Segmenting and Acting on NPS Responses

The real value of NPS data is not the score itself — it is what you do with it. The NPS numerical ranking tells you how likely a customer is to recommend your product or service. Their written comments explain the reasoning behind that ranking. Together, they give you both a measure and a direction.

This article covers the NPS fields available for segmentation, how to build segments using the Satisfaction segment builder, and three worked examples (Identifying Brand Advocates, Detractor, Passive) that map to real business outcomes.

If you need background on the concepts, see Understanding Satisfaction and NPS in Oomiji.

The NPS Fields

Every NPS response writes four segmentable fields to the data layer. These are the only NPS-specific fields available to the segment builder, and understanding what each one offers determines which questions you can answer:

  • NPS Rating is the numeric 0-to-10 score. It supports numeric operators: Is Equal To, Greater Than, Greater Than Equal, Less Than, Less Than Equal, Is Blank, Is Not Blank. Use it when you need precise score cutoffs (for example, only 10s, or everyone who scored 7 or above). 
  • NPS Group is the category assignment (Promoter, Passive, or Detractor). It supports Is Equal To with the three categories in a dropdown. Use it when you want to work with one of the standard NPS buckets and do not need finer score granularity.
  • NPS Comment is the verbatim text of the Why response. It supports Contains and Does Not Contain. Use it when you need to filter by what respondents actually said, not just how they scored.
  • NPS Comment Category exposes the AI-generated themes from the "What your customers say" chart as a segmentable dropdown.

These fields appear alongside standard contact fields (Email, First Name, Last Name, Postal Code, and your custom fields) in both the Satisfaction segment builder and the Database segment builder. This means you can combine NPS data with any other contact attribute in a single segment: e.g. Detractors who signed up through a specific landing page, Promoters who have a primary interest in a specific topic, Passives in a particular postal code. The NPS fields are not isolated to the Satisfaction section.

These fields exist in the data layer for filtering and segmentation, but they are not currently surfaced on the individual contact profile view. When you open a single contact's record, you will not see an NPS history for that person. The data is there, you just cannot see it per-contact; you see it through segments.

Opening the Segment Builder

To build a segment from NPS data:

  1. Click Satisfaction in your toolbar.
  2. In the top right of the dashboard, click the Segments dropdown.
  3. Select Create New Segment. The New Segment panel opens in the body of the dashboard.
steps 2 and 3
Segment builder

Each segment rule has three parts: a field, a condition, and a value. You can add multiple rules and combine them with Any or All logic using the dropdown at the top of the panel. Any means a contact qualifies if they match at least one rule (logical OR); All means a contact must match every rule (logical AND). The distinction matters: a segment of Detractors using Any logic with Comment Contains shipping and Comment Contains support captures anyone in either bucket, while the same rules with All logic captures only respondents who mentioned both topics.

Use the View button to preview the segment before saving, and Reset to clear the rules without closing the panel.

Once you save the segment, it becomes available in the Segments dropdown on the Satisfaction dashboard (where it filters every widget), and in the Interaction section when you build a mailing list.

Saved segments update automatically — as new contacts match the criteria, they are added without any manual refresh.

If you edit a segment's criteria, saving under the same name overwrites the original. Saving under a new name leaves the original intact and creates a separate segment.

Segmenting by AI Theme: NPS Comment Category

A fourth NPS-specific field, NPS Comment Category, exposes the AI-generated themes from the "What your customers say" chart as a segmentable dropdown. This means you can build segments directly on the AI's theme assignments without resorting to keyword guessing. The dropdown values are the same themes that appear on your Satisfaction dashboard, derived from your customers' actual responses, so a wine retailer might see Quality, Taste, and Enjoyment while a software company might see Pricing, Onboarding, and Support.

If you re-run AI analysis and a theme you previously segmented on drops out of the top 10, it is folded into Other and the segment will return zero contacts with no warning. Check your category-based segment counts after each new analysis to confirm they are still returning results.

The segments below are examples. Adjust the field names, conditions, and values to match your own Database and NPS setup.

Example 1: Identifying Brand Advocate Candidates

Your highest-NPS customers who explicitly used emotional language in their Why response are your most likely brand advocates. A segment that combines a score threshold with a positive-language keyword surfaces this audience.

Build the segment

Match logic: All

  1. Choose one: either Field: NPS Rating | Condition: Greater Than Equal | Value: 9, or Field: NPS Group | Condition: Is Equal To | Value: Promoter (the two produce the same set of contacts).
  2. Field: NPS Comment | Condition: Contains | Value: love

This returns contacts who gave you a 9 or 10 and used the word “love” somewhere in their Why response. Swap “love” for any other positive term your customers actually use (“recommend,” “favorite,” “amazing,” “best”) to surface different brand candidate profiles. You can also use NPS Group Is Equal To Promoter instead of NPS Rating Greater Than Equal 9; the two approaches produce the same set of contacts because Promoters are defined as 9s and 10s.

Act on the segment

Once saved, use the segment as the recipient list for an Interaction email inviting these customers into a Brand Advocate or referral program. Because the segment is built on their own expressed enthusiasm, the invitation reads as recognition rather than solicitation, and the response rate on this kind of ask is typically much higher than a cold invitation to your full Promoter base. The same segment can also seed social-proof content: these are the customers most likely to agree to testimonials, case studies, or quoted reviews.

Example 2: Recovering Detractors by Reason

Not all Detractors are unhappy for the same reason. A blanket apology email to every Detractor is a weaker response than a targeted message that acknowledges the specific problem. Segmenting Detractors by the content of their Why response lets you route each sub-group to the right follow-up.

Build the segment

Match logic: All

  1. Field: NPS Group | Condition: Is Equal To | Value: Detractor
  2. Field: NPS Comment Category | Condition: Is Equal To | Value: (select one of the AI generated themes that is business specific)

Rebuild this segment once for each distinct problem area the AI analysis surfaced. Each segment becomes its own follow-up audience. Because AI-generated categories can shift when you re-run analysis, check that each NPS Comment Category segment is still returning contacts before sending to it.

Your themes may differ.

Act on the segments

Send each Detractor sub-segment a tailored recovery email through Interaction. A Detractor segmented under a Quality theme gets a message acknowledging quality concerns and describing what you are doing about them. A Detractor segmented under a Service theme gets something different. The message does not have to promise a fix; acknowledging the specific issue is itself a meaningful signal that the customer was heard. Track the Satisfaction Trend metric and the Customer Satisfaction Over Time chart in the days and weeks after each send to see whether the intervention is shifting scores.

Example 3: Converting Passives into Promoters

Passives are the most moveable group on your NPS scale. They are satisfied but not enthusiastic, which means they sit one good experience away from becoming Promoters and one bad experience away from becoming Detractors. Converting even a portion of your Passives lifts your overall score materially, since they both leave the Passive pool and enter the Promoter pool.

Build the segment

Match logic: All

  1. Field: NPS Group | Condition: Is Equal To | Value: Passive
  2. Field: NPS Comment | Condition: Contains | Value: a keyword from a theme they responded to positively (for example, quality or service)

Send this segment content that deepens their engagement with the theme they already noticed. A Passive who mentioned “quality” gets content about your quality standards, your craftsmanship, or customer stories about quality. A Passive who mentioned “service” gets content showcasing your service team or recent service improvements. The strategy is to build on what already resonated rather than to address a concern they did not raise.

Using Segments to Filter the Dashboard

Every saved segment also appears in the Satisfaction dashboard's Segments dropdown. Selecting one narrows every widget on the page to only the contacts in that segment, letting you compare any sub-group's NPS against your overall numbers. For dashboard reading strategies, see Navigating the Satisfaction Dashboard.

What's Next

Once your segments are built, the next step is reaching them:

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