Findings from the 2017 Alumni Perspectives Survey highlight alumni's high 'customer loyalty' rankings.
Globally, the value proposition of a graduate business education remains strong, according to the nearly 15,000 alumni that participated in the 2017 Alumni Perspectives Survey. Nearly all (95%) rate their education to be a good to outstanding value, and more than 9 in 10 say it was personally (93%) and professionally (91%) rewarding. Though alumni are clearly very satisfied with their experience, are they willing to actively promote their alma maters as brand ambassadors?
To help answer this question, GMAC Research applied the methodology of Net Promoter Score (NPS)—a widely used industry metric for gauging consumer brand or customer loyalty. Alumni were asked to respond, on a scale of 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely), the question: “How likely is it that you would recommend your graduate business school to a friend or colleague?” Applying the NPS methodology, those who respond with 0 to 6 are considered “detractors,” 7 to 8 “passives,” and 9 to 10 “promoters.” An entity’s Net Promoter score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, which means an NPS can be as low as -100 (everyone is a detractor) or as high as +100 (everyone is a promoter). According to Satmetrix, originator of NPS, any NPS that is positive (higher than 0) is thought to be good, and an NPS of +50 is excellent.
The Alumni Perspectives Survey found that the overall NPS among business school alumni is 47, which is greater than scores achieved in most sectors of the economy. At the university level, the Net Promoter Scores range from 3 to 83. In sum, more alumni are promoters of their education rather than detractors, and this holds true across the spectrum of programs types included in the survey analysis, ranging from a low of 22 for Master in Management alumni to a high of 61 for Executive MBA alumni.
For more on business school alumni career outcomes, compensation, and value of their degree, download the 2017 Alumni Perspectives Survey Report, available at gmac.com/alumniperspectives.