What Net Promoter Score measures
Net Promoter Score (NPS) summarizes customer loyalty with a single survey question: on a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? Respondents are sorted into three groups. Promoters answer 9 or 10, passives answer 7 or 8, and detractors answer anywhere from 0 to 6. The passives are counted in the total but do not push the score up or down.
Use this calculator when you already have the counts from a survey and want the score, the percentage split and a quick label. It is handy for tracking loyalty from one quarter to the next, comparing customer segments or support channels, and sanity-checking the number your survey tool reports. The result is an integer from −100 (everyone is a detractor) to +100 (everyone is a promoter).
The NPS formula
NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Each percentage is taken over all respondents, passives included:
- Total = Promoters + Passives + Detractors, the number of people who answered.
- %Promoters = Promoters / Total × 100 and %Detractors = Detractors / Total × 100.
- NPS = %Promoters − %Detractors, shown rounded to a whole number, with the unrounded value on the last line of the result.
- The label is this tool's own convenience banding: 80 or more is called world-class, 50 to 79 excellent, 0 to 49 good with room to improve, and below 0 needs improvement. These are not an official standard, and typical scores differ widely by industry.
Worked example
Suppose a survey returns 130 promoters, 45 passives and 25 detractors. The total is 130 + 45 + 25 = 200 respondents.
%Promoters = 130 / 200 = 65.0% and %Detractors = 25 / 200 = 12.5%, while passives are 22.5%. NPS = 65.0 − 12.5 = 52.5. The calculator's headline rounds this to 53 and labels it Excellent, and the bottom line shows the exact 52.5.
Notice that the 45 passives changed nothing in the subtraction except by enlarging the total. If those 45 people had not answered at all, the total would be 155 and NPS would be (130 − 25) / 155 × 100, about 67.7, which shows why the response mix matters.
Common mistakes and how to interpret the result
- Entering percentages instead of counts. The calculator works with the number of respondents in each group. Entering 65, 22 and 13 happens to work if they sum to 100, but the total shown will then be misleading if they do not.
- Comparing scores from tiny samples. With 20 responses, a single person moving from passive to detractor shifts the score by 5 points. Look at the total before reading a change as a trend.
- Comparing across industries. A 30 can be strong in one sector and weak in another. Benchmark against your own history and direct competitors.
- Ignoring the follow-up question. The number alone does not explain anything. The reasons given by detractors and promoters are where the useful information is.