What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a simple metric that measures how likely people are to recommend your organisation, product or service. It summarises customer loyalty on a scale from -100 to +100.
NPS is collected with a single numeric question: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” Respondents choose a number from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely). Scores are grouped as promoters (9–10), passives (7–8) and detractors (0–6). NPS is calculated as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Because it compresses sentiment into one number, NPS is easy to track over time and compare between groups, but it doesn’t explain why people feel that way — qualitative follow-up questions are essential.
Usage example
Survey question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our community centre to a friend?” If 100 people responded, 50 gave 9–10 (promoters), 30 gave 7–8 (passives) and 20 gave 0–6 (detractors), NPS = 50% − 20% = 30.
Practical application
Why it matters: NPS gives a quick, standardised signal of overall satisfaction and loyalty you can monitor over time, compare across services or locations, and flag areas needing improvement. In practice, NPS is most useful when paired with an open-text follow-up (for example, “Why did you give that score?”). For multilingual surveys, including those run with Hearo, NPS lets you include every community with one question while translating responses back into the administrator’s language so you can understand reasons and act on them. Be careful to interpret NPS alongside response rates, sample size and qualitative feedback — and to account for cultural or language differences that can affect scoring patterns.
FAQ
What score counts as a ‘good’ NPS?
Context matters, but broadly: negative scores signal more detractors than promoters, 0–30 is modestly positive, 30–50 is strong, and above 50 is excellent. Benchmarks vary by sector, so compare against similar organisations or your past scores rather than a single universal target.
Can I use NPS with small or multilingual samples?
Yes, but be cautious. Small sample sizes produce unstable NPS values; report response counts and confidence intervals where possible. With multilingual audiences, ensure translations of the NPS question are clear and consistent — and use translated open-text responses to understand cultural differences behind scores.
Should I ask an open-ended follow-up after the NPS question?
Yes. The numeric score tells you ‘‘how’’ but not ‘‘why.’’ A follow-up like “What is the main reason for your score?” yields actionable insights. In a multilingual survey platform, those free-text answers can be translated back so your team can prioritise improvements.
How often should we measure NPS?
Measure often enough to detect meaningful change but not so often that respondents feel surveyed out. For ongoing services, quarterly or semi-annual checks are common; after specific interactions (a programme completion, event or support contact) measure once and track cohorts over time.