Value Metric
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Net Promoter Score (NPS) gauges loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend you, on a 0–10 scale.
What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Net Promoter Score is a widely used loyalty metric based on a single question: "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?" answered from 0 to 10. Respondents are grouped into Promoters (9–10), Passives (7–8), and Detractors (0–6), and the score is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors.
NPS ranges from −100 to +100. Its strength is simplicity and comparability; its weakness is that a single number hides the "why," which is why the follow-up open-ended question matters as much as the score.
How to calculate it
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors
- % Promoters
- Share of respondents scoring 9–10
- % Detractors
- Share of respondents scoring 0–6
Worked example
With 60% Promoters, 25% Passives, and 15% Detractors, NPS = 60 − 15 = +45.
What good looks like
- Rough guide> 0 positive · 30+ great · 50+ excellent
Above 0 means more promoters than detractors; 30+ is generally good and 50+ excellent, though norms vary by industry.
Source: Bain & Company (creators of NPS)
Why it matters
NPS is a simple, trackable proxy for loyalty and word-of-mouth, and its universality makes it easy to benchmark and rally a team around. Used well — with the verbatim follow-up analyzed and acted on — it surfaces both promoters to activate and detractors to save. Used as a vanity number, it can mislead.
How to improve Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Close the loop on detractor feedback
Read and act on the open-ended responses; the "why" behind the score is where the improvement lives.
Turn promoters into referrals
Prompt your 9–10 scorers to share or review at the moment they express delight.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good NPS score?
Any score above 0 means you have more promoters than detractors. As a rough guide, 30+ is considered good and 50+ excellent, but benchmarks vary widely by industry, so compare against peers and your own trend rather than a single universal figure.
What are the limitations of NPS?
NPS reduces loyalty to one number and can be noisy at small sample sizes or biased by when and how you ask. It also measures stated intent, not behavior. Pair it with the open-ended follow-up and with behavioral metrics like referral rate and retention.