What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)? A complete guide

According to Zendesk benchmark research, 60 percent of customers will choose to purchase something from one brand over another based on the service they expect to receive. To determine if support teams are meeting customer expectations—and providing top-tier CX—companies can track and use Net Promoter Scores to inform service decisions.

Unlike customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores or Customer Effort Scores (CES), NPS most often measures a buyer’s overall perception of a brand—not their impression of one interaction or purchase. This overarching view makes NPS a powerful customer experience metric that is crucial for informing product and service updates.

In our guide, we dive into the ins and outs of NPS, including how to collect and calculate NPS data, what to do with the scores, and NPS best practices.

More in this guide:

• How to calculate NPS
• What’s a good Net Promoter Score?
• What can you do with NPS scores?
• How to collect Net Promoter Score metrics
• Reviewing and using NPS results
• Net Promoter Score best practices
• Frequently asked questions
• Increase your NPS with automation

How to calculate NPS

There are two different ways to calculate Net Promoter Scores and measure CX success:

• Manually: There is a formula teams can use to manually calculate NPS scores, though you should only use this process for single scores or small quantities of data.
• Automatically: Software can automate the collection and calculation of NPS data. Consider building NPS surveys directly into your platforms or using email automation software to trigger surveys.

An NPS survey asks how likely a customer is to recommend your business to others on a scale of 1 to 10. Teams collect customer survey responses and separate respondents into three categories:

• Promoters: Respondents who answer 9 or 10 will likely recommend your business through word of mouth.
• Passives: Respondents who answer 7 or 8 might recommend your business if they continue having good experiences.
• Detractors: Respondents who answer 0–6 are unhappy and unlikely to recommend your business.

Then, teams can use the manual NPS formula below or automation software to calculate scores. Remember that although survey responses range from 1–10, the actual scores can range from -100 to 100 depending on the number of detractors and promoters.

Tip: Whether you collect NPS surveys manually or automatically, stick to a schedule for sending them. You should also set a benchmark response rate to know when to adjust your survey delivery method.

What’s a good Net Promoter Score?

Truthfully, there’s no one-size-fits-all good Net Promoter Score. According to Forrester, NPS benchmarks vary by industry. Plus, the method you choose for assessing your score also impacts them:

• The absolute NPS method compares your score to a loosely defined standard for a good score across all industries. For example, any score below 0 could indicate that customers are unlikely to recommend your business.
• The relative NPS method compares your score to those of similar businesses in your industry. For example, if your industry average NPS is 25 and you score 31, that may be considered a good NPS.

Instead of focusing on the number, we recommend prioritizing these key considerations when evaluating your NPS:

• Global benchmarks: How you compare to other businesses worldwide, including the average and median NPS.
• Performance quartiles: Where you rank comparatively to similar businesses—for example, ranking in the bottom 25 percent of NPS data could be considered a poor NPS score.
• Industry benchmarks: The averages and high-performing scores of those in your industry.
• Context: The types of experiences offered, audiences targeted, and internal goals set.

Just as how customers determine what good customer service is, a company or group determines what a good NPS is for them. However, you can set expectations and compare your performance to benchmarks to make business-specific conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of your NPS.

What can you do with NPS scores?

Companies can use the NPS metric to inform how they keep their customers happy and loyal. Here are a few ways to act on your NPS results after you interpret the data:

• Identify areas of opportunity: Determine the areas of improvement or success in your business and shift your priorities and strategies to these areas, if needed.
• Build customer referrals: Customers who gave your business a high score are great candidates for referrals, especially when offered incentives like freebies and discounts.
• Spot and mitigate potential churn: NPS scores and negative feedback can alert your business to potential churn, enabling teams to identify and mitigate issues while improving customer retention.

If your NPS survey is linked to your customer relationship management (CRM) software, you can even set up automated notifications about negative responses to act before churn occurs.

How to collect Net Promoter Score metrics

Collecting customer feedback requires planning and analysis. Below, we outline the necessary steps for collecting NPS metrics.

There are three important steps for creating an NPS survey:

1. Determining distribution: An NPS survey can be run on-site or it can be a standalone survey you share with customers via email.
2. Adding the NPS question: Standard NPS surveys typically include questions like “How likely are you to recommend [Company Name] to a friend or colleague?”
3. Including additional questions: Many teams also add demographic or open-ended questions to NPS surveys to learn more about their customers’ thoughts and feelings.

To maximize response rates, keep the survey brief—ideally, no more than three questions total. Use clear, neutral, and bias-free wording to ensure accurate feedback.

Choose collection and automation software

Selecting the right NPS software to efficiently manage your feedback program at scale is crucial. Your platform should integrate with your existing tech stack, like your CRM or help desk software, for the best results.

The best software options also provide:

• Automated survey distribution

• Customization options

• Omnichannel support

• Robust analytics tools

• Real-time reporting

• Intelligent automation and routing

• Case management

With software like Zendesk, teams can also close the customer feedback loop, identify areas of improvement, and meet customer needs and expectations.

Distribute to selected audiences

To gather meaningful feedback, you must distribute your NPS survey to specific audiences representing a cross-section of your customer base. Plus, you should distribute surveys at crucial points in the customer journey to gain data about ongoing experiences, particularly:

• After customer onboarding

• Post-purchase

• Following a support interaction

To gather more nuanced insights, consider segmenting your distribution based on customer characteristics like account age, usage patterns, or product tier. Plus, don’t overwhelm your customers with too many surveys—many businesses find success with quarterly or bi-annual surveys for existing customers.

Collect and analyze data

You need an effective collection and analysis process to transform raw NPS responses into actionable insights. Use a systematic data collection approach to factor in both quantitative scores and qualitative feedback, and consider setting up dashboards to track key metrics like:

• Overall NPS score

• Response rates

• Score distribution across segments

• Trends in open-ended responses

Software with analysis capabilities can also help teams identify changes in scores over time and correlate these with specific business initiatives or market events. This regular analysis and a team’s AI analytics can inform strategic decisions, from product development to service improvements.

Reviewing and using NPS results

An NPS score can provide valuable insight into how well you’re doing and can help predict the decline or growth of your business. Here are some steps for reviewing and using your NPS results to inform your company’s overall strategy.

Compare data segments

Review all the customer segments of your NPS responses. NPS scores may vary across different categories, including:

• Age group

• Gender

• Long-term customers

• High-spending customers

For example, your NPS may be higher with a particular gender or lower in a specific age range. This can give you insight into how to modify your approach for different types of customers.

Track NPS over time

NPS is a metric that happens in real time, so it’s important to monitor it continuously and collect responses. By using customer analytics to track performance, you can recognize trends, themes, and fluctuations with your audience. With that knowledge, you can look into what factors cause score variations.

Share feedback across relevant teams

Ensure that all relevant teams—like marketing, product, sales, and engineering—have access to the NPS results and customer feedback. Consider distilling this information to the broader team by:

• Sending survey results to your team’s messaging channel

• Reporting NPS findings during team meetings

• Building case studies using NPS insights

• Collaborating internally to brainstorm solutions for problem areas

When everybody is on the same page, efforts to improve a score can be streamlined and consistent between departments.

Close the loop with customers

Most importantly, you need to implement effective customer feedback management. For example, consider asking follow-up questions as part of your NPS survey strategy to help you better understand the reasoning and context behind customer scores.

Closing the feedback loop also allows you to show customers you are considering their thoughts, needs, and expectations.

Net Promoter Score best practices

To collect accurate NPS data and calculate your Net Promoter Scores, consider following these practices for the best results:

• Send surveys at the right time: Make sure you send NPS surveys where they fit smoothly into the buyer’s journey. For example, send them at the end of a purchase rather than before.
• Keep surveys brief: Ensure your questions are succinct and specific to avoid survey fatigue.
• Ask for additional feedback: Include open-ended questions about growth opportunities to uncover areas for improvement your team may not have considered or overlooked.
• Request follow-up permission: Include a checkbox in your survey for customers to allow future follow-up from your business and use customer follow-up software to reach out promptly.
• Send “thank you” messages: Show your gratitude and appreciation for customer responses by crafting and sending customer thank you notes.

Reminder: How you deliver NPS surveys and react to customer responses also affects how individuals view your brand, so delivering the same CX as you would during support and service interactions is crucial.

Frequently asked questions

Increase your NPS with automation

Passive and detractive customers don’t have to stay where they are—with automation and increased service efficiency, you can improve Net Promoter Scores and increase customer satisfaction.

With a solution like Zendesk, AI-powered tools like workflow automation can help improve support operations and free agents to handle more complex and nuanced tasks. In fact, Zendesk AI agents can automate up to 80 percent of all incoming inquiries, increasing support efficiency and accuracy.

Choose a platform that integrates with your existing systems and automates NPS collection and analysis by investing in Zendesk AI today.

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