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Business & Workplace Languagenoun · /net prəˈmoʊtər skɔːr/

net promoter score

In simple English

Net promoter score, commonly abbreviated as NPS, is a widely used metric in business and product teams to evaluate customer satisfaction and loyalty. Companies typically ask customers a single question: How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague on a scale of 0 to 10? Responses are categorized into three groups: promoters (9-10), passives (7-8), and detractors (0-6). The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters, resulting in a score between -100 and +100. In tech companies, product managers and business analysts regularly track NPS to understand whether customers are happy enough to become advocates for the product. A higher NPS indicates strong customer loyalty and typically predicts business growth. Many tech organizations set NPS improvement goals and conduct follow-up research to understand why customers gave specific scores. This metric is often discussed in product planning meetings, quarterly business reviews, and investor presentations.

Understand what net promoter score is, how it is calculated, and why it matters for product and business success.

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalFormal
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticNeutral
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓Our NPS improved by 15 points this quarter
✓We need to focus on converting passives into promoters
✓The latest NPS survey shows we are losing ground with enterprise customers

Real examples

in a product standup

"We collected feedback last month and our net promoter score increased from 42 to 48, which shows improvement in customer satisfaction."

in a performance review

"The team successfully reduced detractors by 12 percent, which directly improved our net promoter score."

in a board meeting

"Our net promoter score of 55 positions us competitively in the industry, but we still have room to grow."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Often confused with customer satisfaction score or customer effort score. NPS specifically measures likelihood of recommendation, not overall satisfaction.

✕We will net promoter score our customers next week.
✓We will measure our net promoter score next week.— NPS is a noun and metric to measure, not a verb to perform. You measure or calculate NPS, you do not net promoter score something.
✕Our net promoter score is high, so customers are completely satisfied.
✓Our net promoter score is high, so customers are likely to recommend us.— NPS measures recommendation likelihood, not overall satisfaction. A customer might be satisfied but still unwilling to actively promote the product.
✕The net promoter score includes all customer feedback equally.
✓The net promoter score focuses specifically on the likelihood to recommend, not general feedback.— NPS is based on a single question about recommendation likelihood, not a comprehensive assessment of all feedback.

Other forms

noun

net promoter score

"Our net promoter score improved significantly after we released the new feature."

noun

NPS

"The product team tracks NPS monthly to monitor customer health."

adjective

NPS-related

"We implemented several NPS-related initiatives to improve customer loyalty."

Often used with

measure net promoter scoreTo calculate or assess NPS through surveys and data collection
improve net promoter scoreTo increase NPS through product enhancements, better support, or customer engagement
track net promoter scoreTo monitor NPS over time to identify trends and patterns in customer loyalty
net promoter score of XUsed when stating a specific NPS number, for example NPS of 65
high net promoter scoreGenerally above 50, indicating strong customer loyalty and recommendation likelihood
low net promoter scoreBelow 0 or in the negative range, indicating customer dissatisfaction and low recommendation likelihood

Similar words

customer loyalty metricBroader term for any measurement of customer loyalty; NPS is a specific metric
recommendation scoreDescribes what NPS measures but is less formal and less commonly used in business settings
promoter indexSimilar concept but less standardized than NPS

Opposites

detractor scorechurn rate

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. Your manager asks about customer feedback trends. Which sentence sounds most natural?

Complete the sentence

2. We need to _______ our net promoter score by addressing customer pain points. (choose: measure / improve / calculate)

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses net promoter score incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this in natural tech English: We asked customers how likely they are to tell their friends about our product and got a score of 58. What metric did we use?

Questions

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