Glossary · NPS
What is NPS?
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is a customer loyalty metric developed by Fred Reichheld and Bain & Company in 2003 that measures how likely customers are to recommend a company, product, or service to others on a 0–10 scale. Respondents scoring 9–10 are “Promoters,” 7–8 are “Passives,” and 0–6 are “Detractors.” NPS is calculated as the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors, producing a score from -100 to +100. NPS measures relationship-level loyalty in contrast to CSAT which measures transaction-level satisfaction.
NPS formula
NPS = (% Promoters) − (% Detractors)Where:
- Promoters: respondents who score 9 or 10
- Passives: respondents who score 7 or 8 (ignored in the NPS calculation)
- Detractors: respondents who score 0 through 6
A score of +50 is considered excellent. +70 is world-class. Scores below 0 mean you have more Detractors than Promoters.
How to calculate NPS: a worked example
NPS calculation trips people up because passives are counted in the total but not in the score itself. Work it in three steps.
Say 500 customers answer the recommend question:
- Promoters (9–10): 280 responses
- Passives (7–8): 140 responses
- Detractors (0–6): 80 responses
Step 1 — convert each group to a percentage of all responses:
- Promoters: 280 / 500 = 56%
- Detractors: 80 / 500 = 16%
- (Passives: 140 / 500 = 28% — calculated but not used in the score)
Step 2 — subtract:
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors = 56 − 16 = +40Step 3 — express it as a whole number, not a percentage. The result is +40, not 40%. NPS is a score on a −100 to +100 scale, not a percentage.
The common mistake is forgetting passives. They are not dropped from the denominator — all 500 responses count when you compute the percentages. Passives simply do not appear in the subtraction. This is why adding a few passives lowers your NPS even though they are neither promoters nor detractors: they dilute the promoter percentage.
The one question
The classic NPS question:
“On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [Company/Product/Service] to a friend or colleague?”
Optional follow-up:
“What is the primary reason for your score?”
The simplicity is the strength, one question, one number, comparable across industries and time.
NPS benchmarks by industry
Median NPS by industry (2025 data, approximate):
| Industry | Median NPS |
|---|---|
| Software / SaaS | +35 to +45 |
| Retail | +40 to +55 |
| Hospitality | +35 to +50 |
| Financial services | +25 to +40 |
| Healthcare | +15 to +30 |
| Telecom / cable | -10 to +15 (classically low) |
| Airlines | +20 to +40 |
| Insurance | +20 to +35 |
| Automotive | +30 to +50 |
Best-in-class brands in each category reach +60 to +80.
Why NPS matters
- Predictor of growth: higher NPS correlates with higher revenue growth (Bain research)
- Loyalty signal: Promoters buy more, renew more, refer more
- Churn warning: Detractors are 4–6x more likely to churn
- Organizational alignment: one score everyone understands
- Benchmark comparability: NPS is used across industries
- Root-cause diagnostic: the “why” follow-up surfaces product and service issues
NPS vs. CSAT vs. CES
Common customer metrics:
| Metric | Scope | Question | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| NPS | Relationship / brand | Would you recommend us? | Strategic loyalty |
| CSAT | Specific interaction | Were you satisfied? | Tactical transaction quality |
| CES (Customer Effort Score) | Friction | How easy was it? | Self-service optimization |
Use NPS for strategic decisions. Use CSAT for operational coaching. Use CES when investigating specific friction.
NPS best practices
Timing
Survey at meaningful points, after first purchase, after 30/60/90 days of use, annually for renewals. Don’t survey right after a support ticket (that’s CSAT territory).
Sample
Randomly sample to avoid bias. Don’t survey only customers who just signed up (they’re overly optimistic) or only customers who just churned (they’re overly negative).
Frequency
Quarterly or semi-annual relationship NPS for mature customers. Monthly for rapidly evolving products.
Follow-up
The follow-up question is where the real value is. The score tells you a number; the comment tells you why.
Act on it
- Close the loop on Detractors: within 48 hours, contact every Detractor personally
- Ask Promoters for referrals: they’re already willing
- Ask Promoters for reviews / case studies: they’re your marketing asset
- Route Passives: to product / marketing for conversion-improvement programs
Segment
Average NPS masks segments. Look at:
- New customers vs. tenured
- Product line or package tier
- Industry vertical
- Use-case segment
- Geography
A +40 overall can hide a -10 in a struggling segment. Find it.
NPS weaknesses
NPS is not a perfect metric:
- One question: loses nuance (that’s also the strength)
- Cultural differences: some cultures rate higher or lower on average
- Survey response bias: non-respondents are likely more disengaged
- Recency bias: recent experience dominates
- Self-reported intent, not actual referrals: Promoters may not actually refer
- Ratings inflation: some industries train customers to rate 9–10 reflexively
- Gaming: surveying only happy customers skews scores
These are manageable with methodology discipline (consistent sampling, timing, follow-up analysis).
NPS and contact center
Direct support interactions influence NPS:
- CSAT is tactical: measures the specific interaction
- NPS is relationship-level: but support quality significantly shapes it
A pattern of low CSAT on support interactions will drag NPS down over time. Investments in First Call Resolution and agent quality translate to NPS improvements after a lag.
DialPhone’s AI Contact Center ties interaction-level CSAT and root-cause analytics to NPS trends, helping identify which support issues are affecting loyalty.
Promoter-driven growth
Promoters drive growth through:
- Referrals: direct recommendations to peers
- Reviews: G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, industry directories
- Case studies: public testimonials with metrics
- Upgrades: Promoters buy more
- Tenure: Promoters stay longer
Programs that systematically activate Promoters (refer-a-friend, review requests, case-study opt-ins) are some of the highest-ROI marketing investments.
Detractor recovery
Detractors cost:
- Direct churn risk: 4–6x higher than Promoters
- Negative word of mouth: offsetting Promoter referrals
- Support cost: they’re more likely to call, email, complain
- Reputation: reviews, social, press
Closed-loop Detractor follow-up is one of the highest-leverage operational programs. Personally contacting every Detractor within 48 hours routinely converts 20–40% to Passives or Promoters.
NPS in business outcomes
Research consistently shows correlation between NPS and revenue growth, though causation is debated. Companies with NPS in the top quartile typically grow 2–2.5x faster than those in the bottom quartile in the same industry.
DialPhone and NPS
- Post-interaction CSAT surveys automated via SMS or email
- Relationship NPS campaigns integrated with CRM
- AI sentiment analysis surfaces Detractor risk in real-time
- Close-the-loop workflow: low-CSAT call → ticket → account-manager follow-up
- NPS segmentation by product, region, issue type
- Salesforce and HubSpot integration for CRM-level NPS view
Example
A 1,200-seat B2B SaaS company tracked relationship NPS quarterly at +38. Deploying DialPhone’s Contact Center Professional with AI Analytics:
- Detected that Detractors clustered around one product area (billing self-service)
- Root-cause: 4 common billing issues that required 2+ contacts to resolve
- Product team shipped self-service fixes addressing those 4 issues
- 2 quarters later: relationship NPS rose from +38 to +51
- Renewal rate on the affected segment improved 9 percentage points
The contact center data surfaced the product issues that were dragging NPS. Fixing them drove the score, and revenue.
Net Promoter Score frequently asked questions
How is the NPS score calculated?
NPS is the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors. Survey customers on a 0–10 “how likely to recommend” scale, then sort them: 9–10 are Promoters, 7–8 are Passives, 0–6 are Detractors. Convert Promoters and Detractors each to a percentage of all responses (passives included in the denominator), then subtract: NPS = %Promoters − %Detractors. If 56% are Promoters and 16% are Detractors, NPS is +40. The result is a score on a −100 to +100 scale, written as a whole number, not a percentage.
What is a good NPS score?
Any positive NPS means you have more Promoters than Detractors. Broadly, above +30 is good, above +50 is excellent, and above +70 is world-class. But NPS varies enormously by industry — a +30 is strong in telecom or cable (which run near zero) and mediocre in retail or SaaS (which run +35 to +55). Always compare your score against your own industry’s median rather than a universal target, and watch the trend over time more than the absolute number.
What is the difference between NPS and CSAT?
NPS measures relationship-level loyalty — “would you recommend this company?” — and is a strategic, brand-level metric. CSAT measures transaction-level satisfaction — “were you happy with this specific interaction?” — and is a tactical, operational metric. NPS uses a 0–10 scale and produces a −100 to +100 score; CSAT uses a short rating scale and produces a percentage. Use NPS for executive strategy and growth modeling; use CSAT for agent coaching and interaction quality. Mature teams track both.
How often should I run an NPS survey?
For relationship NPS, quarterly or semi-annual surveys suit most mature customer bases; monthly makes sense for fast-evolving products. Survey at meaningful moments — after the first purchase, at 30/60/90-day milestones, and before renewals — and sample randomly to avoid bias. Avoid surveying immediately after a support ticket; that interaction belongs to CSAT. Over-surveying causes fatigue and declining response rates, so resist the urge to ask constantly.
What NPS question should I ask?
The standard NPS question is: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [company/product] to a friend or colleague?” Keep the wording consistent over time so your trend stays comparable. Always pair it with one open follow-up — “What is the primary reason for your score?” — because the number tells you what and the comment tells you why. The follow-up text, run through topic analysis, is where the actionable insight lives.
Related guides
- Omnichannel contact center platforms
- HIPAA-compliant contact center
- Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) — the transaction-level companion metric to NPS
- First Call Resolution (FCR) — the operational lever that moves NPS over time
- CCaaS — the platform where NPS data loops back into operations
- AI Contact Center pricing
- Bain NPS overview