Net Promoter Score

Releasing a product or service into the market is just the first step to having a successful launch. The next goal is to expand the reach of your product or service to increase the number of active users. To determine the performance of a product, you need to have a measurement of the product’s reach. 

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a method to ascertain the potential impact that a service or product has on the market. With proper implementation of NPS, companies can get a rough idea of how well their service or product will perform. 

This glossary article will discuss how NPS works, what are promoters and detractors, and how to implement an NPS for your software. 

How does the Net Promoter Score Work?

The NPS functions as a type of survey that is released to users of a product or service to determine whether they are willing to endorse the product or service to friends or colleagues. The NPS usually comes in the form of a single question that asks users to score the product or service on a scale of 1 to 10 on how likely they are to recommend it to friends.

Furthermore, you can ask a follow-up question on why the user gave the product/service that rating and what can be improved.

An example of NPS is the rating system on IOS and Android storefronts. The amount of stars an app receives affects the likelihood that a user will download the software.

A product or service that receives an overall positive response will increase the likelihood of expanding its userbase. Therefore, if your software makes use of an NPS, you can increase the number of active users on your platform.

How does the Net Promoter Score Interpret Ratings? 

Respondents of the NPS are divided into 3 categories based on their responses. People who submit a score of 9 or 10 are promoters. Detractors are people who scored 6 and below. And finally, people who submitted scores of 7 or 8 are passives. 

By determining the number of promoters, detractors, and passives you can determine the reach of your software. Each category affects your NPS, so you need to understand what each means. 

Promoters

Promoters are the respondents who are likely to recommend your software to their friends and colleagues. Additionally, these respondents are considered loyal customers who will continue to use your product. 

Your goal should be to have as many promoters as possible to fuel the growth of your product, as well as the growth of loyal customers, and userbase.

Passives

Passive customers are the intermediary of promoters and detractors. They are equally as likely to recommend or dissuade the use of your software. People who are passives can be thought of as your satisfied customers who also might be looking for an alternative.

Passive respondents can be turned into promoters if you apply the suggestions you receive from these customers. Otherwise, passives might become detractors if you ignore the complaints of your users.

Detractors

Detractors are users of your software who are unhappy with your product/service. These respondents are damaging to your company’s image and brand reputation. Furthermore, having a large number of detractors will be a significant detriment to the growth of your business.

If you find that your software is getting a high amount of detractors, you need to address their concerns as soon as possible. This is essential if you want to improve customer satisfaction and potentially turn these detractors into promoters.

Calculating a Net Promoter Score 

To calculate an NPS, you have to subtract the percentage of promoters from the percentage of detractors. The result is your NPS.

Having an NPS above 0 is considered good. This means your software has an overall satisfied userbase. Furthermore, a positive NPS suggests your business is likely to grow as your users are likely to recommend the use of your software. 

According to Bain & Co., the founders of NPS, having a score of 20 is favorable. With a score of 50, your product is ranked as excellent. And with a score above 80, you can consider your product/service as “world-class.”

Here is the NPS for some of the biggest companies:

How to Implement the Net Promoter Score?

Now that we’ve established how the NPS works, we can discuss how to properly implement the NPS for your software. Generally, there are 3 steps you need to accomplish to properly implement the NPS. 

1. Identify the best method of engaging your users - You can deliver the NPS survey to your users in a few ways. With an in-app survey or through other means like a simple email. However, you need to determine the least intrusive method to deliver the survey to your users. 
2. Determine the goals of your survey - You need to align your survey question with the information you want to collect. Do you want to know your customers are satisfied with your software? Or do you want to determine if they’re willing to recommend your software? 
3. Integrate the survey into NPS software - To implement a survey, you need to work with NPS software. Using the best software with the most robust features can improve the collection of your NPS.

Through proper implementation of NPS, you can ensure the growth of your software and improve the scope of your userbase. 

Using NPS for Your Product’s Success

Calculating and monitoring your NPS is a key part of your business. It helps you focus on what you can do better and see how likely it is your product will be referred to others. By keeping tabs on your product or service, you’re improving your chances of having a successful product launch.