What is a Net Promoter Score?
NPS comes from a single survey question: "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?" answered on a scale from 0 to 10. Responses are grouped into three segments, and the score is the difference between the top and bottom groups.
The formula
NPS = % promoters - % detractors
The result is always a whole number between -100 (everyone is a detractor) and 100 (everyone is a promoter). It is written as a plain number, not a percentage.
The three segments
- Promoters (9-10): enthusiastic users who are likely to recommend you and stick around. They add to your score.
- Passives (7-8): satisfied but unenthusiastic. They count toward the total but neither add nor subtract.
- Detractors (0-6): unhappy users who may churn or warn others away. They subtract from your score.
The limits of a single number
An NPS tells you how people feel in aggregate. It does not tell you why. A score of 20 could mean your onboarding is confusing, your pricing feels wrong, or a key feature is missing: the number alone cannot distinguish between them. Small samples make it worse, since a few responses can swing the score dramatically.
The fix is follow-up feedback. Ask detractors what went wrong and promoters what they would miss most. Our survey question generator has a set of NPS follow-up questions written for exactly this. And if you want that feedback to turn into a ranked backlog instead of a spreadsheet, a feature voting board like FeatQ lets the same users vote on what you should build next.