What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Learn what Net Promoter Score (NPS) means, why it matters for your marketing strategy, and how consistent content keeps your brand top of mind.
Definition
Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend your brand. Learn the formula, scale, and how to improve NPS.
What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Net Promoter Score is a loyalty metric based on one question: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?”
Respondents fall into three categories. Promoters (9-10) are your fans. They’ll refer others and defend your brand. Passives (7-8) are satisfied but not enthusiastic. Detractors (0-6) are unhappy and may actively discourage others from buying. The formula: % Promoters - % Detractors = NPS. Scores range from -100 to +100.
Bain & Company, which created NPS, found that companies with the highest NPS in their industry grow at more than twice the rate of competitors. NPS doesn’t just measure feelings. It predicts growth.
Why Does NPS Matter?
NPS boils customer loyalty down to a single number that everyone in the organization can understand and act on.
- Predicts retention and growth. High NPS correlates with lower churn, higher customer lifetime value, and more organic referrals
- Identifies at-risk customers. Detractors flag problems before they show up as cancellations. A follow-up call to a detractor can save the account.
- Benchmarks over time. Track NPS quarterly to see if product changes, service improvements, or marketing shifts are making customers happier or unhappier
- Drives brand advocacy. Promoters are your best marketing channel. They refer friends, leave positive reviews, and create user-generated content without being asked.
A single NPS number captures what would take dozens of survey questions to uncover.
How NPS Works
Send the Survey
Keep it simple. The core NPS question plus one open-ended follow-up: “What’s the main reason for your score?” Send it after key milestones. Post-purchase, after onboarding, quarterly for SaaS, or after support interactions.
Calculate the Score
If 60% of respondents are Promoters and 15% are Detractors, your NPS is 45. Passives don’t factor into the calculation but shouldn’t be ignored. They’re one experience away from becoming either promoters or detractors.
Act on the Feedback
The score itself means nothing without action. Contact detractors personally to understand their issues. Identify patterns in the open-ended responses. Share feedback with product, customer success, and support teams. Close the loop.
NPS Examples
Example 1: SaaS onboarding improvement A SaaS company surveyed new customers at 30 days. NPS was 22. Mostly driven by detractors who found setup confusing. They rebuilt their onboarding flow with guided walkthroughs. At the next quarterly survey, NPS jumped to 48.
Example 2: Service business referral program A marketing agency identified their NPS Promoters (score 9-10) and invited them to a referral program. 35% of Promoters referred at least one new client within 6 months. NPS became a direct lead generation tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s a good NPS score?
Above 0 means more promoters than detractors. 30+ is considered strong. 50+ is excellent. 70+ is world-class (think Apple, USAA, Costco). Compare against your industry more than universal benchmarks.
How often should you measure NPS?
Quarterly for most businesses. Monthly for high-growth companies or after major product changes. Transactional NPS (after specific interactions) can be measured continuously. Don’t over-survey. Once per quarter per customer is enough.
What’s the difference between NPS and CSAT?
NPS measures overall loyalty and likelihood to recommend. CSAT measures satisfaction with a specific interaction or experience. NPS is strategic (big picture); CSAT is tactical (specific moments).
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Sources
How Net Promoter Score (NPS) shapes your marketing outcomes. In practice
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a concept your competitors understand too. The difference between brands that benefit from it and those that don't comes down to consistent execution. The brands that stay visible aren't publishing more manually. They've automated their content pipeline. theStacc handles that side automatically, so your brand stays relevant without a full marketing team.
See how theStacc worksRelated Terms
Brand advocacy is when satisfied customers voluntarily promote your brand through word-of-mouth, reviews, referrals, and social sharing. Learn how to.
Churn rate is the percentage of customers who stop using your product or service during a given period. Learn the formula, benchmarks, and how to reduce churn.
Customer retention is a company's ability to keep existing customers over time. Learn retention strategies, how to measure retention rate, and why it matters.
CSAT measures how well your products or services meet customer expectations, typically through a simple survey question. Learn the formula, benchmarks.
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