Customer loyalty can be difficult to measure.

Customers may continue purchasing from a company, interact positively with its service team, or report that they are satisfied with individual experiences. But one question can provide a different perspective:

Would they actually recommend the organisation to someone else?

This is the question behind Net Promoter Score (NPS).

NPS is a customer experience metric designed to measure customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend a company, product or service. Rather than simply asking whether a customer is satisfied, it groups customers according to how strongly they would recommend the organisation. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

What Is Net Promoter Score?

Net Promoter Score measures the balance between customers who are highly likely to recommend an organisation and those who are unlikely to do so.

The standard NPS question is:

"On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company/product/service to a friend?" Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

The respondent's answer places them into one of three groups:

The Orlig CX Cheat Sheet defines these groups as Promoters for scores of 9–10, Passives for 7–8, and Detractors for 0–6. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

The important point is that NPS does not simply calculate an average survey score.

It measures the difference between the proportion of Promoters and Detractors.

How Is NPS Calculated?

The formula is:

NPS = % Promoters − % Detractors

Passives are still part of the total number of survey responses, but they are not included directly in the final NPS calculation.

The score can range from -100 to +100.

NPS Calculation: A Simple Example

Imagine that 100 customers answer the NPS question.

Their responses are distributed as follows:

This is the same sample calculation provided in the Orlig CX Cheat Sheet. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

Step 1: Calculate the percentage of Promoters

There are 60 Promoters out of 100 respondents.

Promoter % = 60 ÷ 100 × 100

Promoter % = 60%

Step 2: Calculate the percentage of Detractors

There are 20 Detractors out of 100 respondents.

Detractor % = 20 ÷ 100 × 100

Detractor % = 20%

Step 3: Calculate NPS

NPS = 60% − 20%

NPS = 40

The result is therefore an NPS of 40. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

What Happens to the Passives?

This is one of the most important things to understand about NPS.

The 20 Passives in the example do not get added to either side of the calculation.

They still matter because they form part of the total respondent population used to determine the percentages.

But the NPS calculation specifically looks at the balance between:

Promoters

and

Detractors

So:

NPS = Promoters − Detractors

not:

Promoters + Passives − Detractors.

Another NPS Calculation Example

Consider a company with 500 survey responses.

Promoter percentage

325 ÷ 500 × 100 = 65%

Detractor percentage

75 ÷ 500 × 100 = 15%

NPS

65% − 15% = 50

NPS = 50

The organisation therefore has an NPS of 50.

The calculation is straightforward, but the value of NPS comes from understanding what that number represents.

What Does Your NPS Score Mean?

The Orlig CX Cheat Sheet provides four baseline interpretations:

According to the source, a positive NPS indicates that Promoters outnumber Detractors, while a negative NPS indicates that Detractors outnumber Promoters. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

A simple NPS scale

Negative Positive Excellent Outstanding
< 0 0 ───────── 50 ───────── 70 ──────────>
│ │ │ │
More Detractors More Promoters >50 >70

These should be treated as Orlig's baseline interpretation ranges, rather than assuming that the same thresholds apply universally across every industry or customer population.

Why Is NPS Important?

NPS is useful because it turns a simple recommendation question into a structured measure of customer loyalty.

Instead of looking only at whether customers completed a purchase or whether they were satisfied with one interaction, NPS asks whether customers are willing to put their own reputation behind the organisation by recommending it.

That gives organisations a way to monitor the balance between:

Customers who are likely to advocate

and

Customers who may be less likely to recommend.

The underlying purpose of the metric, as defined in the Orlig material, is specifically to measure customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

NPS Gives You More Than a Single Number

An NPS score is useful, but the distribution behind the score can be equally important.

Consider these two organisations:

Organisation A

Organisation B

Both have an:

NPS of 55

But the customer populations are very different.

Organisation A has a large Passive population.

Organisation B has almost no Detractors and a larger proportion of customers classified as Promoters relative to its overall response distribution.

This illustrates why it can be useful to look beyond the headline NPS number and examine how the score was produced.

What Does a Negative NPS Tell You?

A negative NPS occurs when:

% Detractors > % Promoters

For example:

Promoter percentage:

20%

Detractor percentage:

50%

Therefore:

NPS = 20% − 50%

NPS = -30

The Orlig baseline describes a negative NPS as an indication that Detractors outnumber Promoters, signalling potential dissatisfaction and customer experience issues. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

The important next question is therefore not simply:

"Why is our NPS -30?"

It is:

"What is causing customers to become Detractors?"

From NPS Score to Customer Experience Insight

NPS tells you where the loyalty signal sits.

It does not, by itself, explain every reason behind that result.

For example:

NPS = 25

tells you that the percentage of Promoters exceeds the percentage of Detractors by 25 percentage points.

But the score alone does not tell you whether customers are reacting to:

• Service quality
• Product experience
• Response times
• Pricing
• Customer support
• Process friction
• Reliability
• Other aspects of their experience

That is why NPS becomes more useful when it is considered alongside other customer experience information.

The Orlig CX Cheat Sheet positions NPS specifically as a measure of loyalty and likelihood to recommend, rather than as a complete measurement of every aspect of CX. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

A Practical NPS Interpretation Framework

Once you have calculated your NPS, use three questions:

1. What is the score?

NPS = 40

This tells you the overall balance between Promoters and Detractors.

2. What is driving the score?

Look at the underlying distribution:

Promoters → Passives → Detractors

A score should be investigated rather than viewed in isolation.

3. Is the score improving or declining?

NPS becomes more useful when measured consistently over time.

For example:

The important observation here is not simply that the latest NPS is 44.

It is that the score has moved from 22 to 44 across the year.

That creates a useful management signal: customer loyalty appears to be moving in a positive direction.

NPS Calculation Cheat Sheet

Keep this as the quick-reference section of the page.

Step 1 — Ask the NPS question

How likely are you to recommend our company/product/service to a friend?

Use a 0–10 scale.

Step 2 — Categorise responses

9–10 → Promoters

7–8 → Passives

0–6 → Detractors

Step 3 — Calculate percentages

Promoter % = Promoters ÷ Total Responses × 100

Detractor % = Detractors ÷ Total Responses × 100

Step 4 — Calculate NPS

NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors

Step 5 — Interpret the result

The calculation structure and baseline interpretations above are based on the Orlig CX Cheat Sheet. Orlig CX Cheat 1.0 Sheet Final

The Bottom Line

NPS is simple by design.

Ask customers how likely they are to recommend you. Categorise their responses. Calculate the percentage of Promoters and Detractors. Then subtract one from the other.

But the real value is not the arithmetic.

NPS gives organisations a structured way to monitor customer loyalty and identify whether Promoters or Detractors are dominating the customer base.

A single score provides the starting point. The real CX work begins when you ask why the score looks the way it does and what is changing over time.

NPS tells you how strong the loyalty signal is. The next step is understanding what is driving it.