Forrester just published The US Net Promoter Rankings 2023 The US Net Promoter Rankings, 2023 report, which includes the Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS) and industry rank for 221 brands across 13 industries. We asked over 96,000 US consumers in our annual Customer Experience Benchmark Survey about their likelihood to recommend brands that they interacted with in the past 12 months, using the standard NPS question and calculation. We found the following:
- Net Promoter Score has dropped in most industries. NPS fell for eight industries, rose in just one industry (luxury auto manufacturers), and remained level for four industries. This drop is a dramatic shift over 2022 when five industries had improved and decreased for only four.
- Four industries lost gains they achieved in 2022. All four of these industries — auto/home insurers, credit card issuers, investment firms, and health insurers — increased their proportion of promoters in 2022 but lost some or all of that proportion in 2023.
- Most top-ranked brands maintained their rankings despite some drops in NPS. The top three brands for each industry remained among the top three in the following industries: airlines, auto/home insurers, auto manufacturers (mass market), credit card, health insurers, and retailers. This consistency, however, masks several significant drops in NPS for leading brands.
For this reason, it’s important to look at not only the rankings but also NPS, itself. Keep in mind that a rank may change despite little change in NPS. This is especially true when many brands’ NPS are clustered close together.
Here are some more tips for understanding your NPS ranking:
- NPS is a loyalty metric, not a direct measure of CX quality. This distinction is important to keep in mind when you compare results in this report to those from Forrester’s US Customer Experience Index Rankings (2023). Each measures something slightly different which may result in different rankings. The two are related and provide a different perspective to help brands improve CX as part of a CX measurement and improvement system.
- Forrester’s survey methodology is different from other national NPS benchmark studies as well as any of your firm’s internally conducted studies. Sampling differs as does question order (read more on Forrester’s methodology). The impact is that NPS metrics across studies are almost never exactly the same. Instead, look for patterns of scores across studies to help you understand your relative competitor performance and position.
- Studying longitudinal benchmark information is a powerful tool to help you set CX metrics goals. Examine how competitors (or your industry) are improving NPS over time to help you set realistic CX goals.
- Finally, the Net Promoter Scores in this report are more like relationship Net Promoter Scores than transactional Net Promoter Scores. Both are useful metrics as part of a CX measurement system with each providing a different perspective of your customers’ experiences. Be sure to compare the right set of metrics.
For a detailed analysis of each brand’s ranking and for insights into key drivers of NPS, read the full report, The US Net Promoter Rankings, 2023 (add hyperlink when available). Forrester clients can schedule a call to discuss the overall results. Brands included in the study who want to learn more about their results should contact their account team.
