Net Promoter Score (NPS)
A customer loyalty metric measured by asking 'How likely are you to recommend this product to a colleague?' on a 0-10 scale, then subtracting the percentage of detractors (0-6) from promoters (9-10).
NPS Is a Starting Point, Not a Score to Worship
NPS became the default customer loyalty metric because it is simple — one question, one number. But the number alone is almost useless. An NPS of 45 tells you that you have more fans than critics. It does not tell you why they are fans, what would make them promote harder, or what is turning detractors away.
The real value of NPS is in the follow-up. The qualitative comments that accompany the score are where the insights live. Promoters tell you what to double down on. Detractors tell you what to fix. Passives (7-8) tell you what would push them to become promoters.
How NPS Is Calculated
NPS = % Promoters (9-10) - % Detractors (0-6)
Passives (7-8) are excluded from the calculation but not from your analysis. A company with 60% promoters, 25% passives, and 15% detractors has an NPS of 45.
| Score Range | Category | What They Do |
|---|---|---|
| 9-10 | Promoters | Actively recommend, expand usage, renew |
| 7-8 | Passives | Satisfied but vulnerable to competitors |
| 0-6 | Detractors | At risk of churning, may discourage others |
Making NPS Actionable
Close the loop on every detractor response within 48 hours. Someone who scores you a 3 and explains why is giving you a roadmap to save the account. Assign detractor follow-ups to customer success managers with a clear SLA. For promoters, ask for referrals, reviews, and case studies — they told you they would recommend you, so make it easy. Track NPS by cohort, product tier, and customer segment. Your enterprise NPS might be 60 while your SMB NPS is 15 — that aggregate 38 hides a serious problem in one segment. Finally, correlate NPS with retention. If accounts with NPS below 7 churn at 30% and above 8 churn at 5%, you have a powerful early warning system.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good NPS for B2B SaaS?
The average B2B SaaS NPS is 30-40. Above 50 is excellent — you have significantly more promoters than detractors. Above 70 is world-class (think Notion, Figma, Slack in their prime). Below 20 means you have a product or service problem that is generating detractors. Negative NPS means more people would actively warn others away than recommend you.
How often should you run NPS surveys?
Quarterly for relationship NPS (overall sentiment) and immediately after key interactions for transactional NPS (specific experience). Do not survey more than quarterly — survey fatigue reduces response rates from 30-40% to under 10%. Some teams use rolling NPS, surveying a different segment each month and aggregating quarterly. This gives continuous data without over-surveying any individual.
