Including an Interactive NPS Calculator

Explaining the Net Promoter® Score Concept

In a normal customer satisfaction survey, you might ask customers for specific feedback on the products and services to determine customer service satisfaction. Questions like: "How satisfied were you with our product quality?"

While this question and others can be benefical, these questions might not provide you with all of the detail you need to improve your business.

The Net Promoter® Score Bain & company developed in 2003, is designed to ask something a lot different. Instead of asking if your customers are satisfied, you're asking if they're promoters of your company. You're trying to determine if your customers will speak up and recommend your brand. This is vital if you wish to expand your business, as positive recommendations promote growth.

Net Promoter® provides you with one number that shows how many of your customers are truly company advocates. Use the calculator below to determine your score. The score can be used to as a base to determine how well your company brand is performing.

The Net Promoter Score Question

"How likely is it that you would recommend _____________ to a friend or colleague?"
Customers rate their answers on a scale from 0 to 10.

The answers customers provide are classified as follows:

  • 0–6 = Detractors: Unhappy customers who can hurt your brand through negative word-of-mouth
  • 7–8 = Passives: Satisfied but indifferent customers who could be swayed by the competition
  • 9–10 = Promoters Loyal customers who will keep buying and referring others

How to Calculate Net Promoter® Score

The NPS calculation is simple. It's simply the percentage of people who would likely promote your brand over the total number of people asked.

A perfect or ideal score is 100, and the worst possible score is -100

net promoter score explained

Why Use Net Promoter® Score

When you ask customers the Net Promoter® Score question, you're asking whether or not they're taking the time to say positive things about your company or brand. Today, word of mouth is everything—especially as opinions spread faster via social, online forums, and reviews.

Determining your Net Promoter Score is the quickest way to see how your company is doing from a customer perspective. Historically, positive NPS scores have shown a strong correlation to growth and profits for companies. Organizations ranging from small start-ups to some of the world's biggest companies use NPS to assess customer satisfaction and track performance because it is:

  • Simple and quick: One question is all it takes to determine your Net Promoter Score with one simple calculation. With our Net Promoter Survey Template, you can send your survey in minutes. That template is a great resource for NPS survey questions ensuring you can setup a successful NPS survey.
  • Quantifiable: Management can see how well your company is performing with one simple number. The NPS is easy for everyone to understand.
  • Standardized and Trusted: Widely known as the standard for measuring and improving customer loyalty, the NPS is trusted by brands like Travelocity, American Express, Apple, Comcast, and Expedia.
  • Benchmarkable: Arguably the most valuable benefit is the ability to see how your organization compares to the competition. Because hundreds of companies use NPS, you have data to measure and track your performance to external benchmarks. Results also include the SurveyKing global averages. This will help you to see how you're doing on average compared to others.

Improving Your Net Promoter® Score

NPS is based off of customer opinions of your brand; thus improving your company's customer service or products will in turn increase your NPS. It’s important to recognize that it’s not just about improving the likelihood of customers recommending your brand; it’ vital to improve your brand so your customers become more likely to recommend you.

Always use an open-ended text question on any survey that asks for NPS. This will help determine what your promoters really like and what your detractors dislike. Open-ended questions are key in determining exactly where your company needs to improve because leading questions can often skew data by limiting the variety of possible responses.

Creating a Net Promoter® Score Survey

Get started with our NPS survey template. Add, Subtract, or Edit questions as needed.

History of the Net Promoter® Score Question

in 2003, Fred Reichheld and Bain & Company launched a research project to determine whether a different approach than the standard customer satisfaction survey would yield better results. Working with data supplied by Satmetrix, they tested a variety of questions to see how well the answers correlated with company performance and customer behavior.

As it turned out, one question worked best, and thus the NPS question was born.

Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.