If you’ve ever answered the question “How likely is it that you would recommend our mobile app to a friend or colleague?” Then you’ve come across an NPS survey.
It’s a popular way for brands — and many mobile apps — to measure customer sentiment and satisfaction, because it’s as easy as asking the customer to rate the app on a scale of 0 to 10. All the customer has to do is click a number.
But just what is this metric about? And how effective is it in truly measuring growth and customer satisfaction?
What Is NPS?
The NPS metric (which stands for Net Promoter Score) is a scoring system for quantifying how pleased a customer is with your product or service. The answer is usually graded on an eleven-point scale from 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely).
The actual Net Promoter Score is a number from -100 from 100. This means a score higher than 0 is considered good. Scores above 50 are considered excellent. And those above 70 are world-class.
Each industry has an average score depending on how customers rate the brands in that vertical. Here are some industry averages:
Industry Companies Average
NPS Metric
Consumer Brands/Entertainment Pandora, Spotify, Netflix 19
Technology/Software Microsoft, Oracle, Mailchimp 56
Consumer Brands/Fast Food Starbucks, KFC, McDonald’s 40
Computer Software Adobe, Autodesk, Symantec 0
NPS scores are tracked over time to show how the customer experience improves from milestone to milestone.
The Net Colombia Phone Numbers List Promoter Score was first developed in 1993 by Fred Reichheld, but would rise to prominence in 2003 with Reichheld’s article in HBR positing that any company could determine the loyalty of its customers with just one question. It would later be adopted by Bain & Company and Satmetrix as a means to predict whether customers would bring more value to companies.
Today, it’s so entrenched in companies that it’s common to hear executives bragging about NPS scores on earnings calls.
Promoters, Passives, Detractors: Definition
Customers who respond to an NPS survey can be grouped into three categories depending on the score they give.
NPS metric - detractors, passives, promoters
Detractors
Those who respond anywhere from a 0 to 6 are called Detractors. Obviously they find some fault with your app or brand. They’re less likely to bring value to your company and may need a lot of convincing before they change their minds.
Passives
Those who respond with a 7 or 8 are called Passives. Customers who are on the fence about your brand and will likely need a little convincing of the value your product gives them via highly targeted marketing messages.
Promoters
Those who rate your product with a 9 or 10 are called Promoters. These are your loyalists and evangelists. They’ve indicated they would recommend your product to someone else and will typically generate 80-90% of all your referrals.Promoters have the potential to bring a lot of value to your company, whether it’s driving your revenue, increasing CLTV from multiple purchases, or referring your app via word-of-mouth. Promoters are the least likely to churn and are the ones most likely to have a longer and more profitable relationship with your brand.
Net Promoter Score Calculation
After customers rate your product from 0 to 10, what goes into the actual Net Promoter Score calculation?
NPS is calculated simply by subtracting the percentage of customers who are Detractors from the percentage of customers who are Promoters.01
NPS metric - how to calculate the Net Promoter Score
Passives count toward the total number of respondents, which decreases the percentage of detractors and promoters and pushes the net score closer to 0.
Why Use the NPS Metric?
It rose to popularity as a metric for customer satisfaction and growth because it turns out that there is a correlation between a company’s growth and high NPS scores.
On average, companies scoring high in an NPS survey grow more than 2x the rate of their competitors.02
If you look at the Fortune 500 list, you’ll see that for the most part, the NPS scores back up the position of these companies on the list.
Here are just 10 examples of some well-known brands on the Fortune 500 plus their NPS scores. Some of them have an almost cult-like following with the customer retention numbers to back it up.03
Three Different Ways to Use NPS
Here’s something else that may be surprising to those new to the idea of NPS: there are three different ways you can use the Net Promoter Score.
1. Competitive Benchmark
The NPS can be used for building a competitive benchmark. This means seeking feedback from your customers as well as your competitors’ users.