Net Promoter Score benchmarks are only meaningful when compared within the same industry context. An NPS of 30 is exceptional for a telecom company but mediocre for a SaaS product. This guide provides NPS benchmarks across major industries so you can accurately assess your customer satisfaction performance and understand what constitutes good, great, and excellent NPS in your specific context.
These benchmarks are compiled from publicly available industry research, aggregated survey data, and operator reports. They represent general ranges based on broad industry patterns. Individual company NPS scores vary significantly based on customer segment, product quality, and measurement methodology. NPS methodologies (transactional vs. relational, survey frequency, customer segment sampled) also affect comparability across companies.
Net Promoter Score ranges from -100 (all detractors) to +100 (all promoters). Promoters are customers who score 9-10, Passives score 7-8, and Detractors score 0-6. NPS = % Promoters - % Detractors. Here is how to interpret NPS scores in absolute terms, before applying industry context:
Below 0
More detractors than promoters. Churn risk is high and word-of-mouth is negative.
0 - 30
Room for improvement. Many customers are passive. Good for low-satisfaction industries.
30 - 70
Strong satisfaction. Promoters outnumber detractors significantly. Organic growth likely.
70 - 100
World-class. Rare and represents an exceptional product-customer fit.
Use this table to compare your NPS against industry peers. The "Good" threshold represents the minimum NPS where you can expect positive word-of-mouth and reduced churn pressure. The "Great" threshold represents top-quartile performance within that industry.
| Industry | Average NPS | Good (Top Half) | Great (Top Quartile) | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SaaS / Cloud Software | 30 - 40 | 50+ | 60+ | Good |
| E-commerce / Online Retail | 40 - 50 | 60+ | 70+ | Good |
| Financial Services | 20 - 35 | 45+ | 55+ | Average |
| Healthcare | 25 - 40 | 50+ | 60+ | Average |
| Telecom / ISP | 0 - 20 | 30+ | 40+ | Low |
| Airlines | 10 - 30 | 40+ | 50+ | Low |
| Consulting / Professional Services | 40 - 55 | 65+ | 75+ | Good |
| Retail Banking | 15 - 35 | 45+ | 55+ | Average |
| Insurance | 10 - 30 | 40+ | 50+ | Low |
| Food Delivery / Restaurant Tech | 30 - 45 | 55+ | 65+ | Average |
Understanding why each industry has its characteristic NPS range helps you interpret your own score and identify the right levers to improve it.
B2B SaaS NPS is driven by three factors: product reliability (does it work consistently?), value realization (is the ROI clear?), and support experience (when things break, is help fast and effective?). The enterprise buyer persona tends toward critical evaluation and rarely gives 10s, which naturally suppresses scores relative to consumer products.
Consumer-facing SaaS (Duolingo, Notion, Figma) can achieve NPS of 50-70+ because the user base is broader and the use cases more personal. B2B products targeting CFOs and procurement departments rarely exceed 50 simply because the buyer persona is more demanding and conservative in their ratings.
Calculate NPSE-commerce NPS is primarily driven by delivery speed, product quality, and return experience. Customers who receive their order on time, as described, and have a smooth return process if needed become strong promoters. Single bad experiences (damaged items, missed deliveries) create strong detractors who actively share negative reviews.
DTC brands with strong community and brand identity (Warby Parker, Allbirds) consistently achieve NPS of 60-80+ because customers feel an emotional connection to the brand beyond the transaction. Commodity e-commerce with no differentiation typically sits in the 30-45 range.
Telecom companies structurally struggle with NPS because their service is largely invisible when working and infuriating when broken. Customers do not think about their ISP or carrier when the connection is fast - they only notice when there are outages, billing surprises, or support friction. This asymmetry between invisible good service and highly visible failures creates inherently low NPS across the industry.
Challenger telcos that offer transparent pricing, strong customer service, and modern interfaces (Ting, Visible) have achieved NPS of 40-60, proving that the low industry average is not inevitable - it reflects incumbent complacency rather than inherent category limits.
Healthcare NPS varies enormously based on care type. Primary care and preventive health apps often see strong NPS (50+) because the stakes are clear and the relationship is ongoing. Specialty care and procedure-focused encounters have more variable scores tied to outcome expectations and billing complexity.
Health tech products targeting patients directly (Calm, Headspace, Noom) achieve NPS of 40-70 depending on outcome realization. Products targeting healthcare organizations (EMR software, practice management) follow B2B SaaS patterns with NPS of 20-40 being typical.
Financial services NPS is suppressed by the high-stakes emotional nature of money management. Customers are slow to trust and quick to feel wronged by fees, errors, or complex processes. Traditional banks sit at 15-30 NPS while challenger fintech products (Chime, Revolut, Robinhood) have achieved NPS of 40-70 by delivering dramatically simpler user experiences.
The fintech category has raised industry expectations significantly. Customers who have experienced the instant setup, zero-fee model of neo-banks become highly critical detractors of traditional banks, depressing incumbent NPS scores further. For fintech products, achieving 50+ NPS is realistic with a strong product experience.
Consulting NPS is relationship-driven. Clients who achieve their stated objectives and feel genuinely heard and understood by their consultants become strong advocates. Failed engagements or misaligned expectations create vocal detractors who warn peers in their networks.
The best consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG tier) and specialized boutiques can achieve NPS of 60-80 because the selection process filters for engagement-client fit and the work is high-stakes enough that clients are deeply invested in success. For early-stage consultancies, targeting 50+ NPS before scaling is a strong proxy for repeatable delivery quality.
B2B buyers evaluate on rational ROI criteria and tend to give more conservative scores. Relationship strength with CSMs and account managers significantly influences scores.
Consumer scores tend to be more emotional and polarized. A single great or terrible experience can shift a customer from 5 to 9 or 9 to 0. Response bias toward recent experience is stronger in consumer contexts.
NPS is a lagging indicator shaped by the entire customer experience. The highest leverage areas to improve it are:
Customers who experience value quickly become promoters. Those who struggle through a confusing onboarding become passives or detractors before they have given the product a fair chance. Reducing time-to-value is consistently the highest-leverage NPS intervention for product-led companies. Aim to deliver the core value proposition within the first session.
Research consistently shows that support experience is the strongest NPS driver in most B2B categories. Customers who had a problem and got it resolved quickly often give higher NPS than customers who never had a problem. This means investing in support quality can improve NPS even among customers who have experienced issues. First-contact resolution rate and time-to-resolution are the key support metrics to improve.
Customers who feel kept in the loop - about product changes, service disruptions, and upcoming features - give higher NPS than those who feel surprised or in the dark. This is particularly true for B2B SaaS where customers have organizational accountability for their software choices. A proactive release notes email, uptime communication, and roadmap transparency all contribute to NPS improvement.
The act of following up with NPS respondents - particularly detractors and passives - can itself improve scores. When customers see that their feedback led to a conversation, and eventually to product changes, they update their perception of the company from indifferent to genuinely customer-focused. Building a systematic process to route NPS feedback to product and success teams is one of the highest-ROI NPS investments.
Use our free NPS calculator to compute your Net Promoter Score from raw survey data and see how it compares to these industry benchmarks. Includes revenue impact analysis.