Choosing a WordPress host can be complicated. We get it. When you search for “Best Managed WordPress Hosting” you will typically receive over 12 million search results, a handful of sponsored ads, and several articles titled “X (number) Best Managed WordPress Hosting.” You may have even found this article through that same search (fingers crossed) 😉 .
While most providers offer similar services, there is one critical point that most customers should consider above all in their decision… customer service. But when all providers claim the best service, you need a way to validate who is delivering on those service claims and who is not. A Net Promoter Score (NPS) can help.
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What is NPS?
The NPS methodology is a system developed in the early 2000s by author and business strategist, Fred Reichheld, to measure and reflect customer loyalty and satisfaction. It is essentially a report card from their customers who have graded their providers about their positive and/or negative experiences with that company.
The NPS is an ideal way to evaluate the best managed WordPress hosting options, because customers have already evaluated their first-hand experience with these providers, letting you know what you expect as a customer.
How NPS Data is Collected
Its popularity and broad use have been attributed to its simplicity and transparent methodology. Hosting providers simply send surveys to customers, asking a single question such as: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” The scale is rated between 0 (not at all likely) and 10 (extremely likely) and, depending on their response, customers fall into one of 3 categories:
- Promoter: A score of 9 or 10 represents a loyal and enthusiastic customer who is likely to keep buying and fuel growth by referring others to their WordPress hosting provider.
- Passive: A score of 7 or 8 represents a satisfied customer, but not one enthusiastic enough to be considered a promoter. These customers may also be vulnerable to competitive offerings from other providers.
- Detractor: A score of 0 to 6 represents an unhappy customer who is unlikely to buy from you again, and may even damage your brand and impede growth through negative word-of-mouth.
How NPS is Calculated
Once a provider has a solid number of survey responses gathered, they can begin calculating their score. A survey size of at least 100 to 300 customers is ideally recommended to ensure accuracy. After all, an NPS of 55 from a sample of 20 customer participants is likely a lot less accurate than one with 2,000 responses.
Once they have their pool of surveys, it is just a simple calculation. They subtract their percentage of Promoters (the number of Promoters divided by total surveys) from their percentage of Detractors (the number of Detractors divided by total surveys).
What the NPS Score Means
The NPS score will end up being a number between -100 (which is the worst score possible) and 100 (which is a perfect score). Average NPS scores do vary slightly by industry. Multiple sources also use different titles for the actual scoring tiers of NPS scores, but a good rule of thumb is to understand the NPS score as such:
- Needs Improvement (score of -100 to 0): A score below 0 is typically indicative of a business that has a lot of issues to address.
- Good (score between 0 and 30): A “Good” score is considered acceptable because it means that while there are more promoters than detractors, there is still a need for improvement.
- Great (score between 30 and 70): This score indicates that a company is doing great and has a larger-than-average group of promoters sharing their positive perception with their networks.
- Excellent (score of more than 70): This score is rarely attainable, which is why it indicates that a company is considered to be among the absolute best in its industry. In summary, it means that their customers love the company and are generating a lot of positive word-of-mouth from their referrals.
The simplicity of the scoring model makes it easy to see why NPS is often held up as the standard used by millions of businesses to measure and track how they’re perceived by their customers.
Best Managed WordPress Hosting NPS Scores
Because individual industries have different types of service engagements with their customers, this can affect common NPS scores.
According to a 2023 benchmark report from Retently, companies in the Technology & Services industry had a common NPS score of 64. More specifically, a 2022 benchmark report from Iodiomatic showed that the Cloud & Hosting industry had a common NPS score of 25.
To drill further, we pulled an assortment of WordPress Hosting Providers that have estimated NPS scores available online, either directly through their website or shared on comparative service sites.
BigScoots Delivers on the NPS Value
While BigScoots may not have the size or brand recognition some more mainstream brands such as GoDaddy or HostGator have, the data in the chart demonstrates that BigScoots is on the opposite end of the NPS score with a positive score of 90+. The NPS scores do not care about the size of the organization or its brand familiarity. It is built from the first-hand experiences and the recommendations (or complaints) of its customers.
BigScoots has always focused first on customer service and support for all of its Managed WordPress, to Managed Dedicated Servers, and Shared Web Hosting services. As a result, BigScoots has been fortunate to grow its business primarily through word-of-mouth referrals from an incredibly committed share of customer advocates. But when BigScoots surveyed its customers, it not only received over 650 responses that added up to an NPS score of 90+, but the majority of the respondents took time to submit positive notes and comments about their experience.
This is why positive NPS scores are so valuable for evaluation. It is a true measure of companies doing “right” by their customers and being validated by satisfied customers that are willing and excited to endorse those companies to others. This is why NPS score can rank BigScoots as one of the best managed WordPress hosting providers, even though it may not be as well known as some others.
Conclusion
Net Promoter Scores (NPS) may not be a traditional buzzword in the managed hosting space but, it is an incredibly effective way to evaluate how managed WordPress providers service and support their customers. More so, it gives you insight as to your likely experience with each provider so that you can make a decision that is best for you and your team.
