Temkin Group released a new research report "Net Promoter Score Benchmark Study, 2017" based on a study of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

Net Promoter Score has become a popular customer experience metric. NPS measures the likelihood of consumers to recommend a company to their friends and family, using a scoring range from -100 to +100.

With an NPS of 66, USAA's insurance business earned the highest score in the study for the fifth year in a row. The next highest rated companies are JetBlue (59), Jeep (59) and Chick-fil-A (58).

Comcast received an NPS of -9, the lowest NPS for the third year in a row. The next lowest rated companies are Citibank (-8), Charter Spectrum (-8), and Pacific Gas and Electric (-6).

"Net Promoter Scores can provide a strong indication of your relationship with customers," states Bruce Temkin, Managing Partner of Temkin Group. Temkin goes on to say, "Like any customer metric, NPS is only valuable when it's used to drive improvements."

Additional highlights from the study include:

• The industry averages for NPS ranged from a high of 43 for auto dealers down to a low of 9 for TV & Internet service providers.

• USAA''s insurance and credit card businesses along with JetBlue outperformed their industries by 33 points, the highest level across all companies. 14 other companies outperformed their industries by 20 or more points.

• Citibank, whose NPS lagged 35 points behind the banking average, fell the farthest behind its peers. 17 other companies fell 20 or more points below their industry averages.

• All industries saw their average NPS decline over the past year, though Utilities dropped the most.

• 18- to 24-year-old consumers give companies the lowest NPS (with an average score of 17 across industries), while consumers 65 and older give the highest NPS (with an average score of 38 across industries).

• NPS is highly correlated with customer experience. On average, customer experience leaders enjoy an NPS over 18 points higher than customer experience laggards.