Frequently Asked Questions about ISCR EXTINS

ISCR EXTINS (Extended Customer Sentiment Index for Retail) is a monthly measurement tool for the real sentiment of a retail network's own customers, differentiated by Store Clusters. It combines three signal sources — transactional behavior (CB, 50%), declared attitudes (CA, 30%), and front-line observation (CO, 20%) — into a single index on a scale of −100 to +100. It is a PromoGrid Advisors product, part of the Open Public Service SRL ecosystem.

ISCR measures the sentiment of the network's own customers — not the average market consumer. Specifically, it calculates: (1) The Behavioral Component (CB) from POS data and loyalty cards — visit frequency, average basket, down-trading rate, SKU diversity; (2) The Attitudinal Component (CA) from a monthly 3-question micro-survey sent to the loyalty base — budget perception, intention to visit, personal economic sentiment; (3) The Observational Component (CO) from store managers' weekly forms — customer mood, price comments, new shelf behaviors.

Classic NPS measures a single dimension — likelihood to recommend — and delivers a uniform score across the entire network. ISCR EXTINS differs in three essential ways: (1) It combines three signal sources (behavioral, attitudinal, observational), not a single question; (2) It is calculated separately per Store Cluster, not uniformly across the network; (3) It is predictive — detecting sentiment deterioration 4–8 weeks before the impact appears in financial indicators, whereas NPS confirms the current state. ISCR does not replace NPS — it complements it with granularity and anticipation.

'Own customers' are the network's identifiable customers — those with loyalty cards or recorded transactions. Unlike national indices (GfK, INS, Eurobarometer) that describe the average market consumer, ISCR measures exclusively the sentiment of the network's own clientele. This means the data reflects the specific reality of the network's stores — not general economic trends.

The ISCR alert system has 4 zones, each with differentiated actions: Green (+20 to +100) — stable sentiment, standard operations; Yellow (−5 to +19) — vigilance, intensified monitoring; Orange (−25 to −6) — tension, differentiated interventions per Cluster; Red (−100 to −26) — crisis, win room activated. Each zone has a pre-built response playbook, calibrated on the type of crisis and the affected Cluster.

ISCR EXTINS implementation unfolds in 3 phases: Phase 1 (Months 1–2): Audit and configuration — defining Clusters, mapping POS and loyalty data, designing the CA micro-survey, configuring the CO form, calibrating on historical data. Phase 2 (Months 3–4): First ISCR cycle — first per-Cluster scores, first briefings, calibration adjustments, installing the win room procedure. Phase 3 (Month 5+): Recurring operations — monthly briefing, alerts when thresholds are crossed, continuous optimization. First real ISCR scores are available after 3–4 months.

Each monthly ISCR cycle delivers: (1) ISCR score per Cluster (scale −100 to +100) with alert system; (2) Interpretation briefing for the management team; (3) Urgent alert when a Cluster crosses the orange or red threshold; (4) Crisis operational playbook calibrated on your network; (5) Proceduralized crisis win room, with ISCR per Cluster as the single input document; (6) Post-crisis recovery report with institutionalized lessons.

The ISCR Interactive Diagnostic is a free online self-assessment tool, available at promogrid.ro/iscr/Diagnostic_Interactiv. It consists of 10 questions structured across 4 levels and produces a real score of your organization's current capacity to manage a customer sentiment crisis. The Diagnostic does not replace full ISCR EXTINS, but provides a first indication of your network's readiness.

ISCR EXTINS is designed specifically for retail networks with physical stores — supermarkets, hypermarkets, discounters, proximity stores, specialized chains. The methodology is calibrated on retail-specific transactional behavior (POS, loyalty cards) and the operational structure of multi-location networks. It can be adapted for service retail or other multi-location networks, in which case Cluster configuration and CB indicators are recalibrated during the audit phase.

ISCR measurements are conducted by the PromoGrid Advisors team, part of Open Public Service SRL — a company with experience since 1996 in research, strategic consulting, and data analysis for the retail and services sector. Behavioral data comes from the network's own systems (POS, loyalty); attitudinal data is collected through the micro-survey platform managed by PromoGrid Advisors; observational data is collected by store managers through the configurable form.

The ISCR cycle is monthly: behavioral data (CB) is extracted monthly from POS systems; the attitudinal micro-survey (CA) is administered once a month to the loyalty base; the observational form (CO) is completed weekly by store managers and aggregated monthly. The ISCR score per Cluster is produced and presented monthly to the management team. In the event of an alert (Cluster in orange or red zone), intermediate monitoring procedures are activated.

ISCR EXTINS improves decision quality in three ways: (1) Anticipation — detects sentiment deterioration 4–8 weeks before financial impact, giving you time to act proactively rather than reactively; (2) Granularity — shows which specific Clusters are in crisis and which are not, eliminating uniform decisions on non-uniform situations; (3) Playbook — each alert level comes with pre-built response scenarios (6 crisis types × 7 behavioral manifestations), reducing decision time in a crisis and increasing the coherence of the operational response.