Hello again, I am back with another benchmarking blog, which this time is centered on Cybersecurity. OpenText measures customer perception using a double-blind Competitive Benchmark (for background, please see pages 49-51 of this Customer Gauge report). Each quarter, our results are released internally, but for our security products (previously Micro Focus CyberRes, now OpenText Cybersecurity), in FY23’RQ2, we decided to share them externally. Thus, this article focusses on our security products results. 

Introduction 

A great customer experience is important for customers of security software because of the sensitive nature of the information being protected and the trust that these customers place in the software company. Security is a critical component of any organisation's infrastructure, and customers need to feel confident that the product they are using is effective, reliable, and effective in safeguarding their data. 

A positive customer experience ensures that users have a seamless interaction with the software, receive timely support when needed, and can easily understand and navigate the product's features. This high level of satisfaction not only helps customers feel secure but also fosters a strong relationship between them and the software brand. A company that provides excellent customer experience is more likely to retain its users, receive positive word-of-mouth from them, and attract new customers, all of which contribute to long-term growth and success. 

The Net Promoter® Score (NPS), in a double-blind sense, is often considered the best metric to measure the relationship between customers and a brand because it gauges customer loyalty and satisfaction and compares with the competition. NPS is a simple yet powerful tool that asks customers to rate their likelihood of recommending a company or product to others on a scale of 0 to 10. This single question can reveal valuable insights into customers' overall perception of a brand and their willingness to act as advocates. NPS is particularly useful because it not only provides a snapshot of customer sentiment but also allows companies to track improvements or declines in customer experience over time. By analysing the data, organisations can identify areas that need improvement, create targeted strategies to enhance customer satisfaction, and ultimately build stronger relationships with their customers. This is especially crucial for security software companies, as customers' trust in their product can directly impact the success and reputation of the brand.  

(a) Security NPS Results 

We run our Competitive Benchmark program quarterly using rolling data. In the latest dataset, which is double-blind and contains a very large sample size of approximately 15,000 respondents, the NPS difference between us and the average competitor gives what we call the relative NPS (or rNPS).  If we are to conduct any trend comparisons, it’s this number that we would use, as a ‘standard’ NPS value on its own does not provide any significance.

Figure 1: Double-blind trend data from both our company (in blue) and the average competitor (in black) from FY22’RQ3 to FY23’RQ2

Figure 1 presents the double-blind NPS data from FY22’RQ3 to FY23’RQ2. The blue line shows our company, while the black line shows the average competitor. From FY22’RQ4 onwards, we started to see improvements in our double-blind NPS. In FY23’RQ1, we had almost caught up with the average competitor and had closed the gap to one relative NPS point. This quarter, I’m delighted to report, that for FY23’RQ2, on a Worldwide level, our Security relative NPS (rNPS) has improved and is now 6-points ahead of the average competitor. Not only this, but we are now within the top quartile of all brands analysed within the Competitive Benchmark. Also, we have successfully increased our promoter population, whilst the promoter population of the average competitor has decreased. Our promoter population has gone from 52% in FY22’RQ4 to 57% in FY23’RQ2.

Figure 2: We also present regional Security NPS data, which compares our company with the average competitor in North America, International (Latin America + EMEA) and Asia, Pacific & Japan.

Figure 2 shows the great performances in double-blind NPS that our security products have held in the latest FY23’RQ2 data. In North America, our rNPS is +6, in International it is +5 and in Asia, Pacific & Japan, it is a stunning +9.

The aim for FY24 will obviously be to continue to increase the loyalty gap with the competition.

(b) Touchpoint Results

Why did security do so well? The key for us is to now determine how we turn these insights into business results that drive even higher performance. For this, we need to leverage driver models and touchpoint analysis that is conducted as part of the competitive benchmark research. Obviously, I will not detail how we do things externally, but I will share what caused the great performance increase. 

Latest Touchpoint Performance (Compared with Average Competitor %)

The touchpoints listed below, all performed significantly better, according to our customers, than the competition. 

Web Experience: process ability to research and make purchases through the website. 

Licensing/Obtaining Software Authorization Keys/Codes: your experience with the end-to-end process of obtaining software authorization keys/codes. 

Design: your satisfaction with the features/appearance of the product/service. 

Training: your experience with training services, learning tools and documentation. 

Post-Sales Support: your experience across all forms of product/service support after the purchase. 

Account Management: your relationship with account leaders and account teams. 

Installation: your experience with making the product/service operational. 

Financing / Leasing: your experience to secure and establish financing and leasing agreements with your purchase. 

Sales Experience: from the time you engaged with the company to when you completed the purchase. 

When combined, through driver modelling, we note that these touchpoints, where OpenText is in the upper quartile, contributed 58% of the reason why Security customers gave the double-blind NPS that they did. 

Not only were our security products rated as being ‘significantly better,’ but in some of these touchpoints we were rated as the leader in Software. Specifically, these touchpoints were: 

Design, Licensing and Account Management, which when all three are combined for Security, contributed 17.1% to why customers gave the double-blind NPS that they did. 

Summary 

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about our Security Competitive Benchmark results. It is critical that we all continue to work together and evaluate the areas for improvement to ensure our customers have an exceptional experience. Together we can continue to grow our NPS and improve the now increased loyalty gap between ourselves and the competition.

About the Data Source*

In FY23’RQ2, Security had 207 responses from our customers and 2,548 responses from our customers of our competitors. Thus, we had a total sample size of 2,755. The Competitive Benchmark Research is owned and orchestrated by our company, conducted by a third party, is double blind, and has approximately 15,000 respondents per rolling quarter. These facts make the benchmark both industry defensible and as free from bias as customer research possibly can be. The subsequent analysis by our company is equally rigorous, scientific, and repeatable, and provides reliable worldwide, and pan-portfolio, customer loyalty insights.

About NPS**

Net Promoter Score®, or NPS®, measures customer experience and predicts business growth. This proven metric transformed the business world and now provides the core measurement for customer experience management programs the world round.  OpenText uses NPS in 'double-blind' research. What does this mean? It means that we do not know who the respondents are, and they themselves do not know that OpenText is sponsoring the study, and thus, this study has a dramatically lower bias than other surveys! This means if a competitor performed the same research, they would have the same results.

The NPS Calculation and NPS Survey Guidance

There are three main questions.

1. How likely is it that you would recommend our company to a friend or colleague?
2. Why?
3. What would you Improve?

Respondent Groups

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

Passives (score 7-8) are satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who are vulnerable to competitive offerings.

Detractors (score 0-6) are unhappy customers who can damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.

Subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters yields the Net Promoter® Score, which can range from a low of -100 (if every customer is a Detractor) to a high of 100 (if every customer is a Promoter).

Net Promoter® and NPS® are registered service marks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

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