Customer Recommendation Score calculator.
Enter how many people gave each score from 0 to 10. We return your recommendation score, the promoter, passive and detractor split, and how many more promoters it would take to hit a target.
- Free no email, no account
- Shows the arithmetic, not a black box
- No invented benchmark
The short answer
The Customer Recommendation Score is calculated by asking customers how likely they are to recommend you on a 0–10 scale, then subtracting the percentage of detractors (0–6) from the percentage of promoters (9–10). Passives (7–8) count toward the total but neither add nor subtract. The result runs from −100 to +100. It uses the same question and bands as Net Promoter Score, so the arithmetic yields the same number.
What the score hides.
A single recommendation score compresses every customer you have into one integer. That is its appeal and its weakness. Two brands can post an identical score with completely different underlying shapes: one with a broad middle and few strong feelings, another polarised between enthusiasts and people who will never buy again. The second is a far more urgent situation, and the score cannot tell you which one you are.
The distribution below the score is where that lives, which is why this calculator returns the full 0–10 spread rather than the headline number alone.
Passives cost more than they look
Passives are counted in the denominator but on neither side of the subtraction. Move one passive to promoter and the score gains ground twice over — the promoter percentage rises while the total stays put. For most consumer brands the passive block is the largest and the most winnable, and it is routinely ignored in favour of firefighting detractors.
How this relates to Net Promoter Score
This calculator uses the 0–10 recommendation question and the promoter, passive and detractor bands popularised by Net Promoter Score, so it produces the same number. Our tool carries a different name because Net Promoter Score is a registered trademark and we do not brand our products with it. The methodology is the industry-standard one and the result is directly comparable with any score calculated the same way.
The score is the question, not the answer
A score that drops six points tells you something changed. It does not tell you that a supplier switched, that a firmware update broke pairing, or that one SKU is dragging the whole brand down. That lives in the free-text box that follows the rating, and in the reviews customers leave publicly.
Analyze your free-text responses → · Calculate CSAT instead →
Related
Customer satisfaction score · Customer effort score · How to analyze customer feedback
Frequently asked questions.
How is the Customer Recommendation Score calculated?
Ask customers how likely they are to recommend you on a 0-10 scale. Scores of 9-10 are promoters, 7-8 are passives, and 0-6 are detractors. Subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. The result runs from -100 to +100. Passives count in the denominator but not in the subtraction, which is why they still drag the score down.
Is this the same as Net Promoter Score?
It uses the same 0-10 recommendation question and the same promoter, passive and detractor bands that Net Promoter Score popularised, so the arithmetic produces the same number. We call our tool the Customer Recommendation Score because Net Promoter Score is a registered trademark and we do not brand our products with it.
What is a good score?
We do not publish a benchmark, because a credible one does not exist across sectors. The same score means different things in consumer electronics and in software, and it shifts with how and when you ask. Compare against your own previous score, measured the same way, and against your own products.
Why do passives lower my score?
Passives are counted in the total number of responses but contribute to neither side of the subtraction. Converting a passive into a promoter therefore moves the score twice as far as it first appears: it adds to the promoter percentage without changing the denominator.
How many responses do I need?
Enough that a handful of answers cannot swing the result. With 20 responses one detractor moves the score five points. The score is most useful as a trend over a consistent, reasonably sized sample, not as a single reading.
Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.