Part five · Running it · Chapter 14

THE PROMISE SCORECARD

One page, every week. Each number with its denominator, split by the lane where it’s worst, and one quarterly line that says what failures cost in repeat orders.

Delivery usually shows up in the weekly meeting as shipping cost per order, and support as response time. Neither says whether the business kept its promises. This page does.

NumberDefined asWhat it catches
Perfect-order rateOrders with no failure, over orders deliveredThe headline
Failure indexPoints per 1,000 orders, top two sources, worst laneWhich failure to fix first
On time against the date shownDelivered by the checkout date, by regionPromises the lane can’t keep
Ship on timeWith the carrier by the promised ship dateWarehouse delays, early
Order-to-door daysMedian and 90th percentile, by regionA lengthening tail
Told firstDelayed orders notified before any contactDelay triggers that stopped firing
Contacts per orderTotal, and for each of the top five reasonsA new reason appearing, a fix that didn’t hold
Repeat contact rateSame-order contacts within 7 daysEffort: answers that didn’t resolve
Delivery check “no” rate“No” answers to the delivery checkDamage and errors customers didn’t report
Recovery spendRemedies and budget use per failureDrift in what failures cost to fix
Repurchase after failure (quarterly)12-month repeat rate by failure type, against no failureWhat each failure costs in the orders that follow

A number without its denominator is a mood, and an average without its worst lane is an alibi.

Two rules for the page

First, every rate shows its worst lane beside it: the carrier, region or product where it’s worst. Customers on that lane don’t experience the average. Second, watch the “told first” line. A delay trigger that fires zero times in a week isn’t a good week; it’s usually a broken integration.

Reading it

If the perfect-order rate improves while the index worsens, fewer orders fail but those that do fail worse. Contacts lag failures by about a week. When you change something, write the date on the page.

Do this

This is one chapter of The Kept Promise, which is free and readable in full on a single page with no form in front of it.