How Arbisoft Beat Global Client Satisfaction Score
for Software Development Industry?

Introduction

For the past 3 years, Arbisoft has been conducting Net Promoter Score or NPS surveys as part of its Customer Experience Management — to develop a steady process to dive deep into our clients and partners experience so that we can continue to increase value-creation for our partners and clients.

This year, Arbisoft has outdone its past NPS and managed to beat the global software development industry score.

This was made possible because of the dedication and professional ethics of Arbisoft team, and the technology partners who have relied on us to develop, expand, and sustain the technologies they need to fulfill their mission–whether that’s educating millions of students, developing one of the leading travel and hospitality apps, or connecting talented people with their next great job, or just giving people a better way to plan their neighborhood meetups.

We deliver what we promise, that is, creating value for millions of users of software we develop.

Customer Loyalty Metric

Beyond just the dedication and meticulousness with which we render our services, it is our customers and our relationship with them that sets us apart. As our NPS score of 69.8% suggests.

“Net Promoter Score is a client satisfaction and service quality metric based on a single survey question that asks clients of B2B service providers “how likely they are to recommend your firm to a friend or colleague.” Clients respond using a numeric scale of 0-10, ten being extremely likely and zero being not likely at all. NPS is calculated by subtracting the % of Detractors (those who respond with 6 or lower) from the % of Promoters (those who respond with a 9 or 10).”
Source: ClearlyRated

In other words, it’s a standard tool that companies around the world and across industries use to identify customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Happy people create great customer experiences

The survey is conducted independently, without intervention from Arbisoft teams working with clients. The process is completely automated where survey is designed and shared with the clients using Arbisoft’s inhouse software, Sentimeter, a Customer Experience Management tool used by companies such as McDonald’s and Metro Cash & Carry. Each NPS cycle runs for two months. During this time a total of six automated reminders are sent to the clients, thus, improving the response rate of the feedback with each cycle.

Arbisoft has been in business since 2007, creating software for startups and enterprise businesses alike. More than 50% of our clients have come back to us with new projects over the period of ten plus years; while some have grown with us from a startup to one of the leading companies in their industry, such as KAYAK, edX, Travelliance, Insurify, PayPerks and others. Our main business model has been word of mouth promotion from satisfied clients and partners, which is a clear indication of a positive NPS and because we choose our projects for impact–not just profits. We pick our partners and our preferred technologies with care: it comes naturally when you know you’re putting out more into the world than just lines of code. Our clients stay with us because we build software for humans, not machines.

Industry NPS and Arbisoft

It’s common knowledge that companies working in B2B service industries find a relatively tough time in business acquisition and customer satisfaction, therefore, their standard NPS are usually not on the higher end. However, Arbisoft managed to break the glass ceiling.

In 2020, Arbisoft scored 66.7% in the first quarter and 69.8% in the third quarter, while the global benchmark for the  software development industry was calculated at 36%.

In the NPS Survey, respondents answer on a scale of 0 to 10, where zero means ‘not at all likely’ and 10 is ‘extremely likely’. A research conducted by Bain & Company has shown that customers that respond with a 9 or 10 not only provide referrals, but they also increase purchase volume and frequency. These customers are called promoters because they’re the assets that promote the company’s success. In 2020, Arbisoft was able to achieve 69.1% promoters in Q1 and 73.6% promoters in Q3.

Those scoring 7 or 8 are labelled passives. They got what they paid for but are not really assets or liabilities for the firm. In the range of passives, we got 28.5% in Q1 and 22.6% in Q3.

Scores of 6 or below indicate detractor; someone who is likely to steer friends and colleagues away from your company or product and to defect as soon as possible. Arbisoft received 2.4% detractors in Q1 and 3.8% in Q3 which is really low from the average global benchmark of 15%.

On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend Arbisoft’s services to a friend or colleague?

Voice of Customer 

Our clients’ success speaks volume about our dedication, experience, skill set and business ethics. It is through NPS survey that we are able to gather and analyze customer insights and identify trends and strategies to improve customer experience and deliver positive business outcomes. In other words, we let the Voice of Customer drive our business goals.

Providing services is not the end result that we aim for — we aim to create a valuable experience for the client and help them succeed throughout their business journey. Arbisoft has been with edX since the beginning of its journey. As edX’s official tech partner, Arbisoft helped them put education at their learners’ fingertips through Android and iOS apps that enabled students to take courses on the go. Together, the Android and iPhone apps boast 4+ star ratings and over 5 million downloads.

From a startup to one of the leading travel search engines, Arbisoft has been part of KAYAK’s journey, developing software and creating great experiences for its users. The app has over 50 million downloads from 30+ countries, 5 stars from over 140,000 happy travelers, and featured listings in the App Store. The app won 10 Webby awards and were included in Wired Magazine’s ‘8 Best Apps for World Travelers.’ Arbisoft has played an instrumental role in the development of apps and infrastructure for TenMarks for over 5 years. The apps have been downloaded over 100,000 times.

These are a couple of many success stories that Arbisoft has created over the years.

Factors Affecting NPS Score — Communication, Dependability & Team Skill set

Besides the NPS question, the survey includes questions that prompted feedback against three indicators; Communication, Dependability and Team Skill set. These indicators were selected after interviewing a select group of our clients in which they were asked to share criteria affecting their experience and relationship with a software development partner. Each indicator or segment has three metrics and each metric has further drilled down options to choose from, thus, giving the respondent every opportunity to give precise and focused answers.

Communication

Communication is a prerequisite for any relationship and it becomes even more important when dealing with offshore teams. The three metrics to better judge Communication skills of Arbisoft teams are: Proactiveness, Responsiveness and Verbal and written communication.

“Proactiveness” indicates if the team is showing curiosity in the project; offering their clients their opinions and showing the client better ways of achieving their goals. “Responsiveness” is the metric used to check whether the team is punctual; quick to reply to interactions and regular at the meetings. The “Verbal and written communication” metric is used to check the clarity of the team’s communication.

Dependability

We wanted to know how much our clients depend on Arbisoft when it comes to consistency, flexibility and transparency of the teams.

“Consistency” indicates if the team has been consistent in work output and managed to avoid any unpleasant surprises or experiences. “Flexibility” is the metric used to check whether the team is flexible and willing to change with changing expectations and requirements of the project. The “Transparency” metric is used to check that the team is clear on how they are spending their work hours.

Team Skill set

Client feedback against this indicator helps us stay updated with the relevant technology stack and continuously improve the skill set of our teams.

“Capability” indicates whether the team is capable enough to understand the project demands and meet the client criteria. “Open to learning” is the metric used to check whether the team is eager to learn a new skill required for a project. The “Suitability” metric is used to check that the team’s skill set is suitable for the project that was given to them.

Conclusion

Arbisoft has grown leaps and bounds over the period of 13 years; from a company of five engineers to a team of 500+ people comprising technical and non-technical expertise, and a rich portfolio of over 150 clients who have come back to us multiple times with new projects or have recommended our services through referrals and word of mouth promotion. This is a clear indicator of a winning business strategy; also predicted by the positive NPS score.

The NPS survey has helped us gain deep insights into the experience of our clients and partners during their customer journey with the Arbisoft team; engineers, management and other non-technical teams. The feedback has given us some useful data to understand our clients’ expectations from us, things we are doing right and where we need to meet their expectations. Having a big pool of Promoters indicates that our values and work ethics are aligned with clients’ expectations, while there is still room for improvement where we can work to convert our Passives into Promoters.