Net Promoter Score is a single question that predicts customer loyalty and willingness to recommend your business.
The question: "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?" (0-10 scale)
NPS Calculation
- Promoters: 9-10 score (loyal enthusiasts, likely to recommend)
- Passives: 7-8 score (satisfied but not enthusiastic)
- Detractors: 0-6 score (unhappy, likely to discourage others)
Formula: NPS = (% Promoters) - (% Detractors)
Example Calculation
Survey 100 customers:
- 60 are Promoters (9-10)
- 20 are Passives (7-8)
- 20 are Detractors (0-6)
NPS = 60% - 20% = 40
Benchmarking and Interpretation
NPS Ranges
- 70+: World class (Apple, Google, Amazon)
- 50-69: Excellent (healthy, loyal customer base)
- 30-49: Good (competitive, room for improvement)
- 0-29: Average or below (at risk, churn likely)
- Negative: Poor (serious problems, customers unlikely to recommend)
Industry Benchmarks
- SaaS: 30-50 typical (range wide by segment)
- Professional Services: 40-60
- Financial Services: 40-50
- E-Commerce: 30-50
- Healthcare: 40-60
Why NPS Matters
Predictive Power
NPS predicts:
- Revenue growth (companies with high NPS grow 2-3x faster)
- Customer retention (Promoters churn 90% less)
- Referrals (Promoters refer 10x more than Detractors)
- Lifetime value (Promoters spend 140% more over lifetime)
Simplicity
One question vs multi-question surveys = higher response rates
- Easy to track over time
- Easy to communicate internally
- Easy to compare to competitors
Implementing NPS Surveys
Survey Frequency
- Transactional NPS: After key interaction (purchase, support, feature use) - weekly/bi-weekly
- Relational NPS: Overall relationship health - quarterly or bi-annual
- Interval: Don't survey same customer more than monthly
Survey Delivery Methods
- In-product popup: Highest response rates (15-30%), minimal friction
- Email survey: Good for regular check-ins (5-15% response)
- SMS: High open rates, quick response (3-10%)
- Post-support survey: Capture feedback immediately after interaction
- User interviews: Follow up with Detractors for deeper understanding
Tools for NPS Surveys
- Dedicated NPS platforms: Delighted, Promoter.io, SurveySparrow
- Email marketing tools: Mailchimp, ConvertKit (have NPS integrations)
- General survey tools: Typeform, SurveyMonkey
- Custom development: Build directly into product
NPS Follow-Up Question
Always ask "Why?" to understand the reason for score.
Open-Ended Question
"What's the primary reason for your score?" or "What could we do to improve?"
Analysis of Verbatim Feedback
- Group by theme (product, support, pricing, onboarding)
- Frequency of themes (most common issues)
- Sentiment (quote positive feedback, negative feedback)
- Action items (what to improve)
Converting NPS to Action
Promoters (9-10)
- Ask for referrals: "Who else could benefit from us?"
- Ask for testimonials/case studies
- Convert to customer advocate: User group, community, board
- Gather feature feedback: What else would help them?
- Expand relationship: Upsell, cross-sell opportunities
Passives (7-8)
- Understand satisfaction: Why not 9-10?
- Remove friction: What's missing or broken?
- Increase value: Educate on underused features
- Win them over: Personal outreach from leadership
Detractors (0-6)
- Immediate outreach: CEO/founder reach out (show you care)
- Understand problems: Listen without defending
- Action plan: What will you do to fix?
- Follow up: Update when issues resolved
- Prevent churn: High correlation between low NPS and churn
- Learn from them: Detractors give honest, critical feedback (valuable)
NPS by Segment
Calculate NPS by customer segment to identify strengths and weaknesses:
Segments to Track
- By company size (SMB, Mid-Market, Enterprise)
- By use case or industry
- By plan/pricing tier
- By customer tenure (new, established, at-risk)
- By geography
- By support channel (self-serve, premium support)
Analysis
- Which segments have highest NPS? (Double down)
- Which segments have lowest NPS? (Fix problems)
- Are new customers different from established? (Onboarding issue?)
- Are enterprise customers different? (Product fit issue?)
Communicating NPS Internally
Dashboard
- Overall NPS trend (month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter)
- NPS by segment
- Promoter/Passive/Detractor split
- Top reasons for scores (verbatim quotes)
- Actions taken and results
Monthly Communication
- Share NPS number in all-hands
- Celebrate improvements
- Share customer feedback (anonymized)
- Highlight actions taken from feedback
Tie to Incentives
- Company bonus tied to NPS improvement (create alignment)
- Team bonuses based on their influence on NPS
- Recognition for high-performing teams (support, product)
NPS Improvement Program
30-Day Plan
- Week 1: Launch NPS survey, get baseline
- Week 2: Analyze verbatim feedback, identify top 3 themes
- Week 3: Create action plan to address themes
- Week 4: Communicate plan to customers (especially Detractors)
- Ongoing: Implement fixes, track impact
90-Day Improvement Goals
- Reduce Detractors by 10-15% (move some to Passives)
- Increase Promoters by 5-10%
- Increase overall NPS by 5-10 points
- Reduce common pain points (most mentioned issues)
Common NPS Mistakes
- Measuring but not acting: Surveys create expectation of change
- Not following up with Detractors: They're most vocal, most valuable
- Only focusing on number: Verbatim feedback (why) is more important
- Not segmenting: Overall NPS hides problems in specific segments
- Quarterly-only surveys: Too infrequent to detect trends
- Wrong baseline customers: Surveying only active users (bias) instead of all customers
NPS + Other Metrics
NPS is powerful but not complete. Combine with:
- CSAT (Customer Satisfaction): "How satisfied are you?" (1-5)
- CES (Customer Effort Score): "How easy was it?" (1-5) - predicts retention
- Churn rate: % of customers lost (correlates with low NPS)
- LTV: Customer lifetime value (Promoters worth 140% more)
Conclusion: NPS is Your Voice of Customer
NPS is simple but powerful. One number that predicts growth, retention, and referrals. But the real value is in the "why"—the customer feedback that tells you what to improve. Implement NPS surveys quarterly or more frequently, analyze the feedback, act on top themes, and communicate back to customers. An NPS program turns customer voice into product and business improvement. Over 12-24 months, companies can improve NPS by 20-30 points through deliberate action on feedback—and that improvement predicts 2-3x faster growth.