{"id":252868,"date":"2024-12-29T14:01:16","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T14:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/userpilot.com\/blog\/userpilot-nps\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T13:25:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T13:25:32","slug":"userpilot-nps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/userpilot.com\/blog\/userpilot-nps\/","title":{"rendered":"Why NPS Still Matters and How Userpilot NPS Makes it Actionable"},"content":{"rendered":"

At Userpilot<\/a>, NPS is an integral part of our product.<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s be honest, NPS sucks at times.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is mainly because NPS was sold as a \u201cquantitative\u201d metric that is the ultimate indicator of growth\u2014especially in product management<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sad truth is: it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

This metric ended up being adopted by companies in every industry. And now, a group of people see it as a vanity metric rather than a valuable indicator of customer sentiment.<\/p>\n

We do, however, approach NPS in a way that\u2019s valuable and actionable for us. And before I share it, let\u2019s explore what NPS is and what\u2019s wrong with it:<\/p>\n

What is Net Promoter Score (NPS)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Net Promoter Score (NPS<\/a>) is a metric that aims to quantify customer sentiment <\/a>based on this survey question:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow likely are you to recommend (our product) to a friend or colleague?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The rating scale ranges from 0 to 10, and respondents are divided into three buckets:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Detractors<\/strong>\u2014those who answer between 0 and 6<\/li>\n
  2. Passives<\/strong>\u2014those who answer with 7 or 8<\/li>\n
  3. Promoters<\/strong>\u2014respondents that answered with 9 or 10<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The score is then calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    For example: If out of 1000 responses, 42% of respondents were promoters and 17% were detractors. Then NPS is 42% – 17% = 25<\/p>\n

    What’s wrong with NPS?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    The main problem with NPS is calculating it without any other metric or goal to pair it with.<\/p>\n

    It just doesn\u2019t serve as a single indicator of \u201cbusiness health\u201d like it was previously promoted.<\/p>\n

    And here\u2019s why:<\/p>\n

    It’s yet another buzzword<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The only reason companies are measuring NPS right now is for the buzz.<\/p>\n

    Everyone\u2019s tracking NPS and comparing it with other businesses to understand what customers think of them in the context of competitors.<\/p>\n

    This is not inherently bad, but measuring NPS<\/a> for the sake of benchmarking can be misleading for many businesses. Especially, when it means asking the same question without considering if it makes sense within the context of your product:<\/p>\n

    \"response<\/picture>
    Microsoft missed the marks with its NPS surveys.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    You see, NPS is mostly a relational metric (which means it’s focused on customer relationships). People choose their score for many reasons that might have nothing to do with liking your product. Depending on how you ask, a perfectly loyal user might respond negatively just because they don’t think your product could be recommended to someone who isn\u2019t in their field.<\/p>\n

    For example, many companies make the mistake of sending the survey when users just sign up. This, without considering if new users can give a score without understanding the product first\u2014leading to skewed results.<\/p>\n

    It’s not a satisfaction indicator<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    NPS is an indicator of loyalty, nothing else.<\/p>\n

    It only measures \u201cpromoters\u201d, which are loyal customers that are so infatuated with your product that they can\u2019t help but talk about it.<\/p>\n

    However, so many companies use it to measure satisfaction<\/a>. And that\u2019s problematic because NPS has nothing to do with customer satisfaction, or how healthy your user base is, or retention, or anything else.<\/p>\n

    If 100% of your user base is satisfied with your product but only hits a score of 8. Then your NPS would be zero.<\/p>\n

    Simply put, there are products that you can\u2019t easily recommend to anyone even if you like them (would you recommend your ERP software at a family dinner?), which makes NPS pretty non-impactful to your business. A negative score doesn\u2019t mean your business is doomed. A high score (although great to have) is only an indicator of how much WOM<\/a> you might get.<\/p>\n

    You are adopting it as a leading metric<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Unlike metrics like DAUs, MRR, churn, or sales, NPS is not valuable in itself.<\/p>\n

    Teams are not tasked to increase NPS by 20% in six months, companies don\u2019t go to bankruptcy because their NPS was negative, and no one writes \u201cI helped this company increase NPS\u201d on their LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n

    NPS rarely helps predict trends, churn, or future sales without a correlation. At most, it indicates the likelihood of receiving an unknown amount of referred customers.<\/p>\n

    And yet, a lot of companies use it as a leading metric without having any other context.<\/p>\n

    In contrast, NPS works best as a lagging metric. Especially, when comparing how NPS has changed over time and correlating it with other factors such as product updates<\/a>, marketing campaigns, churn, or expansion MRR<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    The science behind NPS calculation is wacky<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    NPS has no real science behind it.<\/p>\n

    First, it promises to be a quantitative metric<\/a> for customer loyalty. But in reality, it\u2019s just semiquantitative. It doesn\u2019t really \u201cquantify\u201d customer sentiment in the same way you can quantify the revenue coming from upsells.<\/p>\n

    All this bucketing of \u201cpromoters\u201d, \u201cpassives\u201d, and \u201cdetractors\u201d is simply arbitrary and is not based on any scientific method. All the math behind these scores is pretty specific for a very specific use case, yet everyone (from gyms to corporate firms) calculates it the same way.<\/p>\n

    Plus, NPS surveys<\/a> commit the mistake of asking users about what they\u2019re likely to do in the future.<\/p>\n

    This is important because if I ask you what you\u2019re going to do on Saturday, it\u2019s very unlikely you\u2019ll give an accurate answer. Whereas, if I ask you what you did last Saturday, then the question becomes less subjective and more like a report.<\/p>\n

    In short: <\/strong>NPS is not a rigorous metric that serves as a strict measure of success, making it hard to tie it to actual business outcomes or actionable insights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Why does NPS still matter?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Despite all its flaws, NPS can provide great value given the right context.<\/p>\n

    The main problem comes when product teams fixate on it and think of it as the holy grail of metrics.<\/p>\n

    But if you approach NPS as a baseline metric and leverage the qualitative feedback<\/a> to get valuable insights, then there\u2019s a lot you can do with it, such as:<\/p>\n