Net promoter score is a single number that summarizes how your customers feel about you. You ask one question, "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?", on a scale from 0 to 10, and the answers give you a score between −100 and +100. Above zero, more people would recommend you than warn others off. Above 50, your customers are selling for you.

It concerns any seller with enough customers to ask. A brand with 300 orders a month, a creator with a paid community, a coach with a cohort of students. Ratings on a product page tell you about one item; NPS tells you whether people would put their name behind you, which is what drives repeat purchases and referrals.

What is net promoter score?

NPS is calculated from a survey with one core question and an optional follow-up ("What is the main reason for your score?"). Respondents are sorted into three groups by their answer:

  • Promoters, 9 or 10. Happy enough to bring you new customers.
  • Passives, 7 or 8. Satisfied, but they would switch for a better offer and rarely talk about you.
  • Detractors, 0 to 6. Unhappy, and likely to say so.

The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Passives count in the total but not in the subtraction. That is why the scale runs from −100 (everyone is a detractor) to +100 (everyone is a promoter).

NPS is not a satisfaction score, although the two move together. Satisfaction asks about the last transaction; NPS asks about the relationship. It is not a product rating either. A customer can give a product 4 stars and still be a detractor because delivery took three weeks. And it is not a metric you can compute from behavior alone: it requires asking.

Related vocabulary: transactional NPS is asked right after an order or a support ticket; relationship NPS is asked periodically, regardless of a specific event. Small sellers mostly use the transactional kind, sent a week or two after delivery.

Why it matters

Word of mouth is the cheapest acquisition channel a small brand has, and NPS is the closest thing to a measurement of it. Promoters reorder more often and refer friends; detractors churn and leave reviews.

Take a skincare brand with 400 customers who answered. 220 gave a 9 or 10 (55%), 120 gave a 7 or 8 (30%), 60 gave 0 to 6 (15%). NPS is 55 − 15 = 40. Now suppose the brand fixes its slow shipping, and six months later the split is 65% promoters, 25% passives, 10% detractors, an NPS of 55. If promoters reorder at 45% within six months and detractors at 10%, the shift alone moves the six-month repeat rate from roughly 30% to 34%. On 400 customers at a $42 order, that is about 16 extra orders, $670, before counting a single referral.

The other value is diagnostic. The follow-up comments from detractors are a ranked list of what to fix, in the customers' own words. Sellers with 200 customers rarely have that anywhere else.

How to calculate it

  • Send the question to customers who received their order 7 to 14 days ago, by email, with the 0 to 10 scale as clickable buttons and a free-text box below.
  • Collect the answers over a set period, say a month, and count them. You need at least 30 to 50 answers for the score to mean anything; below that, one grumpy customer moves it by several points.
  • Sort: 9 and 10 are promoters, 7 and 8 passives, 0 to 6 detractors.
  • Compute the percentage of promoters and the percentage of detractors over the total number of answers, passives included.
  • Subtract. Example: 84 answers, 46 promoters (54.8%), 25 passives (29.8%), 13 detractors (15.5%). NPS is 54.8 − 15.5, rounded to 39.
  • Read the comments. Group the detractor reasons into three or four themes and count each one.
  • Repeat every month or every quarter and track the trend, not just the level.

Benchmarks and examples

  • Small direct-to-consumer brands with a good product and decent shipping: 30 to 60.
  • Creators selling digital products to their own audience: often 50 to 70, because buyers were already fans. A score under 30 here signals a product that did not meet the promise.
  • Online courses: 20 to 50. Scores fall when the course is longer than students expected or when support is slow.
  • Paid communities: 30 to 60 in the first months, drifting lower if content slows down.
  • Marketplaces and general retailers: 10 to 40.

Example: a ceramics maker sells 120 mugs a month and sends the NPS email after delivery. Out of 41 answers, 27 give 9 or 10, 9 give 7 or 8, 5 give 0 to 6. NPS is 66 − 12 = 54. Four of the five detractors mention a mug that arrived chipped. The fix is packaging, not the product, and it costs $0.40 per parcel.

Common mistakes

  • Reading a score from 12 answers. Wait for 30 at the very least, and report the number of answers next to the score.
  • Asking at the wrong moment. The day of the order, the customer has nothing to judge; two months later, they have forgotten. One to two weeks after delivery is the window.
  • Skipping the follow-up question. The number without the reasons is a mood ring.
  • Chasing the score instead of the causes. Offering a discount for a 10 gives you a fake 70 and no information.
  • Comparing your NPS to a brand in another category. A course and a coffee subscription live in different ranges.
  • Ignoring passives. They are the largest pool of future promoters and the easiest to move.

How to improve it

  • Fix the top detractor theme first. It is usually delivery time, packaging, or a gap between the product page and the product. One fix can move the score 10 points.
  • Close the loop with detractors. Reply personally within 48 hours. A refund or a replacement turns some of them into promoters, and it stops a bad review.
  • Set expectations on the product page. Delivery time, sizing, what is in the box, what the course requires. Disappointment is the cheapest thing to prevent.
  • Ask promoters for the next step. A review, a photo, a referral code. They said they would recommend you; make it easy. Their photos become user-generated content for your product pages.
  • Improve the unboxing and the first use. A handwritten note, clear instructions, a quick-start email for a digital product.
  • Segment the score. By product, by channel, by country. A 55 overall may hide a 20 on one product line.
  • Watch it next to churn. A falling NPS shows up in churn a few months later, so it is your early warning.

In Roctify

Roctify does not include a survey tool, but everything around the survey lives in the platform. Customers and their orders are on one record whatever the channel, so you know who received what and when, and the email tools on the Creator plan and up can send the NPS question a week after delivery with a link to a form. Forms are built in, so the follow-up comment can land in your inbox next to the order.

Because every plan has 0% transaction fees, the money you would otherwise pay in platform commissions can go where NPS points: better packaging, faster shipping, or a small gift for promoters who refer a friend.

FAQ

What is a good NPS for a small online store?

Above 30 is solid, above 50 is very good, above 70 is rare and usually means a loyal audience buying from a creator they already follow. The trend matters more than the level: a score moving from 25 to 40 over a year tells you the fixes are working.

How many responses do I need?

At least 30 for a rough reading and 100 for a reliable one. If you sell 80 orders a month and 30% of customers answer, you will have a reliable quarterly score. Report the number of responses with the score every time.

Should I ask NPS or a star rating?

Both, for different things. A star rating on a product tells other shoppers what to expect and lives on the product page. NPS is for you: it measures the relationship and comes with reasons. Ask the star rating on the order confirmation page, and NPS by email after delivery.