What is Net Promoter Score (NPS) and why does it matter?
Net Promoter Score™ is a simple survey that is utilized by organizations around the world to measure client satisfaction and loyalty. NPS provides a quick, easy to understand insight into client satisfaction and their feelings about an organization. NPS have been tied to important metrics such as revenue, growth, and profitability.
The NPS survey follows this basic format:
How likely are you to recommend [organization name] to your friends and colleagues?
Customers are then asked to provide a rating from 0 (Very unlikely) to 10 (Very likely).
Based on how they answer, respondents are grouped into three categories:
|
Score |
Category |
Description |
|
9-10 |
Promoters |
These are the people who are happiest with your organization and act as natural advocates for the products or services you offer. |
|
7-8 |
Passives |
While they have a largely positive view of your organization, they are unlikely to go out of their way to recommend or mention your organization to someone they know. |
|
0-6 |
Detractors |
These individuals are the most likely to openly speak negatively about your organization. |
The Net Promoter Score is calculated by subtracting the percent of total respondents who are detractors from the percent who are promoters (NPS = % promoters - % detractors). For example, if 50% of your respondents were promoters and 15% were detractors, then your NPS score would be 35 (50%-15% = 35).
What is a good NPS score?
NPS scores range from -100 to 100. Anything above a 0 means that you have more promoters than detractors, which is cause to celebrate.
|
Score |
Rating |
|
-100-0 |
Needs improvement |
|
1-20 |
Good |
|
20-49 |
Great |
|
50 |
Amazing |
|
80+ |
World class |
Simple But Powerful
While NPS is only a single number, it provides some very powerful and actionable insights.
Monitoring Made Easy
If you are trying to monitor and evaluate multiple locations or providers, NPS gives you a quick metric that tells you at first glance if things are going well or if something needs your attention.
Gaining Insights On Improvement Areas
While you may feel a pit in your stomach the first time you see a 0 rating come in, detractors are nothing to be afraid of. Jeff Bezos once attributed Amazon’s success to unhappy customers and how it forced Amazon to improve. "One thing I love about customers is that they are divinely discontent,” he said.
Likewise, taking the time to learn more about why clients are dissatisfied with you can be your secret weapon. Detractors are great candidates for follow up communications or surveys to learn more about potential improvement areas for your organization.
Understanding (And Promoting) What People Love About You
Understanding what clients love about your products or services is every bit as important as knowing where you can improve. Promoters can often see the impact and potential of your organization more clearly than you can. Reaching out to promoters can help you:
- Find ways to articulate your value proposition that resonates with potential clients
- Identify candidates for case studies and testimonials
- Get ideas on new service or product offerings
- Understand and protect the things about your organization that people like
Looking for Common Themes
While the NPS score on its own doesn’t provide a lot of information on its own about what people like or dislike about your organization, we recommend pairing the NPS question with an open response question asking them to explain their rating. By monitoring and analyzing these responses, you can begin to identify common themes among detractors and promoters that give you insight into their experiences.
Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc