Glossary term
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Net Promoter Score is a customer-loyalty measure built on one question, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague, and computed by subtracting the share of detractors from the share of promoters to give a number between -100 and +100.
What is NPS?
Net Promoter Score, created by Fred Reichheld, asks customers a single question: 'How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?' on a scale of 0 to 10. Answers fall into three groups. Promoters (9 and 10) are enthusiastic customers who speak well of you. Passives (7 and 8) are satisfied but open to a competitor's offer. Detractors (0 to 6) are unhappy. The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, so it runs from -100 to +100. Passives are not subtracted, but they do count in the total from which both percentages are taken. NPS is popular because it is simple and easy to track over time; its weakness is that it tells you how loyal customers are, not why, so it is normally paired with an open follow-up question.
Net Promoter and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, NICE Systems and Fred Reichheld.
A worked example
| Group | Scores | Responses | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Promoters | 9 to 10 | 144 | 45% |
| Passives | 7 to 8 | 112 | 35% |
| Detractors | 0 to 6 | 64 | 20% |
| Net Promoter Score | 45 - 20 = 25 |
Moving 32 passives up to promoters would add 10 points; moving 32 detractors up to passives would add 10 points as well. Either end moves the score, but fixing what upsets detractors is often faster, because their complaints tend to be specific and solvable.
When to survey and how to read the result
- Relationship surveys go out on a cycle, such as quarterly or twice a year, to track overall loyalty among existing customers.
- Milestone surveys follow a specific moment, such as delivery or the end of a project, to measure that experience.
- Read comments before the number. Categorize the open answers; they tell you what to change.
- Close the loop. Contact detractors within a few days. A complaint handled well can turn a detractor into a passive or better.
- Benchmark against yourself. Watch your own trend from cycle to cycle rather than comparing with figures from other industries.
In Naffes CRM
Naffes CRM runs NPS surveys on a 0 to 10 scale. Every recipient gets a private response link with a follow-up question, and the NPS screen shows the score, the split between promoters, passives and detractors, and every individual response.
Create the survey
Under Marketing > NPS, create a New survey with an internal name, then write the intro text shown above the 0 to 10 scale, the follow-up prompt shown above the comment box, and the thank-you text.
Send it
From Send invitations, a workspace admin picks contacts from the CRM or pastes email addresses, and each recipient is emailed a private response link.
Read the results
Follow the score and the three-way split, and open any response to read the follow-up answer.
Channel and survey type: NPS invitations go by email only, not by WhatsApp or SMS, and NPS is the only survey type. Satisfaction with a single support ticket is measured separately in the help desk; see CSAT.
Read NPS next to the customer health score: one reflects what customers say, the other what they do.
Questions
Questions 2
What is a good NPS?
There is no single number that fits every industry. Anything above zero means you have more promoters than detractors; what matters most is that your score improves cycle over cycle and that you understand why detractors are unhappy.
Can NPS replace a customer health score?
No. NPS captures what a customer says at survey time, while a health score tracks actual behavior such as engagement and renewal. A customer can give you a 9 and still not renew because their budget changed, so read the two together.