, cooking the meals, contacting customer support, and even canceling their subscription.

By analyzing all of these moments, I can see what our customers value, where we’re strong, and - most importantly - where the pain points are. I track this month over month, identify emerging trends, and share those insights across the business.

Using Chattermill to uncover NPS drivers

Q: You’ve been one of the most engaged and active users of Chattermill, I have to say! I’m really curious to hear how you’re using the platform day to day. What’s the first thing you do when you log into Chattermill?

Jen: Yes, I use Chattermill every single day. Reading customer comments is honestly one of my favorite things to do.

The first thing I do each morning is check the detractor comments - those with scores between 0 and 6. I look for opportunities to close the loop: who we should contact, who might need support based on their feedback, and whether any trends or emerging issues are starting to show up.

So again, I’m looking at NPS drivers, pain points, reading the comments - and that usually points me to a trend I can dig into. Deep dives are my favorite part of the job.

I always keep a list of "lookouts" on a little post-it note - anything related to recent campaigns, product changes, or trends someone’s flagged. While I’m going through comments and diving deeper, I keep an eye out for these in case they start surfacing.

Colleagues often come to me with quick questions - whether it’s a tap on the shoulder or a Slack message asking, “What are customers saying about X?” or “Jen, have you noticed anything about Y?” These kinds of requests are like sugar to me - I usually drop everything to follow the trail. I love uncovering what customers are saying about a particular product or experience.

Q: There's a lot of talk lately about how NPS on its own isn’t enough - it’s really about understanding what’s behind the score. Do you use Impact Analysis in Chattermill to dig into that? Is it something you find helpful?

Jen: Yeah, absolutely. Especially in a big company like ours, with so many moving parts and different teams, the Impact Analysis is super helpful. It shows you which themes are actually influencing NPS - is it delivery, ordering, customer care?

I compare that impact month on month, quarter on quarter, and track what’s changing.

I also really like the Positivity and Negativity Index you can run in Chattermill. It gives a broader view by comparing negative feedback to all feedback. You can see, month to month, whether the amount of negative feedback is going down. I love that.

NPS still has its place - internally, we use it to measure ourselves against our own past performance. I’m not big on benchmarking against other organizations. But the real value comes from the verbatim comments - that’s where you find the true insights behind the score.

Q: Can you walk me through an example of a report or dashboard you regularly check?

Jen: I’ve got quite a few dashboards and reports set up.

Right now, I have one specifically tracking the performance of a particular initiative we’re running. Instead of people from different teams asking me every few days how it’s going, I created a dashboard that looks at sentiment, NPS, specific keywords, and how they’re trending.

I publish it and make it self-service, so anyone can go in and check it out whenever they want, without having to ask me for updates. That’s been really helpful.

We can also compare performance across Australia and New Zealand, or even across different brands.

There are so many ways to filter the data - by loyalty groups, which I find really interesting. For example, when looking at a particular pain point, we can see if it’s experienced more by new customers or long-term ones.

One report I really like is in the competitor tracking dashboard. It pulls in publicly available customer reviews from competitor sites. We can see what their customers are saying, what the average scores are, and compare that with our own feedback.

It helps you understand: what are competitors doing well? What are their customers unhappy with? What are the things you, as a brand, could double down on to win those people over?

That’s really important. It’s good to stay across the competitive landscape. Understanding what others are doing well helps keep that competitive edge.

Q: So you’re looking at different things, probably focusing a lot on the negative issues or customer concerns. How do you prioritize what you and your team should work on next?

Jen: Within my team, we usually focus on what we can influence or change locally. For example, with our team, it’s about the support customers get over the phone, through the chatbot, or via self-service.

So, if there are pain points we’re seeing that we can quickly and easily fix, those tend to get priority.

I look across all feedback channels - whether it’s at sign-up, or reviews on Trustpilot, for example. I use the negativity index to identify pain points and then check if something is trending across multiple areas. For instance, if delivery or ordering is causing issues, you’ll see that reflected everywhere.

If it’s big enough, it shows up across all those feedback sources. So I prioritize what we can influence locally and what’s trending across the board.

Getting leadership buy-in and turning feedback into action

Q: How do you share those insights with other teams? Which teams do you work with when it comes to making changes or improvements? 

Jen: It’s really everybody within the business - from delivery teams to customer care, product design, product delivery… basically everyone.

Right now, a key focus for me is figuring out how to share these insights better. Currently, we have a quarterly CX review where key stakeholders come together, and I get to share our customer experience metrics, how we’re performing, and highlight those pain points I mentioned earlier.

I’m also working on setting up an insights hub. Anything I publish goes onto the hub, so everyone can access it. It might not be relevant to everyone, but it’s important that everyone can have empathy for the customer and get to understand who they are.

That’s what I’m focusing on - finding better ways to share insights beyond what we’re doing now.

Q: You mentioned the quarterly meeting with different teams. Can you share a bit about their reaction when you share what’s working and what’s not? I guess everyone’s different, but what’s that like?

Jen: Some people ask questions like, “How many customers are affected by this?” or “How widespread is this issue?” Then they want to know, “Is this really serious?” or “What have we done or are we doing about it?”

Since key stakeholders are all there, it’s not just me getting questions - they also ask each other, “What are we doing in this area?”

If I flag a pain point, usually someone in the room can speak to what’s already being done. Customer centricity is really part of our DNA, and everyone takes feedback seriously, which makes my life easier.

Overall, everyone’s engaged, asking good questions like, “How do I get more info?” or “Can you tell me more about this?” They’re really valuable sessions to have.

Q: What would you say is the biggest advantage of using AI for feedback analysis? And what would you say to someone who’s maybe still hesitant about using AI to improve this process?

Jen: Honestly, AI saves so much time. Before, you’d have to download all the feedback into Excel and categorize everything yourself. For me, the game changer is being able to theme each comment automatically. That’s something I love about Chattermill - every comment gets tagged with one or more themes based on what customers are talking about, plus sentiment.

Then you can easily filter by positive or negative sentiment and focus on specific topics. Given how many moving parts and teams there are in the organization, being able to quickly pull out, say, all delivery-related comments - whether positive or negative - and then actually read through them, makes it so much easier to narrow in on customer sentiment accurately and efficiently.

It really makes that “digging for gold” process way more efficient - and honestly, more enjoyable too.

Q: What’s your best strategy for getting teams like product, operations, support, and revenue to actually act on customer feedback?

Jen: The key is to make it relevant and simple for each team. We report insights regularly, and when something is trending, we share it. But if something urgent comes up between our quarterly CX reviews, we quickly bring together key stakeholders. I walk them through what we’re seeing, the impact on customers, and what it means for the business.

Everyone really takes the feedback seriously. When I call a meeting to say, “Hey, we’ve noticed something,” they’re eager to join and find out how they can improve. It makes my job really satisfying when people value what you bring to the table.

Not everyone understands NPS the same way

Q: What’s one thing you wish more CX managers knew about using customer feedback effectively?

Jen: That’s a tough one - can I give you two?

First, know your audience. Make the feedback relevant to who you’re sharing it with. Not everyone understands NPS the same way - some people like numbers, others prefer stories. So adapt your insights based on who you’re talking to, and always show both customer impact and business impact.

Second - and this is just as important - close the loop with customers. They take time to give feedback, so if you can thank them or ask for more details to help solve their problem, do it. When customers see you’re actually listening, they’re more likely to keep sharing feedback and maybe even give a higher score next time.

Q: What would be your piece of advice to someone who is just starting with Chattermill? Where would you recommend they start?

Jen: I started by just going in and having a play. It’s really quite intuitive initially, so just go in and explore. I think you can figure out the basics that way.

But once you’ve done that, I’d recommend doing all of the training. I’ve done all of them, and suddenly I’m creating dashboards, workflows, and cool reports based on keywords.

The course I did most recently was around retention, and I’ve since been able to create a model for drivers of churn - something I didn’t think about before doing that.

So, go in, have a play, then do the training to learn the secrets behind everything.

Q: You mean the Customer Experience Intelligence Academy, right? Which courses have you done?

Jen: I’ve done all of them, but most recently the retention one and the one about building journeys with insights. I really loved the retention course - the tips on identifying drivers of churn were really helpful.

Q: Are there any trends in 2025 that you’re keeping an eye on?

Jen: I think one trend to always keep an eye on is the balance between human and digital -  that’s something we all talk about. It’s a constant challenge and needs regular review because how people interact with your business changes over time, depending on generations and what technology is available.

Both digital and human touch have a place. But it’s important to find the right balance between efficiency and making it easy for customers to get the answers and support they need.

Everyone’s different - different generations or groups of people prefer to contact you in different ways. It’s about making sure you have everything covered for everybody. So balancing efficiency with ease for customers - that’s the key.

Becoming a CX Leader

Q: What would you say is your secret superpower as a CX leader?
Jen: Bringing people together to solve problems.

Q: What’s the first thing you check in Chattermill each Monday?
Jen: The digital-related feedback - that’s where you’ll spot if there’s a bug or something going wrong that needs immediate attention.

Q: Which feedback channels matter most to you and your team?
Jen: All of them. They’re all important. We look at NPS surveys - from new customers, existing customers, cancellations. Then customer review sites like Trustpilot, social media feedback, recipe ratings with comments, and CSAT surveys after support calls. Every channel gives us something different, and they all matter.

Q: What’s the most underrated feedback source in CX?
Jen: None of them. They’re all equally important. I think NPS gets talked about the most, but every feedback source adds value.

Q: What’s the CX metric you’re obsessed with?
Jen: Definitely NPS - that’s been my go-to for a long time. But since using Chattermill, I’m also a bit obsessed with the negativity and positivity index. Those platform-specific metrics have been a game changer.

Q: What’s the biggest CX myth you wish would disappear?
Jen: That NPS should be canceled. I went to a conference recently where someone said exactly that - and I sat there with my arms folded thinking, “That’s not right.” Sure, it’s not perfect for every business, but in the right context, it’s really valuable. The score is just one part - it’s what’s behind the score that tells the real story.

Q: What’s your go-to way to get buy-in from leadership?
Jen: It’s about having the right support around you - people who value what you say and who are aligned with customer centricity. When leaders understand what insights can do to improve the customer experience and see the impact for themselves, they back you.

Q: What’s the most unexpected insight you’ve gotten from customer feedback?
Jen: Customers often give general feedback like “great flavor” or “nice experience,” so when someone gives really specific input - like naming the recipe or highlighting something detailed - that’s always a pleasant surprise. It’s the little things that stand out.

Q: What’s the best compliment a customer has given your team?
Jen: We often hear, “Thank you for taking my feedback seriously,” or “Thanks for helping me resolve this.” I think people don’t always expect to hear back after leaving feedback, so when we do follow up, they’re genuinely surprised - in a good way.

Q: What’s your favorite Chattermill feature?
Jen: The AI theming of comments - that was a game changer. It saves time and really helps you narrow in on specific areas of focus. And I still love the negativity index - I’m a big fan of that too.

Q: One thing CX teams should stop doing immediately?
Jen: Not sharing their work more broadly. Sometimes we doubt ourselves or think it’s not relevant, but sharing the voice of the customer drives action and empathy. So just get it out there - it’s always valuable.

Q: What’s the most rewarding part of your job?
Jen: Turning insights into action. I might not always hear when someone picks up a recommendation, but eventually I’ll see the impact in the feedback. That’s always such a good moment - when you realize something you flagged actually led to change.

Q: Best piece of career advice you’ve ever received?
Jen: Know when it’s time to find fresh energy. Not necessarily a new job - but when it’s time to start learning something new, shift your mindset, practice gratitude, or move away from negative thoughts. It’s about knowing when to re-energize yourself.

Q: If your CX team had a tagline, what would it be?
Jen: “Get stuff done.” That’s always been the tagline with every team I’ve worked with. We just get on with it. High-performing, no fuss - that’s us.

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