The Revised Apostle Model
Posted by Jeffrey Henning on Tue, Aug 19, 2008
The original Apostle Model does not have a dimension corresponding to willingness to recommend (promoter/detractor). In 2003, Sasser revised the model to include word-of-mouth behavior. Here is the revised model as published in Value Profit Chain: Treat Employees Like Customers and Customers Like Employees.
Defectors/Terrorists are now called Antagonists, and this segment spreads negative word of mouth about the product, based on their low level of satisfaction. Viral Loyalists are introduced as more loyal, more satisfied Loyalists who spread positive word of mouth. And Apostles/Owners are even more loyal, more satisfied and more vocal. Rather than display this typology as a grid, Sasser now shows the customer segments along a path. Sasser proposes that Satisfaction leads to Loyalty, which leads to Commitment, which leads to Apostle-like Behavior, which leads to Ownership.
Implicit in this revised model is that loyalty and satisfaction correlate to high likelihood of recommendation; no data is given to back this assumption.
In The Value Profit Chain, Sasser and his co-authors argue, "So-called satisfaction surveys must go beyond merely the question of satisfaction if they are to yield the data necessary for profiling the customer base." Questions they propose for use in surveys include:
- How satisfied are you (with the product or service)?
- How likely are you to repurchase?
- How likely are you to tell someone else about your experience?
- How many times have you purchased (all products or services of this type) in the past 6 months (or some other period of time reflecting purchase frequency for product or service category)?
- How many times have you purchased (this product or service) from (our company) in the past 6 months?
- How many others have you told about your experience (with this product or service) in the past 6 months?
- How many of those that you have told in the past 6 months have, to your knowledge, also purchased (the product or service)?
- How many times have you offered constructive criticism or suggestions for product or service improvements over the past 6 months?
This completes our coverage of the Apostle Model and popular treatments of it.
Update: This post is part of the series The Apostle Model and Related Loyalty Segmentations.