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Looking for NPS Benchmarks? Don't bother.

by Jason Skinner on · NPS

Do you need benchmarks?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) benchmarks, developed by Bain & Company, are used to measure and monitor customer loyalty levels across businesses. This system enables companies to assess customer satisfaction, understand customer needs and expectations, and identify areas for improvement. It also helps them track their progress, enabling them to make adjustments to the customer experience where needed and see the impact on customer loyalty.

Why you should ignore NPS benchmarks as a compass for performance:

  • Surveys are deployed differently across companies
  • Triggering a survey at a point of success will inflate NPS
  • Customer bases are different across companies
  • VoC programs are in differing levels of maturity
  • Companies may have halo-effects to their NPS if they have other offerings (e.g., banking + insurance)

When considering customer satisfaction and loyalty, Net Promoter Score (NPS) benchmarks can be a helpful indicator of customer sentiment. However, it is important to understand that these benchmarks are only guidelines and should not be taken as absolutes. NPS benchmarks are based on broad averages, and each company should assess their own customer feedback to gain an accurate picture of their customer experience.

NPS benchmarks don’t take into account environmental factors such as: industry, customer demographics, and customer preferences. For example, a company in a highly regulated industry may not be able to achieve the same NPS benchmarks as one in a less regulated industry.

Customer demographics and preferences can also have a significant impact on NPS results. For instance, a company that serves a younger demographic may have different NPS benchmarks than a company serving an older demographic.


While NPS benchmarks can provide an indication of customer sentiment, they should not be viewed as the definitive measure of customer satisfaction or loyalty. Companies should look at their own customer feedback and consider environmental factors before making decisions around customer experience.

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