NPS (Net Promoter Score)
NPS is a score that tells you how many of your customers love you enough to recommend you minus how many are unhappy enough to warn others away. It goes from -100 to +100, and higher is always better.
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is the most widely used customer loyalty metric across B2B and B2C businesses. Despite its simplicity, it has strong empirical correlation with business outcomes including revenue growth, customer retention, and referral rate.
The NPS question:"On a scale of 0–10, how likely is it that you would recommend [Company/Product] to a friend or colleague?"
Scoring categories:- 9–10: Promoters (loyal enthusiasts who drive growth) - 7–8: Passives (satisfied but unenthusiastic) - 0–6: Detractors (dissatisfied customers who can impede growth through bad word-of-mouth)
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors
Transactional vs. relationship NPS:Transactional NPS measures satisfaction at a specific interaction (post-onboarding, post-support). Relationship NPS measures overall perception of the company.
NPS programs that drive action pair the quantitative score with open-ended follow-up questions ("What's the primary reason for your score?") and systematic routing of feedback to relevant teams. Detractor alerts that trigger customer success follow-up within 24 hours consistently improve retention rates.
Key Takeaways
- Always pair NPS scores with 'why' follow-ups — the verbatims explain the score
- Segment NPS by customer type, product tier, and tenure for the most actionable analysis
- Detractor follow-up programs that respond within 24–48 hours can convert detractors to neutrals or promoters
- NPS trend over time matters more than absolute score — a rising NPS reflects improving product-market fit
Common Questions
What's a good NPS score for SaaS?
Industry benchmarks: B2B SaaS NPS averages 30–40. Scores above 50 are considered excellent. Consumer tech averages 35–45. Any positive NPS is better than industry average for many categories. The most useful benchmark is your own trend.
Should I use NPS or CSAT?
NPS measures loyalty and likelihood to recommend — predictive of long-term retention. CSAT (Customer Satisfaction Score) measures satisfaction with a specific interaction — better for operational feedback. Use both, with NPS for strategic health monitoring and CSAT for specific touchpoint improvement.