Net promoter score is still the most quoted number in customer experience, and in 2026 the data finally has enough depth to separate signal from noise. We pulled 50 net promoter score statistics from Bain, Retently, CustomerGauge, Delighted, and others to show what good looks like this year. The scores, response rates, and revenue impact below will help you benchmark honestly instead of guessing.
Hear what AI support calls sound like for your store. Just paste your Shopify URL and get sample calls in under 20 seconds, no email required. Listen to demo calls for my store.
Key highlights
- The average NPS across all industries sits at 32, with a median of 44.
- B2C brands average 49 and B2B brands average 38, an 11-point structural gap.
- E-commerce NPS averages 45, with top-quartile stores hitting 72 or higher.
- NPS explains 20 to 60% of the variation in organic growth rates between competitors.
- Promoters spend 20 to 30% more over their lifetime than average customers.
- 50% of detractors churn within 90 days of the survey.
- Two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies now use some form of NPS.
Global NPS benchmarks for 2026
Before looking at industries, the baseline matters. These numbers tell you what "average" actually means across the entire dataset.
The all-industry average NPS is 32. That is the pooled average across thousands of companies tracked by Retently's 2026 benchmark report. (Source).
The all-industry median NPS is 44. The median is higher than the average because a handful of very low scores drag the mean down. (Source).
A score above 30 is considered good, above 50 is excellent, and above 70 is world-class. These thresholds come from Bain & Company, the firm that created NPS in 2003. (Source).
The top 25% of companies score 72 or higher. If you are in this bracket you are genuinely loved, not just tolerated. (Source).
The bottom 25% of companies score 0 or lower. A negative score means you have more detractors than promoters, and that is a growth problem. (Source).
Two-thirds of Fortune 1000 companies now use some version of NPS. That adoption rate is part of why the metric shows up in every board deck. (Source).
The honest takeaway here is that "what's a good NPS" depends heavily on your industry. A 40 is stellar in insurance and barely average in consumer tech. Calibrate before you celebrate.
B2B vs B2C NPS benchmarks
This is where founders most often misread their score. B2B and B2C are different games.
B2C companies average an NPS of 49. That is 17 points above the all-industry average and reflects shorter decision cycles. (Source).
B2B companies average an NPS of 38. Longer sales cycles and multi-stakeholder buying make it harder to hit a 9 or 10. (Source).
The gap between B2B and B2C is 11 points on average. It is structural, not a quality difference. (Source).
Healthcare shows the widest B2B vs B2C gap at 32 points. B2C healthcare hits 70, B2B healthcare sits at 38. (Source).
B2B scores trail B2C because the bar for giving a 10 in a professional context is higher. A 9 from a procurement director is not the same as a 9 from a happy shopper. (Source).
If you're a DTC brand comparing yourself to a SaaS benchmark, you're using the wrong ruler. Use category-specific data or the comparison will mislead you.
Industry averages: B2C
Consumer-facing industries tend to score higher because transactions are shorter and emotions run hotter.
E-commerce averages an NPS of 45. That is a healthy score, driven by a mix of high performers and long tail stores. (Source).
Top-quartile e-commerce stores score 72 or higher, while the bottom quartile scores 18 or lower. The spread between winners and losers is huge. (Source).
Retail averages an NPS of 44. Very close to e-commerce, with online slightly outperforming brick-and-mortar in 2026. (Source).
Electronics retail for tablets averages an NPS of 47, while smartphones sit at 38. Tablets have fewer active complaints because use cases are simpler. (Source).
Construction rebounded to an NPS of 42 in 2026. A strong jump after a rough 2024. (Source).
Property management entered the benchmarks at an NPS of 47. New category, strong entry. (Source).
If you want a clearer view of how phone support connects to retail NPS scores, see our ecommerce customer service benchmarks and phone support statistics for 2026.
Industry averages: B2B and SaaS
SaaS tends to get hyped as a high-NPS category, but the real numbers are more grounded.
The median NPS for SaaS companies is 30. The median, not average, is the better comparison here because a few outliers pull the mean. (Source).
The SaaS industry average NPS is 41. That is above the cross-industry average and reflects strong product-led adoption. (Source).
B2B SaaS specifically clusters around an NPS of 36. A good target for most early-stage SaaS founders. (Source).
A "good" SaaS NPS is anything above 40, excellent is above 50, and world-class is above 70. Few B2B products break 70. (Source).
Internet software and services scored 26 in 2026. A step up from prior years but still below the industry-wide median. (Source).
Communication and media improved to an NPS of 39. Streaming platforms and publishers are slowly rebuilding trust. (Source).
If you run a Shopify store, Ringly.io handles 73% of support calls automatically. Try free for 14 days.
Top performing companies by NPS
These are the outliers that set the ceiling for what's possible.
Princeton Mortgage holds the highest publicly documented NPS at 98. A small B2C financial services firm, not a giant corporation. (Source).
Nutanix leads B2B SaaS with an NPS of 92. Infrastructure software is a hard category to score high in. (Source).
Hinge Health hits an NPS of 87 in healthcare. Digital physical therapy has resolved a pain point traditional healthcare couldn't. (Source).
USAA scores between 75 and 82 in financial services. Military customer focus drives extreme loyalty. (Source).
Tesla scores between 70 and 78 in 2025 to 2026. Cult product plus direct sales keeps the score elevated. (Source).
Apple scores between 68 and 72. The ecosystem pulls the score up and pricing complaints pull it down. (Source).
Costco scores between 70 and 80. The "just take it back" return policy is legendary and it shows up here. (Source).
Amazon scores 73 in the e-commerce category. Same-day delivery and friction-free returns do most of the work. (Source).
Chewy scores 68. Strong phone support and emotional moments (condolence cards for lost pets) drive promoter behavior. (Source).
Etsy scores 56. Marketplace trust issues cap the score but brand affinity is real. (Source).
American Family Insurance leads the Fortune 500 at an NPS of 78. Only 10 Fortune 500 companies have a positive NPS at all. (Source).
Notice the pattern. Brands with top scores tend to nail three things: fast resolution, generous return policies, and humans on the phone when customers need them. If you want to see how Chewy-style pet support scales, look at retention economics, not just response times.
Insurance, healthcare, and banking
The "regulated" categories are where NPS lives and dies on resolution speed.
Financial services average an NPS of 68. A surprisingly strong number pulled up by fintech and credit unions. (Source).
Traditional banking sits around 30. Branches are losing loyalty battles to digital-first banks. (Source).
Healthcare's NPS declined from 53 to 37 in 2026. A 16-point drop tied to cost pressure and longer wait times. (Source).
Insurance registered the sharpest drop of any category, falling from 80 to 46. Pricing increases and claims disputes hit hard. (Source).
Health insurance scores between 20 and 30. Claims processing is the single biggest source of detractor votes. (Source).
Auto insurance averages between 35 and 45. Digital claims and in-app tooling help keep it above health insurance. (Source).
Fiserv hits an NPS of 69, the second-highest Fortune 500 score. Enterprise fintech done well still earns loyalty. (Source).
NPS survey response rates
A score without response rate context is a lie. Here's what to actually expect.
The average NPS survey response rate is 12.4% across industries. Anything above 20% counts as strong. (Source).
Response rates range from 4.5% to 39.3% across B2B companies. The spread depends on cadence, incentive, and segment. (Source).
Bain recommends B2C brands target a 40%+ response rate. Below that, sample bias starts contaminating the score. (Source).
B2B brands should aim for 60%+ response rates on key accounts. Fewer customers means you need more of them to answer. (Source).
Email NPS surveys typically get 6 to 25% response rates, with 12 to 15% being the norm. The envelope open rate decides everything. (Source).
In-app NPS surveys average a 21.71% response rate. Context and timing crush email. (Source).
Website pop-up NPS surveys range from 8 to 15%. Lower intent, lower response. (Source).
WhatsApp NPS surveys hit 30 to 50% response rates. Mobile messaging wins on immediacy. (Source).
Transactional NPS surveys average 25 to 40% response rates. They hit when the experience is still fresh. (Source).
Relational NPS surveys average 15 to 25%. Broader scope, lower urgency. (Source).
Transactional NPS consistently gets 8 to 12 points higher response rates than relational surveys. Survey right after the moment, not quarterly. (Source).
If you're looking to pair NPS with operational metrics, see our customer service KPIs for e-commerce and response time benchmarks. Want to stop losing detractors to slow response times? See what AI phone support looks like for your store.
NPS correlation with revenue and growth
This is where NPS pays for itself, assuming you act on the feedback.
NPS explains 20 to 60% of the variation in organic growth rates between competitors. Bain's core finding from the original research. (Source).
Industry NPS leaders outgrow competitors by more than 2x on average. The gap compounds over 3 to 5 years. (Source).
Dell lost $68 million annually from 15% detractors. Bain's case study on the economics of bad reviews. (Source).
Converting just 2 to 8% of Dell's detractors to promoters would have added $167 million annually. The upside of detractor rescue is asymmetric. (Source).
Philips businesses in NPS leadership positions grew 8 percentage points faster than competitors. Same product category, same region, very different outcomes. (Source).
More than 80% of positive referrals come from promoters. The top tier does almost all the marketing for you. (Source).
More than 80% of negative word of mouth comes from detractors. One angry customer can cancel out the referrals from several promoters. (Source).
Customer lifetime value and NPS
Promoters aren't just nice to have. They spend more, churn less, and cost less to serve.
Promoters spend 20 to 30% more than average customers over their lifetime. Repeat purchase rate is where the number shows up. (Source).
Companies with NPS 75+ show at least 13% higher CLV than companies scoring 74 or below. A sharp step function at the top end. (Source).
Promoters are 4.2x more likely to repurchase than detractors. The multiplier is why NPS is worth tracking. (Source).
A business with an NPS of 70 competing against one with 50 will outpace it by roughly 25% on sales renewal. Retention is where the revenue shows up. (Source).
50% of detractors churn within 90 days. Half of your worst scores are gone before you can save them if you don't act fast. (Source).
It's 5 to 25x more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one. The math always favors fixing the experience. (Source).
Word of mouth and promoter behavior
This is why NPS matters at all. The question is about recommendation behavior.
92% of consumers trust recommendations from people they know directly. The highest-trust source of any marketing channel. (Source).
83% of consumers trust word of mouth from family, colleagues, and friends. Even broader definition, still top-ranked. (Source).
84% of consumers take action based on personal recommendations. Trust plus action is what makes promoters valuable. (Source).
Recommendations from friends make buyers 4x more likely to make a purchase. Compared to any paid channel. (Source).
Referred customers have a 25% higher CLV than customers acquired through other channels. They come in with trust already built. (Source).
Referred customers have 37% higher retention rates. They stay longer because they came in with context. (Source).
What this means for ecommerce brands
If you run a Shopify store, NPS is only useful when it's tied to a clear action. A 45 is fine on paper. The question is what your detractors are saying and whether you're doing anything about it in time.
Our read is that NPS in 2026 has become a lagging indicator of one thing: how fast and how well you handle post-purchase friction. The top scoring e-commerce brands (Amazon, Costco, Chewy) aren't winning on product. They're winning on resolution. Same-day delivery, easy returns, and a human voice when something goes wrong. That's why delivery speed is the biggest NPS driver in e-commerce and phone support is still the highest-CSAT channel for complex issues.
The brands losing ground are the ones treating customer service as a cost center. They bury their phone number, funnel everyone to chat, and wonder why their detractor rate keeps climbing. 50% of those detractors will churn in 90 days. That's cash walking out the door because you wouldn't pick up the phone.
If you want to raise your NPS this quarter, the fastest lever is resolution. Answer calls 24/7, resolve order issues on the first contact, and close the loop on detractor feedback within 48 hours. Tools like Ringly.io handle 73% of support calls automatically, which buys your team time to handle the 27% that actually need a human. See our guides on first call resolution, customer retention strategy for DTC, and how to improve Shopify customer satisfaction for the tactical playbook.
For deeper coverage of the customer experience data behind these scores, check our customer experience statistics, customer loyalty statistics, and customer retention statistics. If your score is below industry average and you're ready to move, start a free Ringly.io trial. Setup takes about three minutes.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good NPS score in 2026?
An NPS above 30 is good, above 50 is excellent, and above 70 is world-class. The all-industry average sits at 32 and the median at 44, so a score in the 40 to 50 range puts you ahead of most companies.
What is the average NPS for e-commerce?
E-commerce averages an NPS of 45 in 2026. Top quartile stores hit 72 or higher, while the bottom quartile sits at 18 or lower. Delivery speed and returns experience are the biggest drivers.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C NPS benchmarks?
B2C brands average an NPS of 49 and B2B brands average 38. The 11-point gap is structural: longer B2B sales cycles, multi-stakeholder buying, and a higher professional bar for giving top scores all pull B2B numbers down.
What's a good NPS survey response rate?
The industry average response rate is 12.4%. Bain recommends B2C brands target 40%+ and B2B brands 60%+ on key accounts. In-app surveys (21.7%) and WhatsApp surveys (30 to 50%) outperform email (12 to 15%).
How does NPS correlate with revenue growth?
Bain's research shows NPS explains 20 to 60% of the variation in organic growth between competitors, and industry NPS leaders outgrow peers by more than 2x on average. Promoters also spend 20 to 30% more over their lifetime.
Which companies have the highest NPS scores?
Princeton Mortgage leads at 98, Nutanix at 92 in B2B SaaS, Hinge Health at 87 in healthcare, American Family Insurance at 78 (Fortune 500 leader), Costco between 70 and 80, and Tesla between 70 and 78. Amazon leads e-commerce at 73.
Should I use transactional or relational NPS?
Use both. Transactional NPS (fired after a specific interaction) gets 25 to 40% response rates and is great for tactical decisions. Relational NPS (quarterly or annual) gets 15 to 25% response rates and shapes strategic decisions. Pairing them gives you both the "why now" and the "why overall."
How fast do detractors churn?
About 50% of detractors churn within 90 days of a low score. That's why closing the loop on negative feedback within 48 hours matters more than almost any other CX investment you can make.
