Net Promoter Scores - The Complete Guide for Your SaaS Business

When it comes to the question “how do I improve my net promoter score,” there isn’t one correct answer, but there are several common truths that you can weave together to increase your business strategies’ success. We’re going to take you through the complete guide to net promoter score for your SaaS business and the why, where, and how you can better them.

NPS Basics

Net promoter scores are helpful across all industries, particularly B2B industries like SaaS. Before we outline how to make them work for you, let’s get to grips with some basics about the model.

What is a Net Promoter Score?

They are determined using feedback gathered from customer surveys. They are standard benchmarking metrics that show whether your business is reaching its goals. This gives you insight into how you can improve your processes.
The idea behind net promoter scores is to help businesses create the most user-friendly customer experience. You give your customers a voice to help you understand their wants/ needs and how you can cater to these. NPS surveys focus down on one thing and one thing only — would your customers recommend your business?

How is a Net Promoter Score Calculated?

Once you’ve collected your NPS surveys, it’s time to start making sense of the feedback. From survey answers, customers are sorted into three categories: promoters, passives, and detractors. They are arranged according to what they gave as scores out of 10, and these are used to work out the scores.

Promoters = 9 or 10 rating. These are your most positive customers and are most likely to recommend your SaaS services.
Passives = 7 or 8 rating. These are your more laid-back customers, who don’t hold strong opinions either way about your business.
Detractors = 0 to 6 rating. As the name suggests, these are your most negative customers and are the least likely to recommend your services.

After you’ve categorized your customers, it’s time to get calculating. NPS are presented as numbers, not percentages. Your score is the difference between your promoter percentage and detractor percentage.
Basically: % of promoters — % of detractors = your NPS.
If your overall percentage of promoters were 70 % and detractors 20 %, your NPS would be 50. The higher your score, the more happy customers you have and vice versa. For example, 80 indicates your customers are real fans and have been singing your praises via referrals.

When and Where Should NPS Surveys be Used?

Surveys are handy tools, but misusing them could negatively affect your business. You have to get the delivery just right. Think about it for a moment. How many surveys have you been sent via emails that have sat in the bottom of your inbox for years? Are you happy when someone nags you consistently to fill one out?
While customer feedback is needed to generate net promoter scores, you don’t want the process to send your customers running for the hills! It’s imperative to look at where and when you issue surveys.

Where?

We suggest using surveys in an in-app prompt. You’ll reach your customers directly, and it’ll take them less time to respond. In-app prompts are a great way to understand feature experience and improve product design. For example, a lot of apps use pop-ups to ask for feedback.

When?

To avoid annoying your customers, you need to get your survey frequency right to suit your business and customer base. This frequency depends on the type of survey you’re sending out.
Transactional surveys, which measure customer satisfaction following an event, will differ from relationship surveys, which measure overall customer satisfaction. For example, you should send relationship surveys 3–5 days after a user signs up for a free trial. You should send transactional surveys 1–2 days after a customer has bought a product.

Key NPS strategies you Need to Use

It’s tough to get higher NPS scores in the SaaS world, but tough doesn’t equal impossible. To make the most out of your surveys, you need to use tried and tested tactics that you know will work.

Determining an accurate score relies on getting to the ‘why’ behind what a customer has rated your business. You need to follow-up with your survey respondents and ask why they feel the way they do about your services. These answers give you context for assessing and using the data. How do you find the ‘why’?

Learn the top strategies which SaaS businesses can use to skyrocket their NPS on PayPro Global’s blog.