What is a net promoter score?

A Net Promoter Score, or NPS, is a measure of your clients or customers’ overall perception and satisfaction level with your business. It is an important indicator of how you are currently operating and your growth potential.

It is reached by asking them how likely they are to recommend your service or product to others on a scale of 0-10. Importantly, when we’re conducting feedback exercises, we always ask the main reason for the score and what can be done to achieve a higher score – this is the insight that can really help you to use the NPS to transform your business.

The reasons we uncover aren’t always so obvious. Sometimes it’s the quality of the service or product, but often it’s more emotional – not having access to the senior team, level of responsiveness, how you respond, how you compare to a competitor they also work with, pricing and so on.

If you ask enough clients or customers the question and ask why, you’ll start to see trends emerging, uncover areas for improvement and identify priorities.

1

Grouping your clients

To drive success and growth, the score provided signals which clients are your greatest advocates and which need nurturing. The scores separate them into three groups:

  • 9-10 – Promoters – loyal enthusiasts who will keep buying and become brand ambassadors, recommending you to others, helping with growth
  • 7-8 – Passives – those who don’t actively recommend you but who are satisfied, meaning they could become Promoters or succumb to competitive offerings
  • 0-6 – Detractors – unhappy customers unlikely to buy again or recommend you, potentially damaging your brand and impeding growth
2

How to calculate and determine your NPS score

It’s a simple equation:

NPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors

Resulting in a score expressed by a range of -100 to 100.

Any score above 0 is promising, as the business has more promoters than detractors.

A good score is relative and will be different across different industries and can also be impacted by the demographics of your client base – they will value different things.

However, as a guide, you should aspire to be over 70.

3

Identifying trends over time

Most of the businesses we work with seek feedback from clients every 2-3 years if they are established or more frequently if they are more dynamic, growing fast or changing their offering. Importantly, repeating the process provides a benchmark that allows you to assess performance over time.

4

Keep the conversation going

It is important to keep promoters happy, nurture passives and improve the experience for detractors.

For unhappy clients that you value the most, further engagement might be beneficial, getting to the heart of the issue and allowing you to establish if it can be rectified. A face-to-face interview or follow-up call with an independent party is always best to encourage a dialogue.

For unhappy clients that you value the most, further engagement might be beneficial, getting to the heart of the issue and allowing you to establish if it can be rectified. A face-to-face interview or follow-up call with an independent party always best to encourage a dialogue.