NPS

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric built around a single survey question: "How likely are you to recommend [company/product] to a friend or colleague?", answered on a 0–10 scale. Based on their score, respondents are sorted into three groups: Promoters (9–10), who are loyal enthusiasts likely to keep buying and referring others; Passives (7–8), who are satisfied but unenthusiastic and vulnerable to competitive offers; and Detractors (0–6), who are unhappy customers who can damage a brand through negative word-of-mouth.

NPS was developed to be a simple, comparable proxy for overall customer loyalty and growth potential, replacing longer satisfaction surveys with one number that's easy to track over time and benchmark across companies and industries.

NPS = %Promoters − %Detractors

Where:

• %Promoters = (Number of respondents scoring 9–10 / Total respondents) × 100
• %Detractors = (Number of respondents scoring 0–6 / Total respondents) × 100
• Passives (scores of 7–8) are included in the total respondent count but excluded from the subtraction

The result is expressed as a whole number (not a percentage) ranging from -100 (every respondent is a Detractor) to +100 (every respondent is a Promoter).

A software company surveys 200 customers with the recommend-a-friend question:

NPS = 45% − 25% = 20

A score of 20 is positive and acceptable, but with 25% of respondents actively unhappy, the company has room to convert Passives into Promoters through improved onboarding and support. Use the Net Promoter Score calculator to compute your score directly from survey response counts.

• NPS predicts behavior, not just sentiment: Promoters are statistically far more likely to make repeat purchases, upgrade, and refer new customers, which is why NPS often correlates with conversion rate improvements when referral programs are layered on top.
• Segment your NPS, don't just track the headline number: Breaking NPS down by customer tenure, plan tier, or acquisition channel reveals which segments are dragging the score down, rather than treating the company-wide average as actionable on its own.
• Passives are the biggest growth lever: Because Passives sit just below the Promoter threshold, targeted engagement campaigns to move them up 1–2 points on the scale can meaningfully lift NPS — closely tied to overall engagement rate with the product.
• Sample size and timing bias matter: A tiny sample or a survey sent only to recently onboarded users will produce an unrepresentative score — always survey a consistent, adequately sized cross-section of the customer base.
• Low NPS is an early warning for churn rate: Detractors are disproportionately likely to cancel or switch providers, so a declining NPS trend often precedes a rise in churn by one or two quarters.
• NPS should be paired with open-ended follow-up: The single 0–10 score tells you what customers feel, but a follow-up "why did you give that score?" question is what tells you what to fix.