Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Category: Growth & Engagement · Level: Entry · Also called: Net Promoter Score

TL;DR

A 0-to-100 customer-loyalty score derived from one question: how likely you are to recommend the product to a friend.

NPS asks customers, on a 0–10 scale, how likely they are to recommend the product. Scores of 9–10 are 'promoters', 7–8 are 'passives', and 0–6 are 'detractors'. NPS = % promoters − % detractors, expressed as an integer between −100 and +100.

The metric is loved for its simplicity and criticized for its statistical fragility. A high NPS does not always correlate with growth; a low NPS in a growing company can reflect rapid expansion to less-satisfied segments. Use NPS as one signal, not the signal.

Worked example

1,400 customers respond to a post-renewal NPS survey: 700 give 9 or 10 (promoters, 50%), 420 give 7 or 8 (passives, 30%), and 280 give 0–6 (detractors, 20%). NPS = 50 − 20 = +30 — solid for B2B SaaS, with detractor verbatims highlighting onboarding pain.

Common pitfalls

  • Treating NPS as a goal instead of a diagnostic.
  • Comparing NPS across industries with very different baselines.
  • Surveying happy users only and overstating the score.

When this shows up in a pitch deck

The Customer Love slide may cite NPS alongside testimonials. Investors discount it unless paired with retention and revenue evidence.

Related terms

  • Retention Curve — A chart showing what fraction of a cohort is still active week-by-week or month-by-month after sign-up.
  • Viral Coefficient — The average number of new users each existing user invites who themselves convert into active users.
  • Logo Churn — The percentage of customers (logos) who cancel in a given period, regardless of how much revenue they represented.
  • Customer Validation — Proving that target customers will actually pay for, deploy, and renew a specific solution to the problem you discovered.

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