What is net promoter score?
Also known as: NPS
Net promoter score (NPS) is a customer loyalty metric based on a single question: how likely are you to recommend this product to a colleague, on a scale of 0 to 10. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (0–6) from the percentage of promoters (9–10), producing a score between −100 and +100.
Formula
How to calculate net promoter score
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors- % Promoters
- Share of respondents scoring 9 or 10
- % Passives
- Share scoring 7 or 8 — counted in the total but excluded from the calculation
- % Detractors
- Share scoring 0 through 6
Worked example
Of 200 responses, 120 are promoters (60%), 50 passives (25%), 30 detractors (15%). NPS = 60 − 15 = +45.
Benchmarks
Typical net promoter score ranges
Commonly reported ranges for B2B SaaS. Treat these as orientation — your own segment and contract structure matter more than any cross-industry figure.
| Segment | Typical range |
|---|---|
| B2B SaaS, good | +30 to +40 |
| B2B SaaS, excellent | +50 and above |
| Needs attention | Below +20 |
In practice
What you need to know about net promoter score
What NPS is good for, and what it is not
NPS is a reasonable longitudinal sentiment tracker and a good trigger for conversations — a detractor response is a useful prompt to reach out. It is a poor predictor of individual account churn. Customers routinely give high scores and leave anyway, because the person answering the survey is often not the person who decides on renewal. Treat NPS as one input to a health score, never as the health score.
Response bias is the main weakness
In B2B, response rates are frequently under 20%, and the customers most likely to respond are those with strong opinions in either direction. The silent majority is invisible, and quietly disengaged accounts — the ones most at risk — are the least likely to answer. A rising NPS with a falling response rate is often a warning, not a win.
The follow-up question is where the value is
The score alone tells you almost nothing actionable. The free-text "why" answer is the actual asset, and in B2B a 15-minute conversation with a detractor is worth more than the entire quarterly score.
How to improve it
Improving net promoter score
Survey by role, not by account
An account is not a single opinion. Sample the executive sponsor, the admin, and end users separately — divergence between them is itself a strong signal.
Close the loop within 48 hours
Following up quickly on detractor responses converts the survey from measurement into retention activity, which is the only way it pays for itself.
Report response rate alongside the score
A score without its response rate is uninterpretable. Always publish both.
FAQ
Net promoter score questions, answered
What is a good NPS score?+
For B2B SaaS, +30 to +40 is generally considered good and +50 or above excellent. Below +20 warrants attention. Benchmarks vary widely by industry and by how the survey is administered, so your own trend over time is more informative than any cross-industry comparison.
How is NPS calculated?+
Subtract the percentage of detractors (scores 0–6) from the percentage of promoters (scores 9–10). Passives (7–8) are included in the response total but do not enter the calculation. The result ranges from −100 to +100.
Does NPS predict churn?+
Weakly, and not reliably at the individual account level. Customers frequently score highly and churn anyway, often because the survey respondent is not the renewal decision-maker. NPS is best used as a longitudinal sentiment trend and a trigger for outreach, alongside stronger predictors such as stakeholder engagement and value realization.
How often should you run an NPS survey?+
Twice a year is common in B2B; quarterly risks survey fatigue and depresses response rates. Many teams now favor transactional surveys triggered by lifecycle events, such as post-onboarding, which produce more actionable and better-contextualized responses.
Related terms
Keep reading
Customer health score
A customer health score is a composite metric that summarizes how likely an account is to renew, expand, or churn, calculated by weighting signals such as product usage, engagement, support history, and relationship strength into a single value.
Customer satisfaction score
Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) measures how satisfied a customer is with a specific interaction, product, or service, usually by asking them to rate it on a scale of 1 to 5. It is expressed as the percentage of responses that are satisfied — typically the top two ratings.
Customer effort score
Customer effort score (CES) measures how much effort a customer had to expend to complete a task, typically by asking them to rate their agreement with a statement such as "the company made it easy for me to handle my issue" on a 1–7 scale. Lower effort correlates strongly with loyalty and repeat purchase.
Customer advocacy
Customer advocacy is the practice of identifying satisfied customers and enabling them to publicly support a company — through references, case studies, reviews, testimonials, and referrals. It converts delivered value into acquisition and retention leverage.
Voice of the customer
Voice of the customer (VoC) is the systematic collection, analysis, and distribution of customer feedback across an organization so that product, service, and strategy decisions reflect what customers actually experience and need.
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