For the most recent B2B NPS data, check out our 2022 edition blog.
Evolved recently ran a benchmark of Net Promoter Scores (NPS) of Australian businesses amongst their Business to Business (B2B) suppliers with data captured using the HumanListeningTM platform.
The study, conducted between January and March 2020 amongst 990 Australian businesses, found the average NPS across all categories was +8 with 28% of suppliers rated in the detractor territory (score of 0-6), 37% in the passive territory (score of 7-8) and 35% in the promoter territory (score of 9-10).
These numbers included all companies that buyers in the companies study had ever used. When we refined our analysis to look at just the ratings of current providers the NPS jumped substantially to +31 (16% detractors, 36% passive and 48% promoters), indicating that buyers vote with their feet.
Looking at all supplier categories rated, we found that real estate services (+34), broker services (finance +28 and insurance +24), banking and financial services (+20) were the highest scoring industries. Perhaps this is not surprising given that all these suppliers offer important services that businesses can sometimes find hard to find.
At the other end of the spectrum, consultants (-18), accountants (-18) and telecommunications service providers (-8) were all rated in the negative territory. These industries tend to pitch their services a lot harder and perhaps are judged accordingly.
Figure 1 – NPS by industry (base, ever used providers)
| Row % | 0 to 6 | 7 to 8 | 9 to 10 | Ave. | Row n |
| Property data | 22% | 23% | 55% ↑ | 33.8 | 65 |
| Broker services – mortgages | 20% | 33% | 48% | 27.9 | 61 |
| Broker services – insurance | 19% | 38% | 43% | 24.1 | 58 |
| Banking and financial services | 19% | 42% | 39% | 20.3 | 59 |
| IT products, services and hardware | 22% | 38% | 39% | 17.1 | 76 |
| Education and training | 24% | 39% | 36% | 12.2 | 74 |
| Travel | 26% | 41% | 33% | 7.1 | 85 |
| Building management services | 29% | 36% | 34% | 5.2 | 58 |
| Legal services | 33% | 30% | 36% | 3.0 | 66 |
| Insurance | 34% | 29% | 37% | 2.7 | 73 |
| Employment & recruitment services | 30% | 40% | 30% | 0.0 | 60 |
| Engineering | 31% | 38% | 31% | 0.0 | 68 |
| Telecommunication services & equipment | 35% | 38% | 27% | -8.5 | 82 |
| Accounting services | 38% | 42% | 20% | -18.0 | 50 |
| Consulting services | 38% | 42% | 20% | -18.2 | 55 |
Those in senior leadership and middle management roles gave higher NPS ratings (+0 and +11, respectively) than subject matter experts (-4).
Larger organisations of 100+ employees tended to give higher NPS ratings (+14) than those in middle-sized firms with 20-99 employees (+4). Least favourable were small businesses with fewer employees where the average NPS was +2.
For those that love generational theory, it was fascinating to see that Boomers had positive NPS (+9) as did their kids in Gen-Y (+23). Meanwhile, Gen-Xers in business had an average NPS of -3, and their fledgling kids in business were also less enamoured with their suppliers (-1). We plan to spend some more time to better understanding this generational divide in future!
If you’d like to know more about our insights capabilities, check out our strategic market research or customer experience pages.