In a previous blog post—Best Questions to Include in Your Customer Satisfaction Survey—I outlined the most effective questions to ask when measuring customer satisfaction. One of the most common and impactful questions is the Net Promoter Score (NPS) question:
“How likely are you to recommend [Company/Product/Service] to a friend or colleague?”
Since many businesses rely on NPS to gauge customer loyalty, it’s essential to move beyond just collecting responses and dive into analyzing the data for actionable insights. In this post, I’ll share 10 key insights you can uncover when you analyze your NPS survey data—and provide examples of how to interpret the results.
To illustrate these insights, I’ll use a fictitious company called Fairway to Heaven Golf, which sells drivers, irons, and putters to men, women, and youth. Our sample dataset includes 500 customer responses, offering a rich foundation for analysis.
1. Filter by Customer Type
Segmenting your NPS survey results by customer type is one of the most powerful ways to uncover actionable insights. Each customer type represents a distinct group with unique needs—often aligning with specific products or services you offer.
In our Fairway to Heaven Golf example, we’ve identified seven customer types, as shown in the graph below. While the number of survey responses for each type may not mirror your overall customer distribution, this breakdown raises immediate questions:
- Why was one customer segment less responsive?
- Do we need more responses from certain segments to ensure a valid sample?
By filtering responses by customer type, you can identify which groups are your strongest promoters—and which may need targeted improvements to enhance their experience.
#2 Understand How NPS is Measured
It’s common to look at companies like USAA and Apple who have an NPS in the 70s and think your company should be receiving a similar score. For our fictitious golf equipment company, you can see their NPS rating by each customer type. At first glance, this graph may look odd, but keep in mind that the NPS can range from -100 to 100. Companies that report their NPS publicly often ensure that a third party conducts the survey to maintain objectivity and credibility. Proper NPS surveys also follow best practices—such as surveying a representative sample, ensuring anonymity, and asking the question consistently across customer touchpoints.
3. Segment Your Customer Type by NPS Categories
You’ve already seen the value of segmenting your NPS data by customer type. The next level of segmentation is breaking it down further by NPS category. An NPS score ranges from 0 to 10, which is divided into three categories: Promoters (9-10), Passives (7-8), and Detractors (0-6). The chart below makes it easy to identify each of these groups.
#4 Understand the Impact of Detractors and Passives
You can calculate your NPS and experiment with the numbers using my NPS calculator.
In the first screenshot, notice how, by entering only Detractor scores (those from 0-6), the NPS results in -100. This makes sense, as there are no Promoters to offset the Detractors. Without any Passives or Promoters, your NPS will always be negative if there are enough Detractors.
Passives also don’t directly affect the NPS calculation formula, but they do influence the percentage calculations as you can see in the second screen show below. When you add more Passives, it changes the total number of respondents and alters the percentages of Promoters and Detractors relative to the overall sample size. This ultimately shifts the final NPS result. Finally, the third screen shot shows the NPS for Fairway to Heaven Golf including all Detractors, Passives, and Promoters.
Just remember, the NPS calculation formula is: NPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors
#5 Converting Detractors and Passives
One of the nice things about this NPS calculator is how easy it is to perform real-time what-if analysis. What would be the impact if 10 Detractors became Passives? Would that differ from 10 Passives becoming Promoters? The math for both of these scenarios is the same: your NPS increases from 15 to 17. However, if 10 Detractors become Promoters, this results in your NPS increasing to 19, as shown in the screenshot below.
By understanding and applying these five powerful insights, you can transform your NPS survey data from just numbers into actionable strategies that directly improve customer satisfaction and loyalty. Segmenting by customer type and NPS categories, understanding the impact of Detractors and Passives, and exploring how changes in these groups affect your overall NPS will give you a deeper understanding of where to focus your efforts. Whether it’s addressing the needs of specific customer segments or strategically converting Detractors into Promoters, each of these insights empowers you to take concrete steps toward creating a better customer experience.