MARKETING GLOSSARY
Net Promoter Score (NPS): What It Is and How to Use It
DIRECT ANSWER
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric derived from a single survey question: 'How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?' on a 0–10 scale. Respondents are classified as Promoters (9–10), Passives (7–8), or Detractors (0–6). NPS equals the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors.
How NPS Is Calculated and Interpreted
Scores range from −100 to +100. A positive NPS indicates more Promoters than Detractors. The absolute score matters less than the trend over time and the gap versus close competitors. A score of +30 in a category where competitors average +10 signals a meaningful loyalty advantage; the same score in a category averaging +50 signals a problem.
Transactional NPS surveys (sent after a specific interaction like a support ticket close) and relationship NPS surveys (sent on a schedule regardless of interaction) serve different diagnostic purposes. Transactional NPS pinpoints experience failures; relationship NPS tracks overall brand health.
Using NPS Data in Marketing
Promoters are your highest-probability referral and review sources. A follow-up sequence that routes Promoters into referral programs, case study requests, or G2/Capterra review invitations converts goodwill into pipeline. The sequence should trigger automatically within 24–48 hours of a Promoter response.
Detractor verbatim comments are among the richest inputs for positioning and messaging work. Patterns in what dissatisfied customers say reveal unmet expectations — which may point to a messaging problem (over-promising), a product gap, or an onboarding failure that marketing-owned content could address.
FAQ
Net Promoter Score — common questions
How frequently should we survey for NPS?
Relationship NPS surveys are typically sent quarterly or semi-annually to avoid survey fatigue. For transactional NPS, trigger surveys within 48 hours of the specific event. Sampling is acceptable at scale — surveying 100% of customers every quarter in a large base produces noise, not signal.
Is NPS a reliable predictor of growth?
NPS correlates with retention and referral behavior in many categories but is not universally predictive. It works best as one signal in a dashboard alongside retention rate, expansion revenue, and referral volume. Treating NPS as the sole growth metric creates incentives to optimize the score rather than the underlying experience.
BUILT BY COMO'S AGENTS
This page was written by CoMo — the autonomous CMO.
CoMo runs every channel of your marketing on your live data. See it work on your brand.