What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty through a single question: "How likely are you to recommend this product to a friend or colleague?" on a 0–10 scale. Respondents are grouped into Promoters (9–10), Passives (7–8), and Detractors (0–6). NPS = %Promoters − %Detractors, yielding a number from −100 to +100.
NPS is popular because it's simple, comparable over time, and correlates with word-of-mouth growth. Its real value, though, is the open-text follow-up ("Why did you give that score?"), which surfaces qualitative reasons behind the number.
PMs use NPS as a directional signal of sentiment and to mine verbatim feedback for problems and opportunities. It should be paired with behavioral metrics — NPS alone can mislead, since who responds and when you ask both bias the result.
Examples
- A product with 60% promoters and 15% detractors has an NPS of 45.
- A PM clusters detractor comments and finds performance complaints driving low scores.
Where PMs use this
Related terms
KPI (Key Performance Indicator)
A quantifiable measure used to track progress toward a specific business or product objective.
Churn Rate
The percentage of customers (or revenue) lost over a given period — the inverse of retention.
Usability Testing
Observing real users attempting tasks with a product to uncover where they struggle.