What is the best Net Promoter Score software? After spending time researching several NPS survey tools, we’ve got some answers.
As with most things the, answer depends on your needs. Do you need an API? How about internationalization? The good news is that there are a ton of quality tools for conducting surveys.
Before we get started, I want to make it clear that NPS is not the only way to determine customer happiness. But, we do believe that it is the most accurate and easiest to implement. For most companies, Net Promoter Score is the right solution.
Table of Contents
- What is Net Promoter Score?
- How are NPS scores calculated?
- What is a good NPS score?
- Why use NPS over other metrics and systems?
- The best Net Promoter Score software
- Comparing alternative NPS tools
- Wrapping it up
What is Net Promoter Score?
“How likely are you to recommend this company (product or service) to a friend or colleague?” Sound familiar? You’ve likely received a survey with that question once or twice. This has become known as the “likelihood” question, and forms the basis of Net Promoter Score.
The 0-to-10 scale found in NPS surveys.
Following the question is a 0-to-10 scale. The recipient must choose a number corresponding to the question. The higher the number, the more likely the recipient is to make a recommendation. Responses are then split into three different categories:
Promoters — 9 and 10
Promoters are your most loyal customers. They are an advocate of your product and are great people to reach out if you need a testimonial or review.
Passives — 7 and 8
Passive customers are merely satisfied by your product. There is no enthusiasm and won’t go to bat for your company. Be ware. These people may be vulnerable to more competitive products in the space.
Detractors — 6 and below
Nobody wants to open their NPS software and see a bunch of low scores, but they will happen. The key is to get feedback from these recipients and acknowledge problems. Only then do you have a path to building a better relationship.
Do you have a surprisingly high amount of detractors? If so, you’re not talking to customers enough. You should focus on getting ahead of problems. Customer success can help you do that. We’ve also put together a comprehensive list of customer success software to get you started.
Following the likelihood question, the recipient is then asked an open-ended question. “Why did you choose that answer?” This is an opportunity for the recipient to say why they love of hate your software.
This open-ended question is optional, which is important for the brevity of the survey.
If you’re interested in more NPS basics, you should check out our post on Understanding Net Promoter Score.
How are NPS scores calculated?
Calculating Net Promoter Score is straightforward. You subtract the percentage of customers who are detractors from the percentage of customers who are promoters. Here’s an easier way to look at the equation.
NPS = Percent of Promoters – Percent of Detractors
Alternatively.
NPS = (Num Promoters / Total Responses) – (Num Detractors / Total Responses)
Those formulas will give you a number from -100 to 100. This number is your Net Promoter Score.
What is a good NPS score?
Ah, the magic question. What is a good NPS score?
As a general baseline, scoring a 40 or higher is considered very good. Take that with a grain of salt though. Average scores do vary by industry. For example, the average score for media companies is 21.25, while the average for technology companies is 62.06.
You might imagine that Apple is much more loved than Comcast, but they aren’t in the same industry. A better question is what is Apple’s NPS score compared to other consumer electronic brands?
You can find NPS benchmarks and top scores by industry online. We’ve found several larger data sets, but they were only are available for purchase.
Why use NPS over other metrics and systems?
Net Promoter Score is not perfect, but we think it is a great metric for a few reasons.
NPS is a great predictor of growth. Satmetrix found that the likelihood question had a strong correlation with growth in 11 of the 14 industries it evaluated. In the remaining three industries the likelihood question was the second best predictor of growth in all but one.
Perhaps the best is reason is the simplicity of the NPS survey. The method is easy to understand and easy to implement. This makes the method available to any company or service. The survey also provides a vehicle for both quantitive feedback and qualitative feedback.
On the other hand, think of the recipient. The question is brief and only requires one click to answer. Should they like, the recipient can elaborate on why they chose that answer.
Perhaps, the most underrated reason to use NPS is that it gives the company an excuse to re-engage customers. It’s a reason to ask detractors for feedback. It’s a reason to ask passives why they don’t love the product and a reason to ask promoters to do just that — promote the product.
The best Net Promoter Score software
We’re big fans of software built for specific users or with a specific purpose in mind. You could use Google Docs and throw everything into a spreadsheet, but you’ll be better off using one of the vendors below.
How do you determine what is the best Net Promoter Score software? Well, it depends. Each has it’s own strengths and weaknesses.
1. Promoter.io: Robust, Fully-featured
Promoter.io is a comprehensive email-based Net Promoter Score tool. The interface is solid, although there is a bit of a learning curve with all of features.
Key notes and features
- Email-based NPS surveys
- Internationalization with 27 supported languages
- Ability to completely customize templates
- Campaigns allow surveys for separate products and businesses
- Automatically recurring surveys
- Contact management and profiles
- Analytics providing charts, filtering and historical scores
- API support and several integrations
Who should buy Promoter.io?
Operate in several countries and need internationalization? Do you need decent analytics and historical data? If you need a lot of bells and whistles, this is the NPS tool for you.
How much does Promoter.io Cost?
Plans start at $50/mo for 750 surveys with their most popular plan around $250/mo for 10,000 surveys. Promoter.io only offers annual billing. You can sign up and send your first 250 surveys for free.
2. Trustfuel NPS: Simple, Free
Trustfuel’s Net Promoter Score offering is built for small-to-medium sized businesses. Specifically ones that just want a quick and easy way to get feedback and start conversations with customers.
Key notes and features
- Email-based NPS tool with a simple interface
- Campaigns allow surveys for separate products and businesses
- Ability to customize brand and upload your logo
- Contact management
- No integrations, but does allow for easy CSV exports
- Incredibly quick and easy to start sending surveys
- Have to request an invite
- Has a 1,000/mo survey limit
- Free Net Promoter Score tool
Who should use Trustfuel NPS?
Just want to add contacts and send NPS surveys? This is the tool you need.
Need custom email templates, internationalization or API access,? You’re better off with one of the other tools on this list.
How much does Trustfuel NPS Cost?
The software completely free to use. It allows up to 1,000 email surveys per month. Currently, there are no paid plans.
3. Wootric: Fully-featured, In-App Surveys
Wootric’s defining feature is the focus on in-app surveys. There has been some disagreement on the accuracy of in-app surveys. (Maybe a discussion for another time). Wootric does have API access and internationalization, if those are important features.
Key notes and features
- In-app and email-based NPS surveys
- Analytics with various filters, charts and historical scores
- Integrations with Zapier, Salesforce, Slack, Inercom, Zendesk and more
- Ability to customize brand and upload your logo
- Create custom response tags to organize feedback
- Internationalization — support for multiple languages
- Support for multiple channels or products
Who should buy Wootric?
As mentioned before, Wootric gives you the flexibility to choose how NPS surveys is delivered — be it in-app or via email. If you need a lot of features and flexibility, this is is the NPS tool for you.
How much does Wootric Cost?
Wootric’s pricing is a bit different from the other net promoter products listed here. An unlimited number of surveys are free, but comments and feedback are only visible for 15 days. The paid tiers start at $89/mo billed annually. That same plan is $99 month-to-month.
4. Delighted: Beautiful, Simple
Delighted promises ease and simplicity and delivers on both.If looks were the only metric, this would be the best Net Promoter Score software on the market. It takes no time to sign up and send your first campaign. And unlike the Trustfuel NPS it has an API and offers many integrations.
While not publicly available, Delighted is working on an in-app survey. We don’t have details about the new feature, but it’s definitely something to keep watching.
Key notes and features
- Simple email-based NPS surveys
- An in-app NPS appears to be in the works
- Response and comment filtering
- Incredibly quick and easy to start sending surveys
- Ability to customize brand and upload your logo
- Email-based feedback and response forwarding
- The most integrations of any NPS tool we’ve seen — Shopify, Salesforce, Geckoboard, Zapier, Zendesk, Slack, Desk, Intercom and many more
Who should buy Delighted?
Delighted is for people that value beauty and simplicity, but don’t want to compromise on power. It also a good choice for people who like the Trustfuel NPS, but need integrations, API access or sent more than 1,000 surveys each month.
How much does Delighted Cost?
Delighted’s pricing is monthly and starts at $25 for 100 email surveys. Comparing with Promoter.io, the cost to send 10,000 surveys is similar at $249 per month. Also, you can send your first 250 surveys for free.
Comparing alternative NPS tools
This guide only covers single-purpose software, and those that we have experimented with. There are a ton of other options out there. If none of our reviews are acceptable, here are a few more NPS tools to consider:
Qualtrics is the gold standard when it comes to customer research tools. Net Promoter Score is among one of their suite of many tools. Qualtrics pricing is not public. We did find a Quora post with a former employee who said the basic package starts around $5,000 per year. There are more services that can be added on at additional cost.
Survey Monkey does have an Net Promoter email template. We left it off of our list, because Survey Monkey is more of a general survey tool. Pricing starts at $26/month for 1,000 surveys. It also has a free plan that allows up to 100 surveys.
Ask Nicely is a tool we might consider updating this review with in the future. It appears they have about 20 integrations including Salesforce, Zendesk, Mailchimp and Zapier. The base plan allows for 5 users and up to 500 surveys per month.
Temper.io is a great option for those who don’t care about the NPS theory. Temper uses three faces — happy, neutral and sad instead of the 0-to-10 scale. If you think that Net Promoter Score doesn’t work, then this might be an alternative. Pricing starts at $12/mo for 100 ratings with the most popular plan at $49/mo for 1,000 ratings.
Wrapping it up
There is a huge amount of software for sending surveys. Hopefully this post helped you decide on the best Net Promoter Score software for your business.
If you found this post helpful, I’d recommend checking out our Net Promoter Score guide. It’s a great book for those planning to manage campaigns and is filled with best practices. Plus, it’s free.
In Search of the Best Net Promoter Score Software first appeared on the Trustfuel blog on November 8, 2016.