Converting 22% of Detractors to Promoters and Increasing NPS by 9 Points through Playful Data Visualization
When you're a global leader serving businesses across 21 countries, customer feedback doesn't trickle in—it floods. For Sage, the challenge was clear: how do you meaningfully respond to thousands of daily customer feedback submissions without making people feel like they're shouting into a void?
David Shaw, Global Customer Experience Engagement Manager at Sage, knew automated responses weren't the answer. Customers who take time to share feedback expect—and deserve—authentic human connection.
But with just 66 people on the CX team in North America alone, reaching every detractor was impossible.
How do you meaningfully respond to thousands of daily customer feedback submissions without making people feel like they're shouting into a void?
While browsing the Microsoft Marketplace for better visualization tools, Shaw stumbled upon something unexpected: a fish tank.
"I came across a fish tank and instantly I thought... ok, that's not a business report. What is this? This is kind of playful. This is not your typical pie charts, bar charts, circle charts. There are things moving on the screen that attracted your attention."
That moment of curiosity sparked a transformation that would ripple across Sage's global operations.
Enlighten Aquarium transformed customer outreach from a dreaded task into an engaging challenge. Here's how it worked:
🐠 Each employee got their own fish when they joined the programme
📏 Fish size represented the number of customers contacted
⚡ Fish speed showed quality of time spent with customers
🏊 Different fish types distinguished programmes—guppies for closed-loop feedback, sharks for proactive promoter retention
The mechanics were simple, but the impact was profound. Employees could see their contributions, compare progress with colleagues, and watch their fish grow as they made meaningful customer connections.
"Every time they did an activity where they called a customer, they earned points and their fish got bigger. It got friendly competitive—'I'm the big fish in the tank today.'"
12,000+ customer touchpoints (8,667 detractors closed the loop + 3,705 proactive outreach)
1,500+ hours spent in direct customer conversations
From 66 to 600+ employees engaged in customer outreach in North America alone
Flip rate
-
detractors converted to promoters
Reduction
-
in detractors year over year
NPS Increase
-
for all of North America
Defects
-
in products identified and resolved
Sage's innovative approach earned three prestigious awards at the Customer Centricity World Series:
2024 Global Winner: Best Customer Experience Team
2024 North America Winner: Best Measurement in Customer Experience
2023 Winner: Customer Centricity in B2B
"Because you now had product people and developers picking up the phone and calling customers... they were actually able to identify and fix 62 bugs in the application."
Traditional dashboards get tuned out. Static charts and graphs fade into the background. But Enlighten Aquarium transformed data into something inherently engaging—not by adding points to boring tasks, but by making the entire experience playful from the ground up.
"I'm a big believer in engaging and rewarding people for the behaviours that are going to get the metrics you want. When you can have tools that show people's behaviours and what they're doing right to get to the result, you're changing the focus."
Visibility: Progress became tangible and fun to track
Competition: Friendly rivalry drove consistent participation
Connection: Effort was linked directly to customer outcomes
Celebration: Wins were visible and shareable across teams
"Normally when CX starts coming towards the department, everybody ducks and says, 'Oh my God, it's the CX guy!' This was a fun way to really engage employees. It wasn't your normal static bar or pie chart. It got attention."
Working with Enlighten Designs wasn't just about implementing software—it was about collaboration and creative problem-solving.
When timing and approvals created roadblocks, Enlighten quickly adapted with anonymized sample data to keep momentum going. They enhanced the product with thoughtful features like hover-over insights showing customer feedback verbatim and customization options by region.
"What I appreciated most was their ability to elevate the work beyond basic reporting. We would ask for deeper storytelling or more interactivity, and Enlighten consistently transformed one-dimensional data into something richer, more insightful, and more engaging."
What started as a pilot in North America quickly spread:
North America launched first
South Africa quickly followed
UK, France, Spain, and Germany joined in succession
"Once we got up and running, it was off to the races. South Africa was next, then UK jumped in, then France and Spain. It was just a domino effect once they saw it."
If Sage can engage 600+ employees, close the loop with nearly 9,000 detractors, and increase NPS by 9 points—all while making customer outreach something people actually enjoy—imagine what Enlighten Aquarium could do for your organization.
Discover how Enlighten Aquarium Pro for Power BI can help your team:
✓ Visualize success in real-time
✓ Gamify participation across departments
✓ Drive meaningful customer connections at scale
✓ Turn data into stories people actually want to engage with
Contact Enlighten Aquarium for enterprise licensing and bring your dashboard to any audience—teams, clients, or the public.
Enlighten Aquarium is crafted by Enlighten Designs
Enlighten Designs is an innovation studio specializing in the art of telling data-driven stories to deliver magic moments and exceptional customer value.
If you have any questions or feedback about Enlighten Aquarium Pro, we'd love to hear from you.
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