# What is net promoter score? | Annsa

> Net promoter score (NPS) measures customer loyalty as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors.

Source: https://annsa.ai/glossary/net-promoter-score

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Glossary · Net promoter score (NPS)

## What is net promoter score?

Net promoter score (NPS) measures customer loyalty as the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. It comes from one question: how likely are you to recommend this product to a friend or colleague, from 0 to 10? The score runs from -100 to 100.

## In practice

You send the question to 200 customers and 100 answer. 45 answer 9 or 10, 35 answer 7 or 8, and 20 answer 0 to 6. Your NPS is 45% minus 20%, which is 25.

The comments under the score are often more useful than the number. That's where the reason sits.

NPS isn't a satisfaction score. Its useful role is showing how your own number changes over time, and how you compare with direct competitors.

## How to measure it

- Promoters: 9 or 10. Passives: 7 or 8. Detractors: 0 to 6.
- NPS = % promoters − % detractors. Passives count in the total but are not subtracted.
- Report it as a whole number, not a percentage.

## Common mistakes

- Reading small samples as trends. With 30 answers, two people changing their minds moves the score by about 7 points.
- Comparing your number to another industry's. Bain's own guidance is to compare against direct competitors.
- Collecting the score and skipping the follow-up question, "What's the main reason for your score?"

## What changes in AI-first products

A score tells you loyalty moved. It doesn't tell an agent what to change. The "why" comments are the part a coding agent can use, once they're grouped by problem and tied to the customers who wrote them. Annsa takes survey answers in through CSV or its in-product surveys and keeps each comment verbatim next to the priority it supports, so Claude Code, Cursor, Codex or Grok can read the reasons over MCP. A person still decides which reason is worth a build.

See how Annsa does it: [Surveys](https://annsa.ai/choose/surveys) →

## Questions people ask.

Q1

### What is a good NPS score?

There's no universal cutoff. Bain's advice is to compare against direct competitors: a 50 can look reassuring, but less so if every competitor in your industry scores between 55 and 75.

Q2

### How do you calculate NPS?

Subtract the percentage of detractors (0 to 6) from the percentage of promoters (9 or 10).

Q3

### Who created NPS?

Fred Reichheld of Bain & Company, in the 2003 Harvard Business Review article "The One Number You Need to Grow". Later research, including Keiningham et al. (2007), questioned whether it predicts growth better than other loyalty measures.

## Sources

Bain & Company, Net Promoter System [Measuring Your Net Promoter Score ](https://www.netpromotersystem.com/about/measuring-your-net-promoter-score/)

The question, the three groups and the calculation.

Bain & Company [The Benefits of a Competitive Benchmark Net Promoter Score ](https://www.bain.com/insights/the-benefits-of-a-competitive-benchmark-net-promoter-score)

Compare against the alternatives your customers weigh, not against loyalty leaders in other industries.

Rob Markey, Bain & Company [New Bain Certified NPS Benchmarks: Companies Customers Love ](https://media.bain.com/Images/BAIN_DIGEST_New_Bain_Certified_NPS_Benchmarks.pdf)

A 50 looks less impressive "if all other competitors in its industry score between 55 and 75".

Wikipedia [Net promoter score ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_promoter_score)

Reichheld 2003; Keiningham et al. 2007 critique.

Last reviewed 2026-10-10

## Read next

[Glossary Customer satisfaction score (CSAT) ](https://annsa.ai/glossary/customer-satisfaction-score) [Glossary Customer churn ](https://annsa.ai/glossary/customer-churn) [Blog Customer feedback management ](https://annsa.ai/customer-feedback-management) [In Annsa Surveys ](https://annsa.ai/choose/surveys)

[Browse the glossary ](https://annsa.ai/glossary)

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