Free NPS Calculator

NPS Calculator: How to Calculate Net Promoter Score (with Free Tool)

Your Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a key metric that tells you how satisfied customers are with your business. It ranks their satisfaction by how likely they are to recommend you to others.

It’s ideal to know how to figure out your company’s Net Promoter Score. So, this guide explains that to you, including the NPS formula. You’ll also learn more about what makes for a good score.

The larger your business and the more locations you have, the more complicated NPS calculations can become. An NPS calculator, like the free tool offered here, helps with this. It sorts customer data and does the math for you, freeing you up to take action based on the results.

Free NPS Calculator

Does an NPS calculator sound like something your business could use? We have a free interactive tool for you to use right here.

How to use the calculator

Enter how many of your survey responses fell into each of the three groups: promoters who scored 9 or 10, passives who scored 7 or 8, and detractors who scored anywhere from 0 to 6.

The calculator works out what percentage of your total each group represents, subtracts the detractor percentage from the promoter percentage, and returns your Net Promoter Score. It also shows your promoter, passive, and detractor split, so you can see at a glance what is driving the number.

What your result means

Your business’s Net Promoter Score is a reflection of brand loyalty. Customers who are eager to recommend your company can bring you new business.

However, customers who are unhappy can detract from revenue growth. They leave bad online reviews and speak negatively about your business. This prevents new customers from trying what you offer. And they aren’t often a source of repeat business either.

Knowing your score is the first step towards using it constructively. You can make brand champions part of your marketing campaigns. And you can take action to turn around detractors, hopefully preventing them from going to the competition.

After you calculate your Net Promoter Score, the most important work is yet to come. The Listen360 customer feedback and analysis platform can help you leverage the power of your NPS. Set up a demo today to learn more.

RELATED ARTICLE: What Is a Net Promoter Score?

What Is Net Promoter Score?

To use an NPS calculator tool, it’s essential to have a good understanding of Net Promoter Score and what it means. Below, we take a moment to review that for you before diving into applying your free tool.

NPS definition

What is Net Promoter Score? It’s a measure of how likely a customer is to recommend your business to others. It’s obtained by surveying customers with simple questions.

It’s an important metric because it reflects client satisfaction. And when you have a high number of happy customers, you’re more likely to get new business from them. This can come from word-of-mouth referrals or from online reviews.

The 0 to 10 scale

The Net Promoter Score slots customers onto a scale from 0 to 10. This indicates their willingness to recommend your company. Or conversely, it shows their likelihood of going to a competitor. So, NPS results also speak to customer loyalty.

Promoters, Passives and Detractors

On the scale mentioned above, customers are put into different categories based on their response. You should use different strategies to market to these groups because their needs are not all the same.

Promoters (9 to 10)

Your high-scoring promoters are customers who would enthusiastically recommend your business. They leave glowing reviews online and talk up your company to friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.

You have several goals with this NPS group. First, you want to thank them for their loyalty and let them know how much you appreciate them.

Second, and perhaps most important, you want to retain them. The next time they are surveyed, you want to see 9s and 10s again, showing they’re still satisfied with your goods or services.

And you want them to keep being eager about recommending your business. That’s your third goal, to get them to continue referring prospective clients or shoppers.

You might even have a fourth goal with your NPS promoters. They’re the ideal demographic to involve in marketing initiatives, such as:

• Website customer testimonials
• Real-life advertising campaigns
• Launching new products or services
• Focus groups and market research
• Loyalty programs and rewards

Passives (7 to 8)

Those people who score 7 or 8 on the NPS spectrum are called “passives.” They’re not enthused enough to likely recommend your business. But they don’t feel negative enough about it to be a detractor in the bottom tier.

Keep reading, as we explain in the next section why this group isn’t typically included in the NPS formula.

You don’t really need to worry about the passives. The best thing you can do with this group is to produce the best merchandise or services possible. In this way, you may eventually sway some to become promoters.

Detractors (0 to 6)

Detractors who score in the bottom of the NPS range are a genuine problem for your business. They’re dissatisfied with the goods or services they’ve received, and they’re not likely to recommend your business to others.

Why are detractors such a concern? First, they can take their business elsewhere, which translates to a loss of revenue for you. This is also known as customer churn.

And it’s not just a straight loss of sales either. Harvard Business Review reports that acquiring a new customer can cost anywhere from five to 25 times more than retaining an existing one, depending on the study and the industry. The same reporting cites Bain & Company research showing that a 5% increase in customer retention can raise profits by 25% to 95%. That’s because happy, loyal customers tend to spend more and to be a source of repeat business.

NPS detractors are also a threat because they leave bad reviews. They discourage people from patronizing your business through word-of-mouth negativity. This cuts into new business from prospects who might otherwise buy from you.

So, what’s your goal with NPS detractors? Initially, you need to find out what’s making them unhappy and try to fix it.

Perhaps they need to return or exchange an item. Or they need extra hand-holding from tech customer service to learn how to use a software dashboard.

You may need to address detractors with specific one-on-one solutions. It’s also possible that their complaints are valid on a larger scale. This might require your business to make a policy change, improve quality, or lower pricing, for instance.

The end goal is to improve each detractor’s satisfaction enough to prevent churn. And you want them to stop leaving negative reviews. In fact, it’s ideal if you can get a previous detractor to leave a comment like:

I updated my review from 2 to 4 stars. The customer service representative helped me fix the issue with my appliance. And they gave me a $50 credit on my order as an apology for the inconvenience. Thumbs up for responsiveness!

Over time, it’s great if you can move a customer from the detractor level to passive or even promoter. But your priority is like emergency room triage. Stop the bleeding and get the patient stable before addressing anything else.

The NPS Formula

There is a formula used to calculate Net Promoter Score. While it saves hours of labor to use an NPS calculator tool, it’s good to know the underlying equation that’s the basis of the tool.

Your score is a final number assigned to your business after evaluating both detractors and promoters. You can use it as a metric for self-improvement. And you can also use it to measure how you compare to others in your industry.

The formula written out

The NPS formula is:

Total % of promoters  –  total % of detractors  =  Net Promoter Score

Another way to think of the formula is:

The total % of clients who would recommend your business – the total % of those who wouldn’t recommend it = your Net Promoter Score

Why passives are excluded

You may have noticed that passive respondents are not included in the formula above. That’s because NPS passives are considered neutral. They’re not helping your business, but they’re not hurting it either.

It’s smart to know a few things about passives, though. They are counted in the overall number of customers surveyed.

So, a large number of passives in the formula denominator can bring your overall percentages down. This can make it look like you have fewer promoters (falsely depressing) and fewer detractors (hiding problems you should fix).

Also, some passives who are 8s may be closer to being promoters. It can take very little to turn them into brand champions. Once you address detractor churn and are sure you’re keeping promoters happy, you could turn to high-scoring passives. What would it take to move the needle?

How to Calculate NPS Step by Step

Want to learn how to calculate NPS step by step? Below is an example so you can walk through Net Promoter Score as if you were running the calculations for your own business.

Collect and count responses

There are a couple of steps in calculating your company’s NPS. If you approach the process methodically, it will be much easier.

Start by sending out your customer survey, whether by email, text message, or on your website, after people make a purchase. Collect the responses and sort them manually or using an NPS calculator.

Calculate percentages

So, you have your responses sorted by promoter, passive, and detractor categories. Let’s say for the sake of convenience that you get these results out of 1,000 total responses:

• 100 promoters
• 700 passives
• 200 detractors

Now you need to see what percentage of each category you have. Remember, passives don’t count toward your score, so you can set those 700 answers aside. They do stay in your total of 1,000, though, which is what you divide by.

When you do the math, you have:

• 10% promoters (100 ÷ 1,000)
• 20% detractors (200 ÷ 1,000)

Subtract detractors from promoters

The final step is to plug those percentages into the equation given above:

10% promoters  –  20% detractors  =  Net Promoter Score of –10

That would indicate you have some work to do in order to both decrease your number of detractors and increase promoters.

How to Calculate NPS in Excel or Google Sheets

In theory, you can calculate an NPS using common spreadsheet software. Examples include Excel or Google Sheets. You enter the responses in the software and let the program do the math.

The spreadsheet formula

With your scores in column A, rows 2 through 201, enter these formulas:

Promoters:          =COUNTIF(A2:A201,”>=9″)

Passives:           =COUNTIFS(A2:A201,”>=7″,A2:A201,”<=8″)

Detractors:         =COUNTIF(A2:A201,”<=6″)

Total respondents:  =COUNT(A2:A201)

You can then create a cell with the NPS formula to give you your score:

=(COUNTIF(A2:A201,”>=9″) – COUNTIF(A2:A201,”<=6″)) / COUNT(A2:A201) * 100

Common spreadsheet mistakes

This is not really a recommended method, however. There are some downsides and mistakes that frequently occur:

• Potential for human error
• Need to enter data manually
• Lack of real-time tracking
• No resulting analytics

What Counts as a Good Score?

Regardless of which calculation method you use, it’s important to know how to interpret the results. Otherwise, you don’t know how to move forward, right?

NPS ranges explained

As you can see from the NPS formula earlier, it’s possible to have a score between –100 and 100. That’s a pretty big range, so you’ll want to compare your score to others in your sector to see how you fare.

In general, the median NPS is 44. A score of 75 or higher puts you in the top 25%. But a score of 30-70 is considered acceptable, with 50 and above being excellent.

Score numbers vary by industry, though. Here are some median numbers in different areas:

• Construction – 64
• Consulting – 48
• Finance – 59
• Healthcare – 62
• Insurance – 65
• Real estate – 58
• Retail – 57
• Software/online services – 44
• Technology – 50
• Transportation/logistics – 44

Benchmarking against your own trend

Once you start calculating Net Promoter Score and acting on it, you need to reassess periodically. Collect new survey information and see how you’re doing.

This is known as benchmarking against your own trend. Are you going up or down compared to previous scores? If your score is increasing, great! Keep doing what you’re doing. If it’s going down, you need to tweak your plan.

Calculating NPS Across Multiple Locations

Many businesses, from enterprise-level companies to smaller organizations, have multiple locations. What do you do in this scenario?

Per location scores and rollups

Most companies calculate an NPS for each location. Then, they roll up the data into one overall score for the entire business.

This lets you see how the company is performing as a whole. But it also lets you determine if one or more branches are dragging your total score down.

Sample size and response rate

Keep in mind that you’ll likely have varying sample sizes and response rates for different locations. If only a few people respond in one branch, the results may be less impactful than if you have a huge response rate.

It’s also worth noting that cultural norms can affect your NPS. SurveyMonkey research across nine countries found Japan had the lowest average Net Promoter Score at –52, well behind every other market studied. Whoa, that sounds like a problem, doesn’t it?

However, Japanese culture discourages rating businesses too highly. It’s also not common to offer personal recommendations. So, it makes sense that NPS results there will be abnormally low.

RELATED ARTICLE: What Is a Good NPS Score? Industry Benchmarks

Frequently Asked Questions

If you’re just starting to explore Net Promoter Score, you may have questions. Here are some quick answers to three of the most common ones. But be sure to read through the more detailed information on these topics above when you have more time.

How do you calculate NPS?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is calculated using responses to a customer survey. Customers are asked how likely they are to recommend your company to other people. Their response is indicated on a score range from 0 to 10.

Once the survey has been completed and the answers sorted, use the formula below to calculate your NPS.

What is the NPS formula?

Your Net Promoter Score is calculated using this formula:

Total % of promoters  –  total % of detractors  =  Net Promoter Score

As a reminder, promoters are people who responded 9 or 10 when asked how likely they are to recommend your business to others. Detractors are those who scored 0-6.

The percentage of each is taken from the total number of people who answered your survey.

Do passives count in NPS?

No, passives (those who answered 7 or 8 on the survey) do not count toward the score itself. They are considered neutral respondents, neither helping nor hindering your business. They are still counted in your total number of responses, which is the figure you divide by when working out your percentages.

Conclusion

Ready to start using Net Promoter Score more actively in your business? Here are a few final tips to help you get started:

• First, figure out how you’re going to collect responses from customers. You need to find a method that will ideally give you the largest possible sample size for more accurate results.
• Asking the right questions is another key element of success. Thinking about your end goals helps you get information that’s actually useful.
• You want to spend your time analyzing scores and acting on the results, not inputting tons of data. Do yourself a favor and use the free NPS calculator tool in this guide now. It will reduce errors and make the process more time-efficient.

Your NPS is still just a number. It’s what you do with it that counts. Listen360 automates many kinds of feedback collection, including NPS surveys. We help businesses streamline operations to improve scores and increase customer satisfaction. Request a demo to see how Listen360’s Net Promoter Score software could transform your customer experience journey.

RELATED ARTICLE: The NPS Question Guide