GLOSSARY

NET Promoter Score (NPS)

NPS is a 0–10 loyalty metric — %Promoters minus %Detractors — introduced by Reichheld (HBR 2003), run relational and transactional. Book a 30-min scoping call.

Last updated:

Quick answer
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a single-question loyalty metric that asks customers, on a 0–10 scale, how likely they are to recommend a brand, product, or experience to a friend or colleague. The score is calculated as percent Promoters (9–10) minus percent Detractors (0–6), producing a number from -100 to +100. NPS is directional; mature programs pair it with CSAT, CES, and retention metrics.

WHAT IT IS

NPS was introduced by Fred Reichheld in HBR (2003) and is maintained by Bain & Company and the NPS Prism program. It is used in two variants: relational (overall brand loyalty, surveyed periodically) and transactional (tied to a specific interaction, surveyed after). Best-practice follow-up asks an open-ended 'why' that drives root-cause analysis.

HOW IT WORKS

Strengths: simple, benchmarkable, operationally actionable when paired with closed-loop follow-up. Limitations: insensitive in high-score or low-score markets, culturally biased across geographies, and a single-dimensional view of loyalty. Mature CX programs pair NPS with CSAT, Customer Effort Score (CES), and revenue-outcome measures — NUUN's CX MetriCX is one such combination.

WHEN TO USE

Use NPS when a benchmarkable loyalty signal is needed. Avoid relying on it alone for operational CX improvement.

RELATED

SOURCES

Related questions.

What is Net Promoter Score?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a single-question loyalty metric that asks customers, on a 0–10 scale, how likely they are to recommend a brand, product, or experience to a friend or colleague. The score is calculated as % Promoters (9–10) minus % Detractors (0–6), producing a number from -100 to +100.
Is NPS a good metric?
NPS is a useful, simple directional metric that correlates modestly with business outcomes in many categories. It is not, on its own, a sufficient measurement program — it is coarse, susceptible to response bias, and varies widely by category. The best programs use NPS alongside CSAT, CES, and operational metrics.
What is a good NPS score?
It depends entirely on category and region. A telco at +20 may be a category leader; a consumer SaaS at +20 may be middling. Benchmark against comparable businesses in comparable markets; the absolute number is less important than the trend line and the gap to top-decile peers.
What is transactional vs. relational NPS?
Relational NPS is measured periodically across the entire customer base, at a cadence like annually or quarterly, and reads brand loyalty. Transactional NPS is measured immediately after a defined interaction (a support call, a purchase) and reads experience quality at that moment. Both are useful; they answer different questions.
How does NUUN Digital deploy NPS?
We wire NPS into the customer data record so individual responses are linked to revenue outcomes, pair it with complementary metrics (CSAT, CES, churn), and build the closed-loop workflow that turns a detractor response into a service recovery.

Need this term in action?

Book a call