NPS Benchmarks 2026: What Is a Good NPS Score by Industry?

"What is a good NPS?" is the wrong first question. The right first question is: "Good compared to what?"

For example, an NPS of 25 in telecoms is outstanding. The same score in premium SaaS is a concern. Similarly, an NPS of 40 from a Scandinavian customer base represents far stronger loyalty than 40 from an American one. Scandinavian respondents use the top of the scale less freely.

Benchmarks matter. However, only with context. This guide provides 2026 NPS benchmarks by industry, region, and business model. Sources include Bain & Company, Satmetrix (NICE), CustomerGauge, Retently, and Qualtrics XM Institute, alongside guidance on how to use them without misleading yourself.

New to NPS? Start with What Is NPS?, then return here.

The NPS Scale in Context

NPS ranges from -100 to +100. Here is the general classification:

Score Range	Classification	Reality Check
-100 to -1	Needs improvement	More Detractors than Promoters. But in some industries (utilities, cable), this is the norm.
0 to 30	Good	Positive. Room to grow, but you are ahead of many competitors.
31 to 50	Strong	Better than most companies in most industries.
51 to 70	Excellent	Customers are actively advocating for you.
71 to 100	World-class	Rare. Apple, Costco, USAA territory.

These ranges are a starting point. The industry data below shows why they are insufficient on their own.

NPS Benchmarks by Industry (2026)

The following table compiles benchmark data from Bain & Company, Satmetrix, CustomerGauge, and Retently. The ranges reflect the fact that different sources use different methodologies and sample sizes, so we present a realistic range rather than a single number.

Industry	Average NPS Range	Top Quartile	Notes
Consulting / Professional Services	40 - 68	72+	Deep client relationships drive high scores.
Technology / SaaS	30 - 55	62+	Varies widely by product maturity and support quality.
Retail / E-commerce	35 - 60	65+	Premium brands outperform discount retailers significantly.
Financial Services / Banking	20 - 45	55+	Digital-first banks tend to score higher than traditional banks.
Insurance	15 - 40	50+	Claims experience is the biggest driver of NPS.
Healthcare	25 - 50	58+	Private healthcare typically outscores public healthcare.
Logistics / Shipping	20 - 40	48+	B2B logistics scores higher than consumer parcel services.
Telecommunications	-5 - 20	30+	One of the lowest-scoring industries globally.
Airlines	10 - 35	50+	Low-cost carriers score lower; premium carriers score higher.
Hotels / Hospitality	30 - 55	65+	Luxury segment consistently outperforms budget segment.
Automotive	30 - 50	60+	EV manufacturers are trending higher than legacy OEMs.
Utilities / Energy	-10 - 15	25+	Limited choice depresses scores. Renewable energy providers score higher.
Internet / Cable Providers	-15 - 10	20+	Consistently the lowest-scoring sector across markets.
Education / EdTech	25 - 50	55+	Live instruction scores higher than pure self-service platforms.
Food & Beverage	30 - 55	62+	Direct-to-consumer brands outperform CPG brands.

Sources: Bain & Company NPS Prism (2025-2026), Satmetrix Global NPS Benchmarks (2025), CustomerGauge NPS Benchmarks Report (2025), Retently NPS Benchmark Data (2026).

What the data reveals

Four patterns are consistent across the benchmark data:

1. Relationships drive scores. Consulting, professional services, and B2B SaaS report the highest NPS. Dedicated account management and personal support create deeper loyalty. No amount of product quality compensates for feeling like a ticket number.

2. Limited choice depresses scores. Telecoms, utilities, and cable providers score lowest. When customers feel trapped, dissatisfaction accumulates. The service might be adequate, but the perceived lack of alternatives breeds resentment.

3. Premium tiers outperform budget tiers by 30-40 points within the same industry. This does not mean budget brands are failing. It means expectations differ. A budget airline at NPS 15 and a premium airline at NPS 55 may both be meeting their customers' expectations.

4. Digital-native companies are pulling ahead. Neobanks, D2C brands, and cloud-first SaaS outperform traditional counterparts because they iterate on customer experience faster. The gap is widening.

What Actually Drives Your NPS

Ultimately, the number matters less than understanding why it is what it is.

Product reliability

If your product solves a real problem and works consistently, NPS reflects that. Bugs, outages, and quality regressions push respondents into Detractor territory fast.

Support speed and empathy

CustomerGauge's 2025 B2B NPS report found that companies resolving support tickets within 24 hours score 20 points higher on average than those with resolution times over 72 hours. Speed matters. So does the feeling that the support agent genuinely cares.

Ease of doing business

Friction in purchasing, onboarding, billing, or cancellation creates Detractors. Qualtrics XM Institute's 2025 Global Consumer Study found that "ease of use" was the single strongest predictor of NPS across all industries studied. This is where CES measurement complements NPS.

Price-to-value perception

NPS does not just reflect product satisfaction. Additionally, it reflects whether customers believe the value justifies the price. Companies that communicate value well maintain higher NPS even at premium price points.

Survey methodology

When you send the survey, to whom, and how you phrase the question all influence the score. Sending NPS right after a successful onboarding yields higher scores than sending it after a billing dispute. Consistency in methodology is non-negotiable for meaningful trend tracking. For more on survey design: Survey Design Best Practices.

Regional and Cultural Variation

This is the most overlooked factor in NPS benchmarking, and consequently it distorts more cross-border comparisons than any other variable. Bain & Company and Satmetrix have consistently shown that respondents in different countries use the 0-10 scale differently, even with identical satisfaction levels.

Regional tendencies

Region	Typical NPS Impact	Explanation
United States	Higher scores (+10 to +20 vs. global mean)	American respondents are more likely to give 9s and 10s. Response style is generally generous.
India / South Asia	Higher scores (+10 to +15 vs. global mean)	Cultural tendency toward positive affirmation. High response rates at the top of the scale.
Japan / South Korea	Lower scores (-20 to -30 vs. global mean)	Strong cultural aversion to extreme responses. A score of 7 or 8 often represents genuine satisfaction.
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)	Slightly lower scores (-5 to -15 vs. global mean)	Reserved response style. Scandinavian respondents view a 7 or 8 as a good score.

Nordic NPS offset vs. US: −5 to −15 points for identical satisfaction levels (Bain & Company) | Western Europe (UK, Germany, France) | Close to global mean (-5 to +5) | Generally moderate response patterns. | | Latin America | Higher scores (+5 to +15 vs. global mean) | Respondents tend to be more expressive and are more likely to use the top of the scale. |

Source: Bain & Company NPS Prism cross-regional analysis (2025), Satmetrix Global Benchmark Study (2025).

What this means for global companies

If your company operates across borders, comparing raw NPS across regions produces misleading conclusions. Therefore, a Japanese subsidiary at NPS 15 may be genuinely outperforming an American subsidiary at NPS 45 once cultural bias is accounted for.

In our experience with Nordic B2B companies operating globally, three practices help:

• Benchmark each region against local industry norms, not a single global target.
• Track trends within each region rather than comparing absolute numbers across geographies.
• Be transparent about cultural bias if you create a global dashboard. Some organisations apply adjustment factors, but this requires careful validation and should be flagged clearly.

B2B vs. B2C: Different Dynamics, Different Scores

B2B and B2C operate under fundamentally different conditions, and their benchmarks reflect this.

Why B2B scores are typically higher

CustomerGauge's 2025 Account Experience report puts the median B2B NPS at approximately 42, versus roughly 28 for B2C. Four factors explain the gap:

• Dedicated account management. A named contact who manages the relationship creates personal connection that lifts scores.
• Higher switching costs. Contracts, integrations, and workflows create stickiness. This can inflate NPS because Detractors are "trapped" rather than genuinely loyal, an important nuance.
• Smaller, more engaged respondent pools. B2B surveys go to known stakeholders. B2C surveys sample broader, less engaged populations.
• Survey timing bias. B2B programmes often survey after business reviews, which are inherently relationship-affirming moments.

B2B Benchmark Examples

B2B Sector	Typical NPS Range	Top Performers
Management Consulting	50 - 75	McKinsey, Bain (reported 60-80+)
Enterprise SaaS	30 - 55	Salesforce, HubSpot, ServiceNow (reported 45-65+)
Industrial Manufacturing	25 - 45	Varies heavily by sub-sector and geography.
IT Services / Outsourcing	20 - 40	Top performers focus heavily on CSAT for individual engagements.
Logistics / Supply Chain	25 - 45	Companies with real-time tracking and proactive alerts score highest.

Sources: CustomerGauge Account Experience Benchmark (2025), Bain & Company B2B NPS data (2025).

B2C Companies with Consistently High NPS

Some consumer brands have built reputations for exceptional NPS over many years:

• Costco: Consistently reported in the 70-80 range. Membership model creates a built-in loyalty dynamic.
• Apple: Typically reported between 60 and 75, driven by ecosystem stickiness and retail experience.
• USAA: Regularly exceeds 75, serving a highly loyal military community with tailored financial products.
• Tesla: Reported between 95 and 97 in early years, though the score has moderated as the customer base has grown.
• Netflix: Historically strong (55-68), though increased competition in streaming has applied downward pressure in recent years.

How to Compare Honestly

Benchmarks are useful. Yet dishonest benchmarking is worse than no benchmarking. Five principles:

1. Compare within your industry. NPS 30 is excellent in telecoms. Below average in SaaS. Start with your own industry's range.
2. Match the methodology. Relational NPS (periodic, full customer base) and transactional NPS (event-triggered) are not comparable. Transactional runs 10-15 points higher because it captures satisfaction at a moment of engagement. Only compare like with like.
3. Account for customer segment. Enterprise, mid-market, and SMB customers have different NPS profiles. If your benchmark source skews toward enterprise and your data skews toward SMB, the comparison is misleading.
4. Adjust for region. A Nordic company comparing against US-centric benchmarks will always look artificially low. Compare against regional norms.
5. Trust your own trend first. Your NPS over time, measured with consistent methodology, is more reliable than any external benchmark. Is the trend improving, stable, or declining? That signal matters more than whether you are above or below an industry average from a study you did not participate in.

For choosing the right metrics for your programme: NPS vs. CSAT vs. CES.

From Benchmarks to Action

Knowing where you stand is step one. In contrast, improving is everything after that.

Diagnose the drivers

Pair your NPS survey with one open-text follow-up: "What is the main reason for your score?" Analyse responses to find the top three to five themes driving Detractor and Promoter feedback.

Close the loop

Respond to Detractors within 48 hours. CustomerGauge's research shows that closing the loop recovers up to 50% of at-risk accounts. Promoters deserve attention too: thank them and ask for referrals or testimonials.

Set realistic targets

If your industry average is 25 and you are at 18, aim for 28 next year, not 50. Incremental improvement sustained over time beats an unrealistic target that demoralises the team.

Share the data

NPS is not a CX team metric. Share it across product, sales, support, and leadership. Cross-functional visibility drives cross-functional improvement.

What We See Go Wrong

Even experienced CX teams make these mistakes with benchmarks:

• Cherry-picking. Choosing the benchmark source that makes your score look best. Use multiple sources and acknowledge the range.
• Ignoring response rates. A score based on 5% response rate is noise, not data. Below 30%, treat the score as directional only.
• NPS as the only metric. NPS measures advocacy intent. It does not capture effort, touchpoint satisfaction, or emotional connection. Pair it with CSAT and CES.
• Benchmarking without action. Knowing you are 10 points below the average is useless if you do not investigate why.
• Gaming the score. Survey timing manipulation, only surveying happy customers, asking for high scores. All of these produce data that is worse than no data, because it creates false confidence.

What NPS Leaders Do Differently

Research from Bain & Company's NPS Loyalty Forum and the Qualtrics XM Institute consistently identifies these practices:

1. They treat NPS as a system, not a score. Closed-loop feedback, root cause analysis, organisational accountability. The number is an input to a management process, not a destination.
2. They act on the verbatim comments. The qualitative feedback is where actionable insight lives. Leading companies invest in systematic text analysis.
3. They segment everything. Product line, customer tier, region, touchpoint. The aggregate hides the signal.
4. They benchmark internally first. Comparing your best-performing product or region against your worst is more actionable than comparing against an external average.
5. They invest in Promoters. Not just fixing Detractor problems. Actively leveraging Promoters through referral programmes, advocacy boards, and community building.

Benchmarks give you context. Action gives you results. Start with What Is NPS? if you are setting up your programme, or explore our pricing if you are ready to measure.