In a recent LinkedIn post, Jim Tincher, CCXP discusses the pitfalls of tying employee bonuses to customer satisfaction metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) or general satisfaction scores. Tincher argues that such practices often lead to companies paying for a “number” rather than genuine business outcomes.
According to Tincher, CCXP, this approach rests on several potentially flawed assumptions. “You’re making three assumptions. That the score reflects business health. That your employees know how to improve it. And that they wouldn’t do the right thing without a specific payout attached,” he writes.
“The second assumption is where it falls apart. In a complex manufacturing organization, most employees cannot draw a straight line from their daily work to a customer’s likelihood to recommend.”
Tincher, CCXP elaborates on this point with a personal anecdote from his time at Best Buy, where his role in product testing, disconnected from immediate customer interaction, made a customer satisfaction bonus feel irrelevant to his daily work. This disconnect, he suggests, is common in many organizations, particularly in B2B and complex manufacturing environments.
The Illusion of Improvement: Gaming the System
A significant concern highlighted by Tincher, CCXP is the tendency for employees to “game” the system when bonuses are tied to survey scores. Instead of focusing on genuine customer experience improvements, the focus shifts to manipulating the scores themselves.
“When you tie bonuses to survey scores, people game it. They keep unhappy customers off the survey list. They coach buyers to give a 10. It happens in B2C. It happens in B2B. Every time,” Tincher, CCXP states emphatically.
“They keep unhappy customers off the survey list. They coach buyers to give a 10.”
This manipulation, as Jim Tincher, CCXP points out, creates a false sense of progress and can mask underlying issues that are detrimental to long-term business health. The pursuit of a high score becomes the objective, rather than the improved customer experience that the score is intended to measure.
Measuring Operations, Not Opinions: A Better Approach
Tincher, CCXP advocates for a more direct and operational approach to performance measurement and incentivization. He contrasts the flawed NPS-based bonuses with a successful alternative implemented by one of their manufacturing clients.
Shifting Focus to Operational Metrics
This client replaced their NPS bonus with a metric directly related to operational efficiency: response time to customer issues. This change, as detailed by Tincher, CCXP, led to tangible positive results.
“They baselined it. They improved it across the company. Employees earned the bonus. Customers saw faster resolution. The manufacturer saw growth.”
By focusing on a measurable operational aspect – how quickly customer issues are addressed – the company aligned employee actions with a clear customer benefit and a business outcome. This, in Tincher’s view, is a far more effective strategy than relying on subjective customer opinions that can be easily influenced or misrepresented.
The core message from Jim Tincher, CCXP’s post is a call to action for businesses: “Measure the operation. Not the opinion.” This principle suggests that true business improvement and sustainable growth come from focusing on and incentivizing the underlying processes and actions that drive customer satisfaction, rather than the satisfaction scores themselves.
📝 About This Content
This article is based on insights shared by Jim Tincher, CCXP on LinkedIn.
📅 Originally posted on April 1, 2026 | View original post on LinkedIn →