“How likely are you to recommend <insert your company name> to a colleague or friend?“

The answer to this one question gives you your Net Promoter® Score (NPS), a customer service measurement developed by Fred Reichheld and popularized through his book The Ultimate Question. NPS is now being used by leading organizations around the world as the standard for measuring and improving customer loyalty. Here’s how it works:

1. Ask The Question With A 10-Point Rating Scale

Customers respond on the 10-point rating scale and are categorized as follows:

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

If you’re not getting top marks (9’s and 10’s), you get a lower NPS and you know your customer service needs to improve. Companies with high NPS are Apple (77) and Adobe (46),  while AT&T (11) sits at the opposite end of the spectrum. The goal is to have far more Promoters than Detractors, and to convert Passives into Promoters over time.

2. Calculate Your NPS

To calculate your NPS, just takes the percentage of customers who are Promoters and subtracts the percentage who are Detractors. Formula: PROMOTERS – DETRACTORS = NPS

3. Share

Share with all members of your staff, rally around the behaviors that will drive your number up, and measure continuously – monthly, quarterly, bi-annually, or annually – you decide but stick to it.

Using NPS rather than just relying on verbal feedback gives you an effective measurement that provides insight on how well you are servicing your customers, where you are doing well, and where youe can improve.

GigamOM and PEER 1 Hosting are putting on an event called FutureHosting and broadcasting it live on webstream, Dec 3rd at 9:30am PST. The live panel discussion will be hosted by leading technology blogger Om Malik, and an excellent lineup that includes:

• Byron Sebastian, CEO, Heroku
• Sebastian Stadll, Founder, Scalr
• Jason Hoffman, CTO, Joyent
• Robert Miggins, SVP BizDev, PEER 1 Hosting

They will debate the perfect web hosting environment for early stage entrepreneurs as the hosting market evolves towards an on-demand model. Topics include delivery of platform-as-a-service, and optimizing scalable hosting and cost-effectiveness for start-up businesses. Mark it on your calendar. More details here.

Watch Live Webstream Here

The table below shows the results of ComScore’s study which tested a control group of users not exposed to a banner ad campaign against a test group of users exposed to it across various industry verticals. In all cases, there was an increase in search activity by the test group, in one vertical as high as 77%. The overall average lift being 46%.

It makes sense when you think about it. I see myself behaving similarly. I seldom click on banner ads, but many times I have later gone to Google to search for a brand name or offer from an ad I was exposed to earlier – as I try to recall it. In this common scenario, the banner ad would have no value if it was measured by click through alone. Yet, in reality it entirely influenced the final search activity, which is often assigned all the value as the “last click” to the site. This study gives enough reason to reassess how you value banner advertising and the impact it has on your overall advertising campaign… beyond the click.

Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison believes cloud is just water vapor.

All the buzz in web hosting these days is around cloud hosting. From large providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS) to the Rackspace Cloud, to a whole bunch of tiny providers, you can’t find a corner on the Internet that isn’t talking about or trying to offer up a cloud service. But what exactly is cloud? If you aren’t quite sure, you’re not alone. A recent independent cloud hosting study of 200 IT decision makers showed that 88 percent of them do not use cloud technologies, while 39 percent said that their lack of knowledge is preventing them from adopting it. And 24 percent were reluctant to use cloud because of perceived security risks. But almost half of the respondents did say they are considering cloud hosting with the majority of them citing scalability and flexibility as the key reasons.

So is cloud hosting the wave of the future? If you are to believe Oracle’s colorful co-founder, Larry Ellison, cloud is not only the future of computing, but it is the present, and the entire past. He comically referred to cloud as “water vapor” in a recent rant and writes it off as just a cutesy term for what we’ve already come to know as software as a service, on-demand, or just simply the Internet. So, if you’re feeling cloudy around cloud computing, don’t feel bad – even seasoned industry veterans can’t agree on exactly what it is.

I’m sitting in on an excellent presentation (that is me in the back row, third one in) by Nate Elliott of Forrester Research who is presenting his findings on the New Influentials – Internet users who maintain a weblog or personal homepage, who join in discussions on web message boards, forums, etc. and regularly update their social networking profile page – who continue to become a growing influence on consumers in decision-making around products, technology, music, etc. New Influentials primarily exert active influence by proactively giving advice, but are rarely sought out as compared to Classic Influentials who’s opinions are sought out but who rarely give unless asked. Forrester’s research shows that classic influence remains stagnant, while new influence continues to grow. But, as users grow overwhelmed by influence, they will seek greater context and ways to filter New Influencers for opinions they would value. So what needs to happen? New Influencers need to be rated so users can filter and decide who’s opinion they want to follow. And the further development of social graphs that map the people you know with the content you are looking at online. For example, you go to a restaurant review site, and are immediately shown reviews from the people you know immediately, and likely trust.

Quite a few of us have an idea or a personal project worth sharing with the world through hosting on the Web. Most of us also have an older computer which is either collecting dust in the closet/attic/garage, or is in a lonely corner, waiting for someone to use it, while the family flocks to the shiny new laptop or desktop in the study. That is especially true of IT professionals, programmers and administrators. Wouldn’t it be great to put that old computer to work, hosting our personal web site? Read more

This latest trend builds off the same principles, while removing the nice-to-haves to keep prices in check. We’re also seeing a boon in the opposite side of the spectrum – small, boutique hotels that are able to cater more nimbly to their guest’s every need and are able to charge higher prices to do so, even when competing with the big chains. I can see myself being a customer of both, one for business and the other for pleasure.

1. Google mail and docs – I’m addicted to Gmail. Ever since I switched to my new Mac, I’ve been using Gmail as my primary mail software. Mac has a great Google notifier that sits in the top right corner of my screen and lets me know when there is new mail, and scrolls through snippets of each one, in an unobtrusive and elegant Apple way. I filter in my PEER 1 business mail as well as my personal mail through it and use it as my single point for mailing. I’ve now been using Google calendar and Google docs – word processor and spreadsheet, and trying to ween myself off of years of Microsoft Office. I’m impressed at how seamlessly it imports Word and Excel documents, and the smooth integration with Gmail. Have also now switched to Google Reader for RSS news feeds. Some people get concerned about having all your eggs in one basket like Google, but don’t preach to me. I’m converted. Docs.Google.com and Google Services
2. Wordpress – As much as I like Google, I don’t like their blogging software, Blogger. Started with them and ended up switching over to Wordpress. WP is leaps and bounds ahead of Blogger with its blog stats, quality templates and growing WP community. I wasn’t permitted to run AdSense ads on my WP blog as I was with Blogger, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t blogging for money. Wordpress.com
3. MediaFire – Just started using this for free file sharing. Great for large files that can’t be emailed. The nice thing about this service is that you have unlimited disk space, can send files up to 100MB (great for large graphic artwork files), and no queues or speed throttling. Mediafire.com
4. Livelook – Ever wished the person on the other line could see what you’re seeing on your desktop, to help explain a document, graph, report, or slide? Livelook, who is a hosting client of ours, provides free instant screen sharing that is so easy to use. Just send your contact one password code, they enter it at LiveLook’s site, and boom, they’re viewing your desktop in real-time through their browser. Very handy! Livelook.net
5. SurveyMonkey – Free professional online surveys you can use to research your staff, prospects, and customers. Complete with good-looking templates, statistical data and analysis reports. For a small fee, you can private label it with your logo and get some more cool features. Great tool! SurveyMonkey.com