Net Promoter Score: How To Measure Customer Loyalty
The Net Promoter Score survey is a simple tool for understanding customer satisfaction and improving retention. Discover how to make powerful NPS surveys with Typeform’s powerful form builder.
Want to reduce churn, increase loyalty, and grow your business? You need to learn how your customers really feel. It’s time to try a Net Promoter Score survey. These standardized surveys ask 1 or 2 quick questions that reveal illuminating insights about your company. Conduct your NPS survey, then use the findings to skyrocket growth.
In this guide, you’ll learn all about Net Promoter Score surveys: what they are, how to interpret their results, and how to build Net Promoter Score surveys that boost customer retention and transform your business.
What are Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys?
Net Promoter Score surveys measure customer loyalty and satisfaction. They focus on one primary question:
On a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?
Customers are grouped into 3 different categories based on their answer to the Net Promoter Score survey:
- Promoters (9-10): Anyone who answers 9 or 10 is considered a promoter. These are loyal customers who are highly likely to refer other customers.
- Passives (7-8): Customers who answer 7 or 8 are considered to be satisfied, but passive customers. They have a lower likelihood of recommending your business to others.
- Detractors (0-6): Anyone who answers 6 or lower is considered to be a detractor. They’re considered unhappy customers who may churn or may discourage other customers from your business.
How to calculate Net Promoter Score
Once the survey is complete, use your responses to calculate your overall Net Promoter Score. To do so, first calculate the percentage of respondents in each category (promoters, passives, and detractors). Then, use the following formula:
Net Promoter Score = % Promoters - % Detractors
Say you surveyed 100 customers. 25% were promoters, 60% were passives, and 15% were detractors. You’d calculate the Net Promoter Score as follows:
NPS = 25% - 15%
In this case, your Net Promoter Score would be 5.
How to interpret Net Promoter Scores
So, what does it mean to have a Net Promoter Score of 5? Here’s how it breaks down:
- 0-30: Any score over 0 typically means your customers have a generally good perception of your business, though there’s room for improvement.
- 30-50: Between 30 and 50 means you have solid customer loyalty.
- 50 or higher: A score of 50 or high is considered excellent. It indicates that your business has strong brand loyalty and the potential to grow.
- Less than 0: A score under 0 means customers have a generally negative perception of your business. There needs to be immediate intervention to improve customers’ experience or you’ll risk significant churn.
Benefits of conducting Net Promoter Score surveys
Conducting a Net Promoter Score survey is an exceptional tool for getting a temperature check on your customers’ experiences. The results can help transform your business to lower customer churn rate and improve customer retention.
Identify customers with high churn risk
Conduct a Net Promoter Score survey to identify customers at risk of churn before it’s too late. Quickly and easily pinpoint them by looking at your detractors list. Anyone who answered 6 or lower may be thinking about leaving your business. It’s your job to understand why and change their mind.
Understand common roadblocks
In addition to pinpointing who is at risk of churn, you can identify the roadblocks that are contributing to your churn rate. When you follow up your Net Promoter Score question with a simple “why,” you’ll gather illuminating feedback on customers’ biggest challenges.
You may find that customers are missing certain features, are struggling to use your product, or are experiencing slow response times when asking for support. Whatever their most common responses, addressing them becomes your roadmap for lowering churn rate.
Strengthen relationships with loyal customers
In addition to finding your most unhappy customers, you’ll find your happiest customers, too. Your promoters (9-10) are a treasure trove for your business. Not only do they present excellent opportunities for upselling, collecting testimonials, or building case studies, but they’re also perfectly poised to evangelize for your business.
Continue to strengthen your relationship with your promoters and they’ll become excellent sources for referrals. Consider implementing a referral or affiliate program to reward them for their work.
How teams can use Net Promoter Score surveys
You may think your Net Promoter Score survey is only relevant to your customer service team—but you’d be making a huge mistake. Their findings can benefit nearly every part of your business:
- Customer success: Customer success teams can follow up with detractors to improve their experiences.
- Marketing: Marketing teams can gather testimonials and build case studies from the promoters list. They can also use feedback from promoters and detractors to develop more accurate and compelling messaging.
- Product: Product teams can use recurring pain points to improve features or identify gaps in product offerings.
- Sales: Sales teams can get a better understanding of why potential customers may object to their product, then use that info to improve the sales process.
Best Practices for Net Promoter Score surveys
Net Promoter Score surveys may be simple, but there are still best practices for getting meaningful results. Follow these to get more responses and better feedback.
Always ask “why”
You’ll get the most valuable feedback from your customers if you ask “why” from the jump. When you wait too long to follow up on your survey, you’re far less likely to get responses. Instead, ask for qualitative feedback in the moment, when customers are thinking critically about your business and their experience.
Use AI insights for qualitative feedback
Intimidated by the thought of sorting through qualitative feedback? Typeform makes it simple with AI-powered insights. There’s no need to painstakingly interpret individual answers. Instead, Typeform AI will automatically detect common topics and sentiments in your customers’ responses, then show them in your reporting dashboard. You can quickly turn that feedback into action.
Follow up with all respondents
No matter how each respondent answers, they always deserve a follow up. In addition to thanking each respondent, take these steps:
- Promoters (9-10): Solicit testimonials or offer your referral program.
- Passives (7-8): Send an email to ask what would make their experience better.
- Detractors (0-6): Reach out via customer success to offer personalized service to improve their experience. Schedule a phone call to better understand their challenges and how to make them better.
Make this process simple with automation. First, choose a survey tool with pre-built integrations with your CRM and email marketing platforms. Then, set up automations that reach out to each respondent according to their rating. Customers can sign up for your referral program, provide feedback, or schedule a customer support call without any labor on your side.
Track satisfaction over time
Net Promoter Score surveys should never be one-and-done. When conducted on a regular basis, NPS surveys are an invaluable tool in measuring improvement. Look for shifts in your ratios of promoters to detractors to determine how your efforts are affecting your business.
How to Build Net Promoter Score surveys with Typeform
Typeform makes it simple to conduct Net Promoter Score surveys. Follow these steps to build your NPS survey from scratch, from a template, or using AI.
How to build a Net Promoter Score survey from scratch
It’s easy to build a custom survey from scratch with Typeform. Here’s how:
- Log into Typeform and select “Create a new form”
- Select “Start from scratch”
- To add your first question, select Net Promoter Score from the “Rating & ranking” section.
- To add the next question, select “+Add content” then select “Long Text.” Update the question to ask “Why?”
- In the “Endings” panel on the left, create the end screen respondents will see when they finish the survey.
- Edit your survey’s appearance using the “Design” feature. Choose from your Brand Kit themes or select a theme from the Gallery.
- Integrate your survey with your other tech tools in the “Connect” panel on the top. Find your desired tool, then select “Connect” and follow the prompts.
- Once you’re happy with your survey, select “Share” to make it live!
How to make a survey from a pre-built template
Use our Net Promoter Score survey template to make things easy.
- Select “Use this Template”
- In the Content panel, select questions from the list on the left, then edit as needed.
- Review the survey ending on the left. This is the screen your respondent will see when the survey is complete.
- Edit your survey’s appearance using the “Design” feature. Choose from your Brand Kit themes or select a theme from the Gallery.
- Integrate your survey with your other tech tools in the “Connect” panel on the top. Find your desired tool, then select “Connect” and follow the prompts.
- Once you’re happy with your survey, select “Share” to make it live!
How to make a survey using AI
To make an NPS survey in just a few clicks, use Typeform AI. Describe what you’re looking for and Typeform AI will take care of the rest.
- Log into Typeform and select “Create a new form”
- Write a few sentences about the type of NPS survey you’d like to create.
- Typeform AI’s free survey maker will guide you through a series of questions and build a survey according to your answers. Once you’re satisfied with your survey, select “Apply”
- Edit questions, outcomes, and more, or ask Typeform AI to make modifications for you.
- Once you’re happy with your survey, select “Share” to make it live!
Boost customer retention with Net Promoter Score surveys from Typeform
The Net Promoter Score survey is a simple tool that can make a huge impact. Building your first Net Promoter Score survey shouldn’t be a hassle. Typeform makes it easy with a drag-and-drop template to build surveys in minutes, plus advanced reporting to unlock deep insights at a glance. Gain a deeper understanding of your customers and collect feedback that takes your business to the next level by building your Net Promoter Score survey with Typeform today.
