In most NPS programmes, detractors get an urgent follow-up and promoters get a referral ask. Passives, the people who answered 7 or 8, get nothing. They seem fine, so they are left alone. That is a mistake, both for your score and for retention. This article is for customer success managers, product managers, founders and marketing teams who run NPS surveys. It explains how passives actually affect your NPS (they count more than most people think), why they are easy to lose, what usually sits behind a 7 or 8, and a simple process for following up that works whether you have fifty responses a quarter or five thousand.
Quick answer
NPS passives are respondents who score 7 or 8. They do not add to or subtract from your score directly, but they sit in the denominator, so every passive who becomes a promoter raises your NPS and every one who slips to detractor lowers it. They rarely complain, so the only way to find out what would make them a 9 is to ask them, specifically, and then show them what changed.
What NPS Passives Are
Net Promoter Score, introduced by Frederick Reichheld in the Harvard Business Review in 2003, asks one question: how likely are you to recommend us, on a scale of 0 to 10? Respondents fall into three groups:
- Promoters score 9 or 10.
- Passives score 7 or 8.
- Detractors score 0 to 6.
Passives are satisfied but not enthusiastic. They are not unhappy enough to complain and not delighted enough to recommend you. That middle position is what makes them easy to overlook and easy to lose.
Do Passives Count in NPS?
Yes, and this is the most common misunderstanding about them. NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, and both percentages are calculated across all respondents, passives included. Passives do not add points or remove them, but they dilute the score and they are the group most able to move it.
An illustrative example with 100 respondents:
| Scenario | Promoters | Passives | Detractors | NPS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting point | 40 | 35 | 25 | 15 |
| 10 passives become promoters | 50 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| 10 passives become detractors | 40 | 25 | 35 | 5 |
The same ten people are worth a 20-point swing in either direction. No other group in the survey has that much leverage with that little attention paid to it.
Why Passives Are Easy to Lose
Nothing holds them in place
Passives use the product and find it adequate. They have no strong reason to leave, but no strong reason to stay either. A well-timed trial from a competitor, a recommendation from a colleague or a budget review can be enough to move them.
They rarely say anything first
Detractors complain, open tickets and write reviews, which at least gives you a chance to respond. Passives tend to go quiet. If a passive leaves, the first sign may be the cancellation itself.
Their score hides the reason
A 7 can mean "it is fine but one thing annoys me every day", "I barely use it", or "I like it but I am watching the alternatives". Those need completely different responses, and the score alone does not tell you which one you are looking at.
Bain & Company, where NPS was developed, has long argued that promoters are worth more than passives because they stay longer, buy more and refer others. Whatever the exact figures are in your business, the gap between a 7 and a 9 is a retention question, not just a survey detail.
What Usually Sits Behind a 7 or 8
Passives tend to fall into a handful of recognisable patterns:
| Pattern | What they are thinking | What they need |
|---|---|---|
| The almost-satisfied user | "It mostly works, but one thing frustrates me" | A fix, or a clear workaround |
| The underuser | "I only use a small part of this and I am not sure it is worth it" | Better onboarding or a use-case nudge |
| The drifter | "I started with energy and lost momentum" | A reason to come back and renewed value |
| The comparison shopper | "I am happy enough, but I keep an eye on alternatives" | Evidence that you are investing in the product |
| The unasked | "I have ideas, but nobody has asked" | An invitation to share them |
None of these people dislike your product. Each has a specific, fixable gap. The underuser in particular often overlaps with pricing misalignment, where the customer is paying for more than they use.
How to Follow Up With Passives
Ask a question built for passives
Do not send passives the same follow-up as everyone else. Ask about the gap between "fine" and "great":
- "What is the one thing that would make this a 9 or 10 for you?"
- "Is there anything that still feels unclear or frustrating?"
- "Is there something you expected to be able to do that you cannot?"
Keep it to one question in the survey itself and offer a short call to anyone who wants to say more. The guide to NPS follow-up questions covers wording for every score band.
Prioritise by value and engagement
Not all passives need the same response. A long-standing passive on a large account deserves a personal conversation with their account manager. A passive on a free or low-tier plan can get a well-written automated follow-up. Two things decide it: how much the account is worth to you, and how actively it uses what you offer.
Group the answers, not just the scores
When the same friction point comes up across many passives, it is no longer an account issue; it is a product or onboarding issue. Group passive feedback by theme each month and look at which themes are growing.
Show them what is coming
Passives who feel a product is standing still drift toward alternatives that look more active. A public roadmap they can follow shows that you are listening and building, and gives them a reason to wait for what is next.
Close the loop personally
If a passive told you something was a pain point and you have since fixed it, tell them directly: "You mentioned the export was slow. We have just rebuilt it. Here is how to try it." A targeted message to the people who raised an issue lands very differently from a general changelog sent to everyone.
FlagUp does not run NPS surveys, so the score itself lives in your survey tool. What FlagUp can do is give passives somewhere to go after the survey: a link to your feedback board in the follow-up lets them post the friction point, see whether others share it and vote on it, and receive an email when its status changes. That covers the "show them" and "close the loop" steps without a separate process.
A Repeatable Process for Passives
- Pull all 7 and 8 responses each week or month.
- Send a passive-specific follow-up within a couple of days, while the answer is fresh.
- Route high-value passives to a person, and everyone else to a good automated message.
- Log the friction points they mention in whatever system holds your feedback, grouped by theme.
- Link recurring themes to roadmap decisions and tell the people who raised them when something ships.
- Survey again after 60 to 90 days and see who moved.
Even a two-person team can run this. The point is doing it every cycle, not once.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an NPS passive?
A respondent who scores 7 or 8 on the "how likely are you to recommend us?" question. Passives are broadly satisfied but not enthusiastic enough to recommend you.
Do passives count in the NPS calculation?
Indirectly. NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, and both percentages include passives in the total. Passives do not add or subtract points on their own, but converting them to promoters raises the score and losing them to detractors lowers it.
Are passives more likely to churn than promoters?
In general they have less holding them in place than promoters do, which is why NPS treats them separately. Whether they actually leave more often in your business is something you can check by comparing past scores with renewals. A score is a signal, not a prediction, so treat a 7 as a reason to ask, not a forecast.
What should you ask NPS passives?
One specific question about the gap: "What would make this a 9 or 10 for you?" works well because it invites a concrete answer rather than general praise.
How do you turn passives into promoters?
Find out what is holding each group back, fix the most common friction points, and tell the people who raised them when you have. Visible responsiveness is often what moves a 7 to a 9.
Sources
- Frederick F. Reichheld, "The One Number You Need to Grow", Harvard Business Review, December 2003: https://hbr.org/2003/12/the-one-number-you-need-to-grow
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