Net Promoter Score (NPS) is one of the most widely used customer satisfaction metrics
in SaaS. It asks a single question: "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend
or colleague?" Respondents score from 0–10:
Promoters (9–10): enthusiastic customers who actively refer others
Passives (7–8): satisfied but unenthusiastic — not a drag, not a booster
Detractors (0–6): unhappy customers who may warn others away
NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors
The score ranges from −100 (all detractors) to +100 (all promoters).
NPS benchmarks by industry
Industry
Average NPS
Consumer SaaS
30–50
B2B SaaS
30–45
E-commerce
45–55
Consulting / agencies
30–40
Apple, Tesla, and Netflix consistently score 70–80+. For most SaaS companies, a score
above 40 is considered excellent; above 20 is good.
How to act on NPS
NPS is only useful if you close the feedback loop:
1. Detractors — contact personally within 48 hours; identify root cause; offer resolution
2. Passives — the biggest opportunity; one insight about what would push them to "9" often applies to many customers
3. Promoters — ask for referrals, testimonials, and case study participation
Frequently asked questions
How often should I survey customers?
Most SaaS businesses survey every 90 days (quarterly), or trigger a survey 30 days
after a customer's first meaningful usage. Avoid surveying too frequently — it trains
customers to ignore the survey.
Is NPS a lagging or leading indicator?
Both. It's a lagging indicator of product quality and support. It's a leading indicator
of churn — detractors churn at 2–3× the rate of promoters over the following 12 months.
NPS Benchmarks by Industry — What Is a Good NPS Score?
Net Promoter Score benchmarks across major industries including SaaS, retail, financial services, and healthcare — so you know how your score compares.
NPS scores only mean something in context. An NPS of 40 is mediocre for consumer
electronics but excellent for health insurance. Here are the benchmarks across
major industries.
B2B SaaS scores tend to be higher than consumer products because business buyers
are more rational in their evaluations, have lower expectations for delight, and
give higher scores if the product solves a clear business problem effectively.
Self-serve SaaS consistently scores higher than high-touch sales models, likely
because self-serve customers chose the product themselves (self-selection bias).
Use our NPS Calculator to calculate your NPS from
your survey results and track changes over time.
How to Run an NPS Survey for SaaS — Timing, Questions, and Follow-Up
Best practices for running NPS surveys in a SaaS product: when to survey, which question to ask, how to segment results, and what to do with detractors.
Running NPS correctly is as important as calculating it. Here's how to get
actionable data rather than a number that looks good on a dashboard.
Two types of NPS surveys
Relationship NPS: Sent to all customers on a schedule (quarterly or semi-annually).
Measures overall satisfaction with your company. Best for tracking trends and
comparing against industry benchmarks.
Transactional NPS: Triggered by a specific event (onboarding completion,
feature launch, support ticket resolution). Measures satisfaction with a specific
interaction. Best for identifying specific fix points.
Timing guidelines
Don't survey new customers in their first 30 days (they haven't seen full value yet)
Wait 7 days after a negative experience before surveying
Never survey the same customer more often than every 90 days
Transactional: survey within 24 hours of the trigger event
The follow-up question matters more than the score
The single-question NPS score tells you what your score is. The follow-up
open-text question ("What's the main reason for your score?") tells you why.
Code the responses into categories (e.g., "missing features," "price too high,"
"excellent support") and track the distribution. This is where the actionable
signal lives.
Closing the loop
Reply to every detractor within 48 hours. Acknowledge the specific concern they
raised. This converts 15–25% of detractors to passive or promoter, and generates
trust regardless of outcome.
Use our NPS Calculator to calculate your NPS score from
survey raw numbers.
Runs NPS and CSAT surveys alongside heatmaps and session recordings — so you can correlate low NPS scores with specific friction points in the product.