What are detractors?
In Net Promoter Score, detractors are the customers who answer 0 to 6 when asked how likely they are to recommend you. Promoters answer 9 or 10, passives answer 7 or 8, and detractors are everyone below that.
Outside NPS, the word simply means someone who criticises a person or idea. This page covers the customer feedback meaning.
How detractors affect your NPS
NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, so every detractor counts directly against the score. Passives are excluded from the calculation entirely, which means a customer answering 6 hurts your score and a customer answering 7 does nothing to it, despite the two being nearly identical in how they feel.
That one-point cliff is a reason to read the responses rather than watch the number. Movement between 6 and 7 changes the score noticeably and reflects almost no change in the customer.
What a detractor score actually tells you
Less than people assume. A 4 out of 10 says something is wrong. It does not say what, how long it has been wrong, or whether it is fixable.
The comment underneath is the valuable part, and detractors write the most specific comments you will get. Promoters tend to write “great tool, love it”. Detractors tell you exactly which thing broke and what it cost them, because they are annoyed enough to be precise.
A detractor who takes the time to explain is doing you a favour. The ones who score you low and write nothing have usually already decided.
Types of detractor
- Something broke. A specific failure, often recent. The most fixable kind.
- Wrong fit. They needed a different product. No amount of support changes this, and the useful action is upstream in how you acquire.
- Accumulated friction. Nothing failed dramatically, everything takes too long. The hardest to spot and the most likely to churn quietly.
- Unmet expectation. They were promised something in a sales conversation that the product does not do.
These need different responses, and treating them as one group is why “close the loop with detractors” often produces no improvement.
How to respond to detractors
Reply, and quickly. A detractor who hears back within a day is in a different conversation from one who hears back in three weeks.
Ask one question. “What would have made that a 9?” gets a more useful answer than a general apology.
Group before you act. One detractor is an anecdote. Eleven detractors naming the same step is a roadmap item.
Tell them what changed. The strongest promoters are often former detractors who saw something fixed after they raised it.
How Usersnap helps with detractors
NPS runs as a micro-survey inside the product, so the follow-up comment arrives with the score rather than in a separate export. AI-powered automations group those comments by topic and sentiment, so the difference between four people describing one broken step and four unrelated complaints is visible immediately. Responses sit alongside bug reports and feature requests, which matters because a detractor’s reason is often already logged as a bug nobody prioritised.
Detractors FAQ
What score makes someone a detractor?
Any answer from 0 to 6 on the standard 0 to 10 NPS question.
Why are detractors important?
They subtract directly from your NPS, and their comments are usually the most specific feedback you receive, because irritation produces detail that satisfaction does not.
What is the difference between a detractor and a passive?
Passives answer 7 or 8 and are excluded from the score. Detractors answer 0 to 6 and count against it. The gap between a 6 and a 7 is one point of sentiment and a large difference to your reported number.
How do you turn detractors into promoters?
Respond quickly, ask what specifically would have improved the experience, fix the thing if it is fixable, and tell them when it is done. Customers who see something changed after they raised it often become the strongest advocates.
See the reason behind every score, not just the number. Start free with Usersnap, first 20 feedback items included, no card needed.
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