Beyond CSAT: Why NPS Deserves a Spot in Your ITSM Toolkit

In our last post, we looked at Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) — a quick and valuable snapshot of how well your support team handled individual tickets. But satisfaction with a single incident doesn’t always reflect the overall perception of your IT services.

That’s where Net Promoter Score (NPS) comes in. NPS helps answer a bigger question:

“Do users value and trust the IT team overall — or just tolerate it?”

It’s a strategic complement to CSAT and gives you a broader view of how people feel about IT.

What NPS Measures That CSAT Doesn’t

The typical NPS question is:

“On a scale from 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our IT support services to a colleague?”

Based on their answer, users are grouped as:

• Promoters (9–10) – Loyal advocates

• Passives (7–8) – Neutral or indifferent

• Detractors (0–6) – Frustrated or disengaged

The NPS formula is simple: NPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors

The score ranges from –100 to +100, and a positive number is a good start. Anything above +30 is generally considered healthy in internal support environments.

Why NPS Is Useful in ITSM

In ITSM, it’s easy to focus on service-level targets — resolution time, ticket volume, CSAT. But NPS adds a user-centric layer: it reflects how IT is perceived, not just how fast it works.

It supports:

• Continual Improvement – Spotting trends in perception over time

• Relationship Management – Gauging trust and partnership with business units

• ITIL 4’s “Focus on Value” – Measuring how much value users feel they’re getting

Practical Example: The Surprise Behind a Low NPS

An internal IT team at a national retail company had solid CSAT (~88%) but ran a quarterly NPS survey and scored just +2.

Comments showed the disconnect:

“My ticket got resolved, but I never really knew what was going on.”“I avoid logging issues unless I really have to — it's just not worth the hassle.”

Users were technically satisfied, but not emotionally invested in the experience.

So, the team:

• Updated notification templates with clearer, friendlier language

• Started sending short updates for ongoing requests — especially ones taking longer than expected

• Shared regular “We heard you” updates based on feedback

Six months later, their NPS had risen to +24 — with improved comments and better engagement overall.

Don’t Create Survey Fatigue

NPS is powerful — but only when used sparingly and intentionally. Unlike CSAT, which can be sent after each ticket, NPS should be collected quarterly or biannually, and only sent to a rotating sample of users to avoid fatigue.

Best practices:

• Don’t send to the same users every cycle

• Limit the ask to 1–2 questions max (e.g. the rating and an optional comment)

• Be transparent about how feedback is used

• Share back what’s changed based on input (Close the loop)

Remember: the goal is insight, not inbox noise.

Final Thought

CSAT tells you if your support interaction went well. NPS tells you if people value the IT experience. Together, they offer a more complete story — helping you move from operational efficiency to true service excellence.

When you listen well and act on what you hear, perception changes — and so does the relationship between IT and the business.