Brand awareness and NPS: how to measure a brand
What brand awareness is and how to measure it: unaided, aided and top-of-mind awareness, branded searches, share of search and NPS, with formulas.
In 30 seconds
- Brand awareness is how well people know a brand: it's measured with surveys on top-of-mind, unaided and aided awareness.
- Indirect signals: branded searches on Google, share of search, direct traffic, social mentions.
- NPS = % promoters (9-10) − % detractors (0-6). It ranges from −100 to +100.
- For a survey with a ±5% margin of error you need about 385 responses (95% confidence level).
- Before calling it a crisis, compare with the same period last year.
Brand awareness measures how many people in your target audience know a brand and how easily they remember it. It’s measured mainly with surveys (top-of-mind, unaided and aided awareness) and with indirect signals such as branded searches on Google. Alongside awareness you measure how satisfied people are, for example with the NPS.
What is brand awareness
It’s the first step in the relationship between a person and a brand: before buying, you need to know it exists. Marketing scholar David Aaker, in Managing Brand Equity (1991), describes it as a four-level pyramid:
| Level | What it means | Example question |
|---|---|---|
| Top of mind | It’s the first brand that comes to mind | “What’s the first tea shop that comes to mind?” |
| Unaided awareness (recall) | The brand comes to mind without help | “Which tea shops do you know?” |
| Aided awareness (recognition) | The brand is recognised in a list | “Which of these do you know?” |
| Unaware | The person doesn’t know it | — |
Aided awareness grows first; unaided and top-of-mind are harder to move, but they’re what counts when someone has to choose quickly.
How to measure brand awareness
1. With a survey
This is the direct method. You interview a sample of your target audience (not your own followers, who already know the brand) and calculate:
Unaided awareness = people who name the brand without help ÷ people interviewed × 100
How many responses do you need? To estimate a percentage with a ±5% margin of error and a 95% confidence level you need about 385 responses from a large population; with 100 responses the margin rises to about ±10%. To compare two surveys, ask the same questions in the same order: the unaided question always comes before the aided one, or the list suggests the answers.
2. With branded searches
How many people search for the brand name on Google, month by month. Where to see it:
- Google Trends: relative trend over time, free, useful to compare several brands;
- Google Search Console: impressions and clicks for searches containing the name (branded queries). See Google Search Console for beginners;
- Google Ads Keyword Planner: average monthly volume, rounded into ranges.
Branded searches are often seasonal: they rise and fall in the same months each year. That’s why you compare them with the same month last year.
3. With share of search
Share of search is your brand’s share of all searches for brands in the same category:
Share of search = searches for your brand ÷ searches for all brands in the sector × 100
The concept was popularised in 2020 by advertising effectiveness expert Les Binet, who showed it often anticipates changes in market share.
4. With other digital signals
- Direct traffic in Google Analytics 4: people who arrive by typing the site address.
- Mentions and tags on social media, reviews, articles quoting the brand.
- Reach of campaigns (how many different people saw a piece of content).
- Brand lift: studies offered by ad platforms (Google Ads, Meta) comparing people who saw an ad with people who didn’t.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
The Net Promoter Score measures how likely customers are to recommend the brand. It was proposed by Fred Reichheld (Bain & Company) in the Harvard Business Review in 2003. You ask a single question:
“How likely are you to recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague, from 0 to 10?”
- Promoters: 9 and 10.
- Passives: 7 and 8.
- Detractors: 0 to 6.
NPS = % promoters − % detractors
The result ranges from −100 (all detractors) to +100 (all promoters). Passives don’t enter the formula, but they count in the total number of responses.
Worked example: 200 responses, 110 promoters (55%), 60 passives (30%), 30 detractors (15%). NPS = 55 − 15 = 40.
After the score question, always ask why, with an open answer: that’s where you find out what to improve.
Brand KPIs in one table
| KPI | What it measures | Tool | How often |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unaided and aided awareness | How many people know the brand | Survey | 1-2 times a year |
| Branded searches | Interest in the brand | Google Trends, Search Console | Monthly |
| Share of search | Share compared with competitors | Google Trends, Keyword Planner | Quarterly |
| NPS | How likely people are to recommend you | Post-purchase survey | Ongoing |
| Mentions and sentiment | What people say about the brand | Social media, reviews | Weekly |
Reading the data without panicking
In the fictional tea shop Five Leaf, two worrying numbers arrived in October:
- Branded searches fell 18% compared with September. But the same happened in 2025 (−16%), and compared with October 2025 they’re 22% higher. False alarm: it’s seasonal.
- NPS fell from 52 to 31. Detractors’ answers explain why: the site promises 24-hour delivery, but since October orders arrive in 4 days. Real problem: a broken promise.
A brand is a promise kept: when communication promises more than the company delivers, the disappointment hits the brand. To decide what to promise, start from brand identity and positioning.
Sources
- Frederick F. Reichheld, «The One Number You Need to Grow», Harvard Business Review, 2003
- Google Trends
- David A. Aaker, Managing Brand Equity, Free Press, 1991
Promoters 60%, passives 32%, detractors 8%. What's the NPS?
Correct! 60 − 8 = 52. Passives aren't part of the calculation.
Not quite. Subtract the detractors' percentage from the promoters': 60 − 8 = 52.
Frequently asked questions
What does brand awareness mean?
It means how many people in your target audience know the brand and how easily they remember it.
What's the difference between brand awareness and brand reputation?
Awareness tells you how many people know you; reputation tells you what they think of you. You can be very well known and have a bad reputation.
Is an NPS of 30 good?
It depends on the sector and the brand's history: a positive value means more promoters than detractors. What matters most is how it changes over time and why.
Who invented NPS?
Fred Reichheld, a Bain & Company consultant, in the article «The One Number You Need to Grow», published in the Harvard Business Review in 2003. NPS is a registered trademark of Bain, Satmetrix and Fred Reichheld.
Do branded searches on Google measure awareness?
They're an indirect signal: if more people search for the name, more people know it. Read them together with surveys and compare with the same month last year.
How do you increase brand awareness?
With a constant, recognisable presence: useful content that gets the brand found on Google, social media, collaborations with creators and other brands, PR, ads with a «reach» objective. Consistency matters: same colours, same tone, everywhere.
Topics:BrandMetrics