If you’ve been in product management or marketing for more than five minutes, you’ve probably heard about the net promoter score (NPS). It’s that one survey score companies love to throw around to prove how much customers adore them. But is NPS actually useful? 

The NPS score can be a game-changer. It’s a way to measure customer loyalty, identify benchmarks, and refine the customer experience. And when used in onboarding? It’s a secret weapon for boosting retention and satisfaction.

So, let's break it all down. Here's everything you need know about the net promoter score. 

What Is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?

The net promoter score is a simple but powerful calculation that measures customer loyalty. It’s based on a single NPS question: 

“How likely are you to recommend [Company/Product] to a friend or colleague?”

Customers answer on a scale from 0 to 10, falling into one of three categories:

• Promoters (9-10): These are your most loyal superfans. Promoters love your product and will shout about it from the rooftops, leading to great word of mouth and referrals. 
• Passives (7-8): They like you, but they’re not exactly loyal customers. They’re easily swayed by competitors.
• Detractors (0-6): They're not happy. Worse, they might actively discourage others from using your product.

NPS provides a quick score to gauge customer sentiment and helps companies understand how well they’re meeting customer expectations.

How to Calculate NPS Scores

Here's the formula that tells you how to calculate NPS: 

Percentage of Promoters−Percentage of Detractors=NPS score

Example of calculating NPS Scores: If 60% of your customers are NPS promoters, 20% are passives, and 20% are detractors, your NPS score would be 60 - 20 = 40. 

Why the Net Promoter Score Matters for Your Business

1. It Predicts Growth

Companies with a high NPS score tend to grow faster. Happy customers stick around, buy more, and bring in referrals. Studies have shown that businesses with a strong net promoter score outperform competitors in revenue growth. Tracking NPS benchmarks can help businesses understand how they compare in their industry and where they can improve.

2. It Helps You Track Customer Loyalty

NPS surveys give you a quick pulse check on how customers feel about your product. NPS calculations aren't perfect, but tracking changes over time can reveal shifts in customer loyalty and highlight problems before they escalate. Many companies also use NPS surveys to refine their customer experience.

3. It Guides Product and Marketing Decisions

If your NPS score is dropping, something’s wrong. Maybe your NPS survey reveals onboarding issues. Maybe competitors are offering better features. Either way, it’s a signal to dig deeper and make improvements. Understanding your NPS calculation helps you adjust your strategy proactively. 

4. It Helps You Identify Customer Advocates

Your NPS promoters aren’t just loyal customers—they’re potential brand ambassadors. Engaging them can lead to increased word-of-mouth marketing and positive reviews. If your net promoter score benchmarks are high, you can leverage them to build trust and credibility in your market. Businesses that consistently track their NPS score and refine their NPS surveys can develop a strong base of promoters who drive organic growth and customer retention.

The Pros and Cons of Using NPS Scores

So the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is valuable tool for customer feedback metric. But it also has limitations. Let’s explore the advantages and drawbacks of using NPS.

Pros of NPS Scores

1. It’s Simple

The NPS question is super easy to implement because it boils down to:

“How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?”

Customers can respond quickly, which increases response rates, and it's also super easy to calculate NPS. 

2. It’s Scalable

NPS works for businesses of all sizes—from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies. The survey format is consistent and repeatable, allowing companies to track performance over time.

3. It Gives You a Quick Snapshot of Customer Sentiment

In just a few minutes, NPS can tell you whether people love, hate, or feel neutral about your product. It's a high-level view of customer satisfaction and identifies trends in customer sentiment in a snapshot.

4. It Benchmarks Performance Against Industry Standards

Since NPS surveys are widely used, you can compare your score to competitors in your industry. If your score is below the industry benchmarks, it signals the need for improvement.

Cons of NPS Scores

1. NPS Doesn’t Tell You Why

NPS gives you a simple percentage-based score but doesn’t explain the reason behind it. If your score drops, you need follow-up surveys or interviews to understand what went wrong.

2. NPS Can Be Biased

Some users ignore NPS surveys, leading to non-response bias. Passive users may never fill out the survey, skewing results toward extreme opinions. In addition, certain user segments may be overrepresented (e.g., power users vs. new customers).

3. NPS is Only One Piece of the Puzzle

The NPS survey alone won’t solve customer feedback issues—it’s just a starting point. Remember, a high NPS score doesn’t always translate to low churn or high engagement. To get a full picture, you need to combine NPS with other metrics.

How to Improve Your Net Promoter Score 

Now that we've covered what the net promoter score is and what it does for you, let's find out what you need to do in order to improve your NPS score. 

1. Collect NPS Feedback the Right Way

The way you gather NPS data can impact response rates and the quality of insights you get. Here’s how to do it effectively:

Ask at the Right Time

Timing is everything. Send NPS surveys after key milestones, such as:

• Post-onboarding (to assess initial impressions).
• After product usage milestones (e.g., after a feature is used multiple times).
• Following a customer support interaction (to measure service quality).

Avoid asking too early (before the customer experience happens) or too late (when they may have already lost interest).

Keep NPS Questions Short and Easy

Surveys are already notoriously ignored by users, so there is no need to make your NPS surveys complicated. So keep the NPS question short and simple.

Use In-App Surveys for Higher Response Rates to NPS Questions

Instead of sending NPS requests via email (which often get ignored), integrate NPS surveys within the product experience.

Personalize Follow-Up Questions to the NPS Score

Once you get the NPS survey feedback, you should follow-up with each group and try to understand their individual customer journey. 

For Promoters (9-10): Ask what they love about the product.

For Passives (7-8): Ask what could make their experience better.

For Detractors (0-6): Ask what’s preventing them from recommending your product.

2. Analyze the Net Promoter Score

NPS alone won’t give you the full picture—you need to dig into the data to extract real insights.

Segment Your Responses

Break down scores by various user attributes such as: 

• User type (e.g., enterprise customers vs. individual users).
• Subscription plan (e.g., free vs. paid users).
• Geography (e.g., US vs. EU markets).
• Product usage level (e.g., power users vs. occasional users).

Identify Patterns and Trends in your NPS

Do free users give lower scores because they don’t get access to premium features? What's the percentage of new users giving lower scores compared to long-term customers? These patterns give glimpses into what decisions you have to make to improve. 

Correlate NPS with Other Metrics

NPS alone won't get you far. Combine it with other metrics.

Compare NPS against churn rates—are Detractors actually leaving? Check if Promoters have higher lifetime value (LTV). 

That allows you to establish causality. 

Double Down on What’s Working

Find recurring themes in customer feedback among promoters and scale those positive experiences across all users. If Promoters love a specific feature, make it more prominent in the onboarding flow.

3. Act on Your Net Promoter Scores

Don't just stare at your NPS feedback, do something about it. Here’s how to turn insights into improvements:

Follow Up with Detractors

Don’t let unhappy users churn without trying to fix their issues. Instead, send personalized follow-ups like:

• “We noticed you gave us a low NPS score—can you share how we can improve?”
• “We’re sorry your experience wasn’t great. Would you be open to a quick call to discuss?”

Turn Promoters into Brand Advocates

If users love your product, encourage the promoters to:

• Leave a review on G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot.
• Join a referral program.
• Share testimonials or case studies.

Every little bit helps to spread the word of mouth. 

Improve Onboarding and Product Experience

If new users give NPS scores lower than long-term customers, optimize your onboarding flow to drive engagement faster. Use in-product guides and tooltips to help users discover valuable features earlier.

4. Close the NPS feedback Loop

The final step in improving your NPS score is showing customers that their feedback leads to action.

Communicate Improvements to Users

When you make changes based on survey feedback, let your users know that you've listened to them and acted. 

Example: A popup that says,“You spoke, we listened! Based on your feedback, we’ve improved our checkout process to make it faster and easier.”

Build Long-Term Customer Relationships 

The NPS score isn’t just about one-time feedback to a survey. It’s about continuous engagement.

Other than NPS surveys, keep customers involved through: 

• Exclusive beta programs for new features.
• Early access invitations to improvements.
• Regular check-ins to see how they’re doing.

Alternatives to the Net Promoter Score

While net promoter score (NPS) is widely used, it’s not the only way to measure customer satisfaction and loyalty. Here are some alternatives that might be better suited for specific situations.

1. Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)

Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) is a key metric used to measure how satisfied a customer is with a specific interaction, service, or product experience. 

The typical CSAT survey goes: 

"How satisfied were you with your experience?"

They respond using a predefined scale, such as:

• 1-5 scale (Very dissatisfied to Very satisfied)
• 1-7 scale (Extremely dissatisfied to Extremely satisfied)
• 1-10 scale (Low satisfaction to High satisfaction)

The CSAT score is calculated by taking the percentage of positive responses (e.g., those who chose 4 or 5 on a 5-point scale) and dividing it by the total number of responses.

Why It May Be Better than NPS

Since CSAT focuses on specific interactions rather than overall sentiment, it provides more actionable insights that can help businesses improve individual touchpoints. For example, companies can use CSAT to measure how well their customer support team resolves issues or how effective their onboarding process is. 

2. Customer Effort Score (CES)

Customer effort score (CES) measures how easy or difficult it was for a customer to complete a specific action, such as setting up an account or resolving a support issue. 

The typical CES survey question goes: 

"How easy was it to complete [specific task]?"

They respond on a scale such as:

• 1-5 scale (Very difficult to Very easy)
• 1-7 scale (Strongly disagree to Strongly agree with “The process was easy”)

A lower effort score (indicating higher difficulty) is a red flag that there are friction points in the customer journey. A higher score suggests that customers can complete tasks smoothly without needing extra support.

Why It May Be Better Than NPS

CES surveys are highly predictive of customer retention because customers who find it easy to use a product or resolve issues are more likely to remain loyal. It’s also an excellent metric for UX improvements since it highlights specific pain points that might otherwise go unnoticed.

3. Churn Rate

Churn rate is one of the most critical metrics for SaaS and subscription businesses because it directly measures the percentage of customers who stop using a product or service over a given period. So if you had hundred users to begin with and you lost five users over a time period, your churn rate is 5%. 

Why It May Be Better than NPS

Like NPS, the CSAT or CES rely on survey responses. But churn rate reflects actual customer behavior. A high churn rate is a clear warning sign of deeper product, service, or market fit issues that require immediate attention.

Churn rate is also directly tied to revenue, making it an essential business metric. If too many customers leave, revenue declines, and acquiring new users becomes more expensive. 

Net Promoter Scores are Just the Start

The net promoter score is a solid metric for measuring customer satisfaction. But let’s be real, it’s not the whole story. It’s like judging a movie based on the trailer: helpful, sure, but you’ll miss the whole picture. To truly understand and improve the customer experience, you need to act on the feedback. 

One powerful way to boost your NPS score? Nail your onboarding. Cut the friction, guide users to their first “aha” moment fast, and show them exactly why your product is worth sticking around for. A smooth start can turn curious newcomers into lifelong fans.

Ready to level up your customer experience? Userflow makes it easy to build seamless, no-code onboarding flows that convert users into loyal advocates—without the headache. Plus, we allow you to create NPS surveys that seamlessly blend into your app. With Userflow, you'll have everything you need to supercharge your feedback loop. Try for free today!