As a customer, you’ve likely stumbled upon the most basic NPS question: “how likely are you to recommend us on a scale of 1 to 10?”
But when you’re the one asking the questions, you need to be sure that you’re getting the most value possible from your survey. This can mean asking targeted, out-of-the-box questions that gauge customer loyalty.
The question is, however, how do you do that? What are the best, most valuable NPS questions you can ask to gain NPS feedback?
Below, we’re going to go over some of the best questions that will get you answers that you can use to improve.
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Relational vs. Transactional NPS surveys
Before we look at example questions, let’s first understand the different types of NPS survey questions. Essentially, there are two types of net promoter score surveys.
1. Relational
As the name of this NPS question type implies, relational surveys are used to gauge the quality of your relationship with a customer. These types of surveys are usually given at regular, pre-determined intervals, typically monthly, quarterly, or yearly.
By sending the surveys out frequently, you can ensure that you’re always on top of customer feedback, giving you the insight you need to make changes as needed.
2. Transactional
While relational NPS survey questions are asked regardless of where a person is in their customer journey, transactional surveys are sent after a certain action triggers them.
For example, a transactional NPS survey might be sent after a customer has done any of the following actions:
- Contacted support
- Made a purchase
- Opted in to a plan upgrade
- Tried out a new feature
- Had a new product installed
- Completed a return
These surveys are ideal for monitoring customer satisfaction on a micro-level. They allow you to stay in tune with the satisfaction of customers at different points in their journey.
The best NPS survey questions
There’s nothing wrong with asking customers how likely they are to recommend your business on a scale of 1 to 10, but the question is fairly dry and is one of the most common net promoter score questions.
As a result, it’s also a question that’s often ignored by customers when asked.
Luckily, there are a number of creative ways to phrase the question and rework it so that it’s more interesting.
The way you modify the question can also be used to garner more specific or certain types of information from your customers, instead of just receiving a general score that you’ll need to pick apart later on.
1. Ask if customers would recommend you
How likely are you to recommend _____ to people that you know?
A question that directs your customer’s attention to your product or service while simultaneously gauging their overall customer satisfaction, this one can be a big indicator as to how willing a customer is to recommend what you’re offering.
It not only measures customer loyalty but also has the potential to be used in subsequent marketing campaigns like referral marketing campaigns.
2. Ask about their recent experience
Will you recommend us to friends and family based on your most recent interaction?
This NPS survey question is ideal for prompting existing customers to rate their recent engagements with your product or service at a certain touchpoint.
Touchpoints might include post-service or purchase, or post-onboarding. It allows you to easily spot and improve problems with certain aspects of the customer journey.
3. Ask about their experience to date
Based on your experience so far, how likely are you to recommend our product to your family and friends?
By using an NPS survey question that starts with “based on your experience”, you effectively prompt your respondents to be open and honest their opinion regardless of whether it is positive or negative feedback.
You’re able to dial in the question, making it more specific and saving NPS survey takers from having to guess what specific thing you’re asking about.
You could take this question one step further and add a few words, turning it into:
Based on your experience so far, how likely are you to recommend our product as a (your product type here)?
Taking this approach tests to see if your customers find your product useful for the purpose that it’s designed for.
Ideally, most respondents would answer with a favorable response, but if their customer feedback is poor, you will have the valuable feedback necessary to make changes.
4. Ask about a recent product they used
After using our _____, how likely are you to recommend it to _____?
Using this question for your NPS surveys is a great way to ask your respondents for specific information on who they would recommend it to. This can be helpful for products and services that you’re trying to market to a certain group of people.
For example, if you’re trying to collect feedback on an app you’ve built and the target market is college students, you’ll want to ensure that those who have tried the app would recommend it to other college students.
If they wouldn’t, your app would need some fine tuning.
5. Ask shortly after they receiving a product
Now that you’ve received your _____, what would you rate the quality of our products from 1 to 10?
This net promoter score question is posed with the intent to gather feedback on how customers feel about the overall quality of your company’s products.
This question can be offered to first time and repeat customers, and requires the respondent to use their personal experience with your product to form a general opinion about the other products you offer.
Operating in the same vein but with different wording, you could ask respondents:
Now that you’ve received your _____, would you recommend it to your friends and family?
For obvious reasons, this type of NPS question can only be asked after the respondent has purchased and received your product. They are examples of a transactional NPS survey.
6. Ask how they feel about your support team
How likely are you to recommend our support team to others?
Another transactional NPS, this question digs into your customers’ opinions on your company’s customer support, which is arguably one of the most important aspects of any business. It’s because of this reason that this question is incredibly popular.
You can modify the question to judge customer satisfaction with different areas of your staff/team. Aside from your customer support team, you could use this net promoter score question to ask about product advisors, cashiers, financial advisors etc.
7. Ask if they would recommend you in general
On a 1 to 10 scale, how likely are you to recommend _____ to people you know?
To ensure that you don’t have any unhappy customers, it’s important that they are satisfied with the various members of your team and their interactions with them.
Poor customer service is one of the biggest reasons that businesses fail to succeed.
This is a good transactional question for deciphering how satisfied customers are with your employees. Just fill in the blank space with the name of an employee and use the NPS score to evaluate that employee’s performance, making changes if any are needed.
Again, though, this is one of those questions that we sincerely hope you receive a favorable answer to.
If you do, be sure to give your employee a pat on the back for good work!
8. Ask about how your service can be improved
How can we improve our services?
This is what we’d call an open-ended question. It gives respondents a space to share their advice and give you a look into what would make their experience better next time.
This question is often ignored, but when someone does take the time to fill it out, the opinion behind it is usually shared by others — regardless of whether they chose to respond or not.
9. Ask what product features they like the most
What features of our _____ do you like the most?
This question asks the respondent’s opinion about your product as many other NPS survey questions do.
However, it gives customers a space to name as many features as they want.
You could use this question to also deduce what isn’t working by simply taking note of the things that aren’t mentioned very often. Or, modify the question to be more direct:
What features of our _____ did you like the least?
Using the answers given here, you can make the decision to remove or change features.
10. Ask about their recent purchase
Considering our (product’s/service’s)_____, what are you most satisfied with?
This is a question that’s particularly helpful for complex products like apps that have a ton of facets and different features. It’s also good for new product launches, as it gives you a way to determine what about your product is a hit and what isn’t working.
It’s also very specific and can give you a look into what, specifically, customers like about minor components of the things you offer.
An example of this question in action is:
Considering our product’s user guide, what are you most satisfied with?
11. Ask if they would recommend you to people they work with
How likely are you to recommend _____ as a workplace to your friends?
Employee Net Promoter Score surveys are just as important as customer NPS surveys.
Like customer-based questions, employee NPS surveys are used to determine an employee’s satisfaction with the workplace as a whole, with certain aspects of it, or with management.
To use this question, all you have to do is replace the blank space with the name of your company and send the NPS surveys to your employees.
12. Ask if they are are likely to be loyal employees in future
From 1 to 10, how likely are you to stay with us for the next _____ years?
1 to 10 scale NPS survey questions, although dated, are still some of the easiest questions for people to answer, making them ideal for situations where your target audience is your very own employees.
This particular question is handy for gaining meaningful insights into whether your employee can see his or herself with you long term, which can be useful information in various situations.
It can be edited to ask workers about their future career plans for just about any length of time.
The question doesn’t directly ask them if they want to leave your company or how satisfied they are, but it does a good job of giving you an idea of whether an employee may put in their two week notice in the future.
13. Ask how satisfied employees are with managers
Using a 1 to 10 scale, how satisfied are you with your manager’s _____?
When you’ve hired someone to be the manager of your company, you expect them to excel in various areas including communication, organization, and time management — and this question is an excellent way to find that information out.
If you take some time to master NPS question wording, you can easily change aspects of the question to reflect areas that you want information about:
Using a 1 to 10 scale, how satisfied are you with your colleagues _____?
Also, this is another great alternative:
Using a 1 to 10 scale, how satisfied are you with our company’s _____?
14. Ask if employees enjoy woking for your business
Is there anything that prevents you from recommending your workplace to others?
This open ended question digs deep into the things your employees may not enjoy about their workplace.
Answers to this question can vary from management and coworkers, to a poor work-life balance or low pay; anything that could lead to a negative employee experience.
When asking this question, be prepared to hear hard truths.
Essential follow-up NPS survey questions
A net promoter score survey doesn’t have to end after a single question. Sometimes it takes two or three questions to accurately gauge how loyal customers are and there’s nothing that says that your NPS survey can’t have that many questions.
The idea, though, is that each question that you use in your NPS surveys are simple and easy to answer. This will help ensure you get a highest response rate possible.
The questions asked after your initial NPS question are called follow up questions and they are just as important.
1. Ask what they liked the most
We’re glad you enjoyed our service! Can you tell us what you liked the most?
This question can be asked on the tail of receiving a positive reply from a 1 to 10 scale question. By itself, it can be used as the original NPS question, but when it’s asked after another question, it comes a follow up.
You can think of it kind of like a double agent who can not only help you get the insights you need from your NPS surveys, but also how to go about boosting customer loyalty at the same time.
2. Ask why they gave a specific rating
We appreciate your opinion. Please tell us the reason behind your score.
This is a good question to ask respondents who fall into the passive category. It causes them to consider their initial response in more detail and – hopefully- prompts them to share their thoughts with you.
Passives can go either way in future, turning intro detractors or promoters. So be sure to setup your NPS surveys to really understand these customers are likely to turn into happy loyal customers or unhappy customers in future.
3. Ask how you can improve in future
We’re sorry to hear that! What could we improve on?
Just because a respondent gave you a poor NPS score doesn’t mean that you don’t want their opinion, right? On the contrary! That’s when you should want their opinion even more than you do your satisfied customers’.
This question targets those who gave low NPS scores (detractors). It’s an open ended question that gives unsatisfied customers a chance to share their experience through qualitative feedback.
But be sure to take action with the data you collect from these NPS surveys as it really help you boost customer satisfaction levels, particularly if you use the actionable feedback to take real action.
4. Ask about the service they received
We’d like to know what we could do to make your experience with _____ better. Can you share with us what we could improve?
The question is easily modified and can be used to gather customer insights for both service and product-based businesses.
Final Thoughts
Mastering NPS is crucial for the long-term health of your business. Without the insight gathered by NPS data, you’re left to wonder how your customers feel about your products and services, which can be an incredibly anxiety-inducing train of thought.
Not only that, but not having the customer feedback that is so important for company success means you’ll never know which things are preventing your business from expanding.
Likewise, you have no way of knowing what you should keep doing or offer more of, further hindering the success you could be reaping.
Thankfully, NPS isn’t hard to learn and there are a lot of customers who are more than happy to help a business out by answering a quick one or two question survey.
Hope you enjoyed the article!