What Is Net Promoter Score (NPS): Ever wondered how happy your customers are? Net Promoter Score (NPS) is probably one of the simplest ways to understand this. It just establishes if your customer loves your product enough to recommend it to others. NPS is a measurement tool for loyalty used by most companies around the world, from tiny start-ups to big global names.
Lets understand Net Promoter Score in simple terms what it means, why it’s important, how to compute it, methods for collecting NPS feedback, and ultimate strategies for using it for growth. So, let’s get into it.
What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the tool you use to measure this exact feeling of trust. It gives you a very simple, clear picture of customer happiness and loyalty. Tracking your Net Promoter Score is about more than just checking if people are satisfied. It is about learning who loves your company also helps you find out who might be planning to leave.
Understanding this single score is key, it helps you know how much money you will make in the future also it shows how stable your company is. The whole Net Promoter Score system helps businesses focus their efforts. They can focus on keeping their best customers and drives major growth.
The system was first created in 2003. A man named Fred Reichheld from Bain & Company made it. Before this, business owners felt overwhelmed. They had to deal with complex and super long customer surveys.
Reichheld wanted something easy. He needed a simple number that told businesses what to do next. This number had to be a reliable way to guess future business growth.
The entire Net Promoter Score system uses just one main question. This question is the foundation of the NPS score definition:
- “How likely are you to recommend our product or service to a friend or colleague?”
Customers answer this question on a simple scale. The scale goes from 0 up to 10. Zero means they are “Not at all likely”. Ten means they are “Extremely likely”.
The number a customer chooses puts them into one of three main groups. Knowing these groups is key to understanding the NPS score definition.
Three Customer Groups
When you calculate the Net Promoter Score, every single response goes into one of these buckets.
| Three Customer Groups | ||
| Score (0-10) | Category Name | What They Are Like |
| 9 or 10 | Promoters | These are your loyal, enthusiastic fans. They buy more from you. They stick around for a long time. They tell others about you. They are the main force for your company’s growth. |
| 7 or 8 | Passives | They are satisfied, but they are not excited. They could easily switch to a competitor if they see a better deal. They won’t praise you, but they won’t complain much either. |
| 0 to 6 | Detractors | These are unhappy customers. They probably will not buy from you again.They might hurt your reputation by telling others bad things about your brand. |
It is really important to know what the Net Promoter Score measures. It measures a customer’s overall feeling about their whole relationship with your brand. This is different from other scores, like CSAT. A CSAT score usually measures one small thing. For example, a CSAT score might measure a single phone call with customer service.
Because the Net Promoter Score gives you a general feeling, it is perfect for making big strategy decisions. Do not use the Net Promoter Score for very tiny, daily interactions. It can actually annoy customers and can also mess up your valuable data.
Why Should You Track Your Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Tracking the Net Promoter Score does more than just give you a number. It turns simple customer feedback into a main business strategy tool. It gives you powerful, clear information about customer loyalty. This information helps you make crucial decisions every day.
1. Know Your Future Money
A high Net Promoter Score is a very strong sign. It means your customers will stay. Your Promoters (the 9s and 10s) tend to do the most valuable things.
- They buy more products from you.
- They stay loyal to your brand for many years.
- They refer new people constantly.
This loyalty turns straight into predictable income. It creates a higher customer lifetime value (CLTV). When you work hard to improve your Net Promoter Score, you are working to grow revenue. You are doing this through referrals and upsells. The Net Promoter Score is a key way to know if your business will be financially successful.
2. Compare Yourself to the Competition
The Net Promoter Score is a metric that is used everywhere. Millions of companies around the world use this same number. This global standard lets you quickly see how you are doing against competitors. This comparison is called benchmarking.
- Benchmarking shows you where you stand.
- It is a clear way to measure up against your rivals.
- Seeing this comparison gives you a clear goal for improvement.
3. Find Your Best (and Worst) Customers
The Net Promoter Score process automatically groups your customers. This is incredibly helpful. It immediately points out your biggest fans, the Promoters. You can use these Promoters in positive testimonials. You can also use them in marketing campaigns.
More importantly, the score shows you the Detractors (the unhappy customers).
- You can address the concerns of these Detractors.
- This prevents them from spreading bad word-of-mouth.
- It stops reputation damage.
This grouping helps you manage your resources better. You can focus on fixing the worst problems for the most critical customer groups. This improves the overall customer experience.
4. Drive Constant Improvement
When you track the Net Promoter Score consistently, you can see how changes affect your score. Did you just put out a new feature? Did you make the checkout process easier? The next Net Promoter Score survey will tell you if those efforts worked.
- This metric supports a mindset of continuous improvement.
- Customer feedback is used right away.
- It helps shape what you build next.
The Net Promoter Score keeps you focused on what customers actually care about.
Simple Way to Calculate Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Calculating the Net Promoter Score is very easy. There are only four simple steps. Remember one thing: the Passives (scores of 7 or 8) are always left out of the final formula.
Step 1: Get All Your Numbers Together
- First, send out the quick, one-question Net Promoter Score survey.
- Collect all the answers in one place. A spreadsheet works great for this.
- Count up the total number of people who responded. This is your Total Responses number.
Step 2: Put Customers into Groups
- Look at every response.
- Sort them into the three simple groups:
- Count the Promoters (scores 9–10).
- Count the Passives (scores 7–8).
- Count the Detractors (scores 0–6).
Step 3: Find the Percentages
- The formula needs the percentage of Promoters and the percentage of Detractors. You ignore the Passives.
- To find the percentage for any group, use this easy formula:
Percentage of Group = (Count of Group/Total Responses) * 100
- Find the percentage of Promoters first.
- Then, find the percentage of Detractors.
Step 4: Do the Simple Subtraction
- The last step is simple subtraction. You take the percentage of Detractors and subtract it from the percentage of Promoters.
The Official Net Promoter Score Formula
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors
Net Promoter Score Calculation Example –
Let’s look at an example to make this very clear. Imagine you got 200 total customer answers.
- Promoters (9-10): 100 responses. That is 50%.
- Passives (7-8): 60 responses. That is 30%.
- Detractors (0-6): 40 responses. That is 20%.
The 30% Passives are not used in the final calculation.
- NPS = 50% (Promoters) – 20% (Detractors)
- Your final Net Promoter Score is 30.
Why are Passives left out? this is a choice built into the Net Promoter Score system. It makes you focus only on the two extremes, focuses on the people who will help your brand (Promoters) and the people who will hurt it (Detractors). This gives you a very clear signal about the true health of your customer base. If the number is low, it means you have an immediate business problem.
Net Promoter Score Grading Scale
The final Net Promoter Score is always a whole number. It is never a percentage. This number can fall anywhere from -100 (the worst possible score) up to +100 (the best possible score).
Here is a quick way to understand the meaning of your Net Promoter Score:
| Net Promoter Score Grading Scale | ||
| NPS Range | The Simple Meaning | What You Need to Do Now |
| -100 to 0 | This is the Danger Zone. | You have more critics than fans. You need to act fast to fix big problems in your service or product. |
| 0 to 20 | This is the Healthy Start. | You have more fans than critics. This is a stable place to begin. |
| 20 to 50 | This is Strong Performance. | This is generally seen as a good score. It shows high loyalty and constant improvement. |
| 50 to 80 | This is Excellent. | You are likely a leader in your market. Your loyalty is very high. |
| 80 to 100 | This is World-Class. | This score is very hard to get. Only the best global brands reach this level. |
Collecting Feedback for Your Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Collecting your Net Promoter Score is simple. It usually takes customers about two minutes to complete the survey. The way you ask for feedback impacts how many people respond. It also affects the quality of the data you get.
How to Send the Survey
You have two main ways to ask the Net Promoter Score question:
- Email Surveys: This is a great way to reach a lot of people. You can put the 0-10 rating question right into the email invitation. Research shows that putting the question in the email can increase your response rate quite a lot—up to 22% more.
- In-App Surveys: This works perfectly for software and digital products. The survey pops up while the customer is using your product. This method often collects feedback from the people who use your product the most (the “power users”).
Essential Follow-Up Question
The number score you get is just one part of the story. The number tells you what the customer thinks. The real key for making things better comes from the next question. This question tells you why they chose that score.
- Always include an open-text question right after the rating question.
- This lets customers write their reasons. They can share their positive thoughts or their negative ones.
- These comments are the “actionable juice”. They help you find the exact problems (pain points) or the features that people love the most.
Best Time to Ask
The Net Promoter Score is supposed to measure the overall relationship. So, the timing matters a lot. You do not want to bother people too much (survey fatigue).
- Teams should not use NPS too often. Do not use it for every small thing that happens.
- A good plan for relationship NPS is usually once every three months, or maybe once every six months.
- You can also trigger surveys when a customer reaches a big moment. For example, after they finish your onboarding process. Or right when they renew a subscription.
Best Practices for Great Net Promoter Score (NPS) Surveys
Just knowing how to calculate the Net Promoter Score is not enough. You only get the maximum value when you turn the feedback into real improvements. Here are the top things you need to do:
1. Close the Feedback Loop
This might be the most important part of the whole Net Promoter Score process. Closing the loop means you make sure customers know you heard their feedback. You show them you took action.
- For Detractors (The Unhappy Ones): You must contact them fast. Understand what their issue is. Try your best to fix it. Fixing a big problem can actually change a Detractor into a Passive, or even a Promoter.
- For All Customers: Announce new features or product fixes through emails. Tell them clearly, “We made this change because of the feedback you gave us”. This makes the time they spent taking the survey feel valuable. If you do not close the loop, the whole system fails. Customers will stop giving you honest feedback.
2. Make Surveys Personal
Sending the same survey to everyone is a waste of time. The Net Promoter Score data works best when you group people and target them.
- Send different surveys to specific customer segments. Examples include new users, users who spend a lot of money, or people who use a specific part of your product.
- Grouping them lets you make changes that matter most to that group.
- For example, new users might need easier instructions (onboarding). Long-time users might need more advanced features. This way, you use your resources exactly where they are needed.
3. Tag and Look for Trends
You have to look at the words customers wrote in the follow-up questions. This is especially true for the Detractors and Passives. You need to look at this feedback in a smart way.
- Review the comments one by one.
- Use simple tags to group common complaints. Examples: “Website loads too slow,” “Pricing is confusing,” or “Customer service was amazing”.
- Tagging turns messy words into structured data. This data is very useful. It helps you prioritize what features to build next. It tells you which issues you must fix first to make your Net Promoter Score better.
4. Design the Survey for Everyone
A survey that is hard to use will give you bad data. People will just give up on it.
- Make sure your Net Promoter Score survey is simple.
- It must work perfectly on mobile phones.
- The Net Promoter Score is already simple because it has only one question. Keep the design simple, too. This helps increase the number of people who complete it.
- You can even A/B test different survey designs to see what works best.
5. Combine NPS with Other Metrics
Your Net Promoter Score should not live alone. It is more powerful when you use it with other business numbers.
- Look at your NPS alongside the Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). Do your Promoters spend a lot more money than your Detractors? They should.
- Compare it to your Churn Rate (how many customers leave). If your NPS is low, your churn rate is probably high.
Using these numbers together gives you the full, healthy picture of your customer base.
Use Your Net Promoter Score (NPS) to Grow
Net Promoter Score is the most effective metric out there for measuring customer loyalty. It gives businesses an easy, standard way to measure success everywhere.
Any business that tracks the Net Promoter Score often has a clear map for future growth. Your main goal should be to turn those Passives (the 7s and 8s) into happy, excited Promoters. Passives are the customers you risk losing to a competitor.
You must also focus on your Detractors (the 0s through 6s). These people are giving you the most urgent, actionable feedback. You need to listen to them.
In the end, the real power of the Net Promoter Score is in what you do after you calculate it. If you analyze the feedback, make real changes, and always close the loop with your customers, you will strengthen those relationships.
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The score ranges from -100 to +100. Passives (scores 7 and 8) are not included. A score above 20 is generally considered good, but benchmarks vary by industry. Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company created the system in 2003.FAQs
What is the range of the Net Promoter Score?
Which customer group is not included in the NPS calculation?
What is considered a "good" Net Promoter Score?
Who invented the Net Promoter Score?
