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AI Product Tools / MIF Explorer / Library / UX
Truth Layer
DirectionalLaggingVanity RiskMisused Truth Layer
The Truth Layer is the badge system that tells you how trustworthy, directional, or risky a measure is.
Why it matters: It helps teams separate meaningful signals from vanity, misuse, or AI distortion before they optimize the wrong thing.
Example: A metric can be Meaningful, Leading, or Vanity Risk.
Net Promoter Score (NPS)
A survey-based score measuring how likely users are to recommend the product, calculated as the difference between promoters and detractors.
Evaluation method
% promoters (9-10) - % detractors (0-6)
Signal type
lagging
What it is best for
Tracking overall sentiment trends over time
What it tells you +
A general temperature of user loyalty and perceived value. Widely used as a benchmark.
What it does not tell you +
Explain what drives satisfaction or dissatisfaction. It is a symptom, not a diagnosis.
When to use it +
- Tracking overall sentiment trends over time
- Benchmarking against industry peers
- As one signal among many, never as the primary KPI
When not to use it +
- As the sole measure of product quality or UX success
- To diagnose specific problems — it tells you there is a problem, not what it is
- To compare across very different product categories
How leaders misuse it +
- Treating NPS as the definitive measure of customer satisfaction
- Celebrating NPS improvements without understanding what changed
- Comparing NPS across fundamentally different product types
- Incentivizing teams on NPS, which creates score gaming rather than real improvement
Anti-patterns +
- Survey timing manipulation — surveying only after positive experiences
- Cherry-picking respondent segments to improve the number
Companion entries +
This entry is stronger when paired with:
Instrumentation or evaluation guidance +
Survey consistently — same trigger point, same frequency. Include an open-text follow-up question.
Examples +
A SaaS product celebrates an NPS of +42 but CSAT for the billing experience is 2.1/5. The NPS masks a severe pain point because most users rarely interact with billing.
Suggested decisions +
- NPS trend declining over 2+ quarters: conduct qualitative research to understand drivers
- Do NOT set NPS targets for individual teams — this creates gaming behavior