NPS Question Guide: Ask the Right Question & Get Useful Feedback 

Article Summary:

This article explains Net Promoter Score (NPS) as a key customer experience metric for measuring loyalty and advocacy. It covers how NPS works, including standard question formats, scoring, and the roles of Promoters, Passives, and Detractors.

It also outlines when to use relational versus transactional NPS surveys, highlights additional use cases like product, support, and employee NPS, and stresses the value of follow-up questions for deeper insights. The article concludes with best practices for survey design and shows how Listen360 helps automate NPS collection, analysis, and long-term loyalty tracking.

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NPS stands for Net Promoter Score. It’s a useful customer experience (CX) metric that measures a customer’s loyalty and likelihood to promote your business. 

Net Promoter Score was first developed by Fred Reichheld, a partner at Bain & Company, in 2003. Reichheld created a new objective way to measure how well businesses generate relationships worthy of loyalty and advocacy. Since then, NPS has become the gold standard CX metric. 

Measuring Net Promoter Score starts with an NPS question or survey. In fact, the accuracy and relevance of the metric center around how you ask the Net Promoter Score questions. The phrasing, formatting, and presentation of the question can affect the final NPS results. 

There’s a lot more to NPS surveys than simply asking questions. You must be mindful of who you’re surveying, when, and the exact feedback you’re seeking. 

This article is your guide to asking the best NPS questions. It covers everything you need to know about NPS surveys, questions, and calculations, including: 

• NPS question examples 

• NPS question variations and use cases 

• Evaluating Net Promoter Scores 

• Tips and best practices for designing NPS surveys 

• Common mistakes and pitfalls to avoid 

• Leveraging digital tools to run effective NPS surveys 

What Is the Standard NPS Question—and Why It Works 

A typical NPS survey question has two key components: the question and the scale. The question directly asks customers to rate their willingness to recommend your brand, products, or services to others. The scale quantifies that willingness. It could, for instance, be a numerical 0–10 scale or a calibrated 0–5 scale going from “Very Unlikely” to “Very Likely.” 

The Classic NPS Wording Scale 

You’ve probably come across an NPS question that goes like this: “On a scale of 1–10, how likely are you to recommend [brand/service/product] to a friend or colleague?” 

That’s the most common NPS question wording and scale. The question is clear, simple, and easy to understand. And the scale is intuitive and easily quantifiable. Many people find it easy to rate feelings and experiences on a 1–10 scale. 

Promoters, Passives, and Detractors: How Scoring Works 

After gathering responses to a survey, you can then calculate the Net Promoter Score. Here’s how to do that using a 1–10 scale. 

Start by categorizing the responses as follows: 

• Promoters: Customers who responded with a score of 9 or 10. These are your most loyal customers and potential brand advocates. 

• Passives: Customers who responded with a score of 7 or 8. This segment of respondents is satisfied with your business, but not quite as much as promoters. 

• Detractors: Customers who responded with a score of 0 to 6. These are unhappy customers who may even discourage others from buying your products or services. 

Next, calculate the percentage of promoters, passives, and detractors. Take the number of promoters, divide by the total number of responses, and multiply by 100. Do the same for passives and detractors. 

Let’s say you’ve received 500 responses; 300 of those are promoters, 150 passives, and 50 detractors. The percentages will be: 

Promoters % = (300 / 500) × 100 = 60% 

Passives % = (150 / 500) × 100 = 30% 

Detractors % = (50 / 500) × 100 = 10% 

To get the final NPS value, subtract the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. 

NPS = % Promoters – % Detractors 

In this case, NPS = 60% – 10%, giving you an NPS score of 50%. That’s actually a pretty good score. In most industries, anything north of 30% is considered a great NPS score. 

RELATED ARTICLE — How NPS Drives Engagement 

When to Use a Relational vs. Transactional NPS Question 

NPS score questions generally come in two flavors: relational and transactional. 

Relational NPS (rNPS) questions gauge overall brand loyalty and advocacy. They ask customers how they feel about the brand, business, or company in general. An rNPS question goes something like this: “On a scale of 1–10, how likely are you to recommend [Company]?” 

Pose rNPS surveys periodically, maybe every couple of months, to both new and existing customers. Doing so provides a general overview of your brand’s health against industry benchmarks. It also helps you measure the direction of long-term customer loyalty. 

Transactional NPS (tNPS) surveys measure customer satisfaction with specific interactions. For example, you could solicit feedback after a support call, purchase, delivery, or onboarding session. You can phrase a tNPS question as, “How likely are you to recommend [specific product/service]?” You may also ask: “Based on your recent [call, purchase, service, etc.], how likely are you to recommend [Company]?” 

Collect transactional NPS feedback immediately after a specific interaction. That way, you’ll get real-time actionable insights into specific offerings or customer touchpoints. Unlike rNPS, tNPS measures customer satisfaction and loyalty on a granular level. 

Variations and Use Cases for NPS Questions 

We’ve already discussed rNPS and tNPS surveys, but there are other more specific use cases for NPS questions. Here are three more NPS survey examples. 

Product Feedback NPS 

Product NPS measures customer satisfaction levels with a specific product. It does so by tracking your customers’ willingness to recommend said product to friends, family, or colleagues. That should give you a good idea of how well the product is received. 

Additionally, product feedback NPS can help you identify areas for product improvement. Feedback from firsthand users can inform product design, pricing, and marketing strategies. 

Product NPS surveys begin with a simple question, such as, “How likely are you to recommend our [product]?” 

Service/Support NPS 

Customer service or support NPS checks whether customers are happy after interacting with support agents. 

Support NPS surveys collect feedback from customers who have just interacted with a service touchpoint (sales rep, helpdesk, chatbot, etc.). The goal is to gauge how well your customer service addresses customer queries, issues, and expectations. 

A support NPS question can be phrased like this: “Based on your recent call, how likely are you to recommend our service?” 

Employee or Internal NPS 

You can also measure employee promoter scores. In fact, you should; it’s called employee NPS (eNPS). That’s because eNPS gives you valuable insights into employee satisfaction, loyalty, and morale. 

Employee NPS surveys can be structured in two ways. One way is to measure the staff’s loyalty to your company as a workplace. The other is to check their readiness to promote the company’s goods or services. 

Here are Net Promoter Score question examples for both cases: 

“On a scale of 1–10, how likely are you to recommend [Company] as a place to work?” 

“How likely are you to recommend our [product/service] to a friend or colleague?” 

Ideally, your employees should be the most upfront and enthusiastic ambassadors for your brand. A low eNPS score indicates that something is very wrong. Perhaps the employees are not satisfied with their work environment at your company. Or, for whatever reason, they don’t believe in the company’s products or services. Either way, that’s something worth investigating. 

RELATED ARTICLE — How to Measure Customer Experience: Metrics, Methods, & Tools 

Follow-Up Questions: Turning Scores into Insights 

Calculating NPS clearly quantifies customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. However, the score alone does not paint the whole picture. It may indicate a customer’s satisfaction level, but it doesn’t reveal anything about the sentiment or reasons behind the score. 

Now, that’s where NPS follow-up questions come in. A basic follow-up to an NPS survey can reveal valuable insights into customer experiences, service delivery, product design, and more. 

Let’s examine two ways to gain more NPS insights through follow-up questions. 

Open-Ended Questions: “Why Did You Give That Score?” 

End the survey with an open-ended question. The question may ask the customer to comment on the score or say why they gave that score. 

That would be valuable feedback to accompany the score. It’s similar to having comments on a 5-star rating system. The comments give more depth and context to the rating, making it more meaningful and genuine. 

Optional Follow-Ups: “What Should We Improve?” 

In an NPS survey, you have the liberty (within reason) to ask any CX-related question. You can have optional follow-up questions about the customer’s interaction or purchase. For instance, you might ask customers to share their thoughts on the brand or suggestions about improving your services/products. 

RELATED ARTICLE — Harnessing NPS™ for Valuable Customer Insights 

Best Practices for NPS Survey Design and Administration 

NPS is a simple yet excellent business KPI. It reliably indicates not only customer satisfaction but also business performance in sales, product design, and service delivery. It’s no wonder that some of the biggest companies in the world use this metric to grow and enhance their brands. 

However, NPS only works when executed correctly. Here are some pointers to structuring effective NPS surveys and leveraging NPS feedback. 

Optimize Sampling 

The key to collecting Net Promoter Scores is knowing who to survey, what to ask, and when. That sounds simple enough, but sampling is actually pretty intricate. 

A one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t work. Instead, segment your audience based on their position in the customer journey. Then, serve each segment tailored surveys with relevant NPS sample questions. For example, pose product NPS questions to first-time buyers and rNPS surveys to returning customers. 

Timing also matters. Trigger surveys after impactful customer interactions such as purchases, support resolutions, or service deliveries. But not always. Stagger the surveys widely across the customer journey so they don’t become obvious, bothersome, or feel like an obligation. 

Boost Completion Rate 

Not everyone who comes across an NPS survey takes the time to complete it. And some of those who do won’t answer all the questions. That can be a problem since the more the feedback, the more accurate the score. 

Try these tips for attracting more survey participants and increasing completion rate: 

• Keep the survey short by setting 1–3 questions per NPS questionnaire. 

• Personalize the questions wherever possible. 

• Deliver NPS surveys via multiple channels (web pop-ups, email, SMS, social media, etc.). 

• Get the timing and frequency of the survey right. 

• Explain how the surveys serve the audience’s best interests. 

• Incentivize survey participation with loyalty rewards. 

Use Consistent Scales and Labels 

Pick one NPS rating scale and stick with it. Whether you prefer the classic 1–5 scale, the 1–7 Likert scale, or any arbitrary format, consistency is crucial. Having a common scale for all the surveys makes it easier to calculate the final score. 

Also, maintain a consistent format for the score labels (e.g., Unlikely, Likely, Very Unlikely, etc.). It simplifies the surveys for both the audience and your CX team, resulting in more reliable and easily quantifiable data. 

Preserve Privacy, Anonymity, and Ethical Practices 

NPS responses are supposed to be private and anonymous. Guaranteed anonymity and privacy encourage honest feedback. 

However, that’s not always the case. To act on feedback (for instance, win back detractors), responses must include some components of customer data. But even in such cases, link responses only to the data you need. More importantly, make it clear to the customer how their data and feedback are used. 

Interpret the Results Beyond the Score 

As we mentioned earlier, the Net Promoter Score alone lacks depth when it comes to customer sentiment. That’s why you must also examine other feedback data, such as comments, overall trends, and survey participation. 

Take in a more comprehensive view of how customers perceive your brand and its offerings. 

Common Mistakes and Pitfalls to Avoid 

Here are four common mistakes and pitfalls that might otherwise compromise the effectiveness of your NPS surveys or skew the results. 

Asking Too Many Questions at Once 

Overly long NPS surveys can cause what’s known as survey fatigue. Having to answer too many Net Promoter Score survey questions quickly becomes tiresome and boring. The fatigue can lead respondents to rush through the questions or abandon the survey altogether. 

Keep the questions to a minimum. The magic number is 2–3 questions per survey. Although you can stretch it as far as 6 questions, be cautious because every additional question multiplies the risk of survey fatigue. 

Ignoring Follow-Up 

Answers from follow-up questions matter just as much as the score itself. Ignoring comments from open-ended responses blinds you to a wide spectrum of actionable feedback. 

Effective follow-up is the most effective way to gather in-depth customer sentiments, thoughts, and feelings. And all that can tell you how to address detractors and strengthen promoters as brand ambassadors. 

Running NPS at the Wrong Time 

Again, timing is very important when collecting NPS feedback. There is such a thing as a bad time to ask NPS questions. For instance, you don’t do it right after a crisis, price hike, or delivery delays. You’ll most likely get negative responses from disgruntled customers. 

Even the most loyal customers get frustrated sometimes, and then is not the time to ask how they feel about your company. At best, you’ll get sharply skewed results. And at worst, customers may feel like you’re mocking their anger. 

Over-Relying on NPS Without Complementary Metrics 

NPS is a powerful and informative CX metric. But it obviously can’t capture every aspect of CX. 

You need to complement NPS data with other metrics, such as customer satisfaction score (CSAT), customer effort score (CES), and retention data. When these metrics are overlaid on each other, they generate a fuller picture of CX performance. Doing so is, in many cases, the only way to make sense of NPS data. 

RELATED ARTICLE — What Is a CSAT Score? Meaning, Calculation, and Examples 

How Listen360 Helps You Run Effective NPS Surveys 

Listen360 is your go-to solution for running effective NPS surveys. It’s an all-in-one NPS feedback platform with robust survey features designed to accurately gauge brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. 

These are the features and capabilities that set Listen360 apart. 

Built-in NPS Question Type and Easy Distribution 

No need to brainstorm NPS survey question categories. The built-in NPS questions ensure you get the answers you’re looking for from the various customer segments. 

Automatic Classification of Promoters, Passives, and Detractors 

The platform automatically classifies and quantifies responses as promoters, passives, or detractors. You get an eagle-eyed view of NPS feedback regardless of the rating scale. 

Comment Capture, Tagging, and Actionable Insights 

In addition to calculating the promoter score, Listen360 captures and analyzes accompanying feedback. By digging deeper into feedback data, the system generates actionable feedback drawn from customer sentiment. 

Dashboarding and Tracking Score Over Time 

Listen360’s detailed dashboard lets you track NPS scores over time. You can easily identify trends in customer loyalty and study periodic shifts in brand perception. 

Conclusion and Next Steps 

There’s no question about it: NPS is one of the most important CX metrics you can track. Measuring NPS is an easy way to keep a pulse on customer satisfaction and loyalty, the underpinnings of a successful business. 

Here’s a quick NPS checklist wrapping up what we’ve learned. 

Quick NPS Survey Setup Checklist 

1. Segment your audience and create surveys tailored to each segment. 

2. Device short, simple surveys with easy questions and quantifiable responses. 

3. Don’t forget to end each survey with a follow-up question. 

4. Choose suitable delivery methods. 

5. Determine survey triggers and schedules. 

6. Process survey results to generate meaningful insights. 

7. Act on NPS insights to improve brand image and customer experience. 

8. Leverage digital tools to design, distribute, and run NPS surveys. 

How to Start with Listen360: From Question to Insight 

Ready to get started on NPS monitoring or take your CX efforts to the next level? 

Listen360 is on hand to help you turn questions into answers and answers into actionable insights. Request a personalized demo to see Listen360 in action.