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NPS question bank · by survey type

NPS follow-up questions for every answer group

The score tells you how many people would recommend you; the follow-up tells you why. Most tools let you branch on the rating, so the person who chose 3 and the person who chose 10 can each get a question that makes sense for them. Without branching, use one neutral question for everyone.

A good follow-up is open, asks about one thing, and is easy to answer in a sentence. It never argues with the score and never asks the respondent to justify themselves.

Try the question

Pick a score to see which follow-up this page suggests for it. Nothing is sent.

How likely is it that you would recommend [Product] to a friend or colleague?

0 = Not at all likely10 = Extremely likely

The follow-up for each answer

Scores 0 to 6 (detractors)
What disappointed you most? Tell us about the last time it happened, if you can.
Scores 7 or 8 (passives)
What is the one thing that would turn [Product] into something you would recommend?
Scores 9 or 10 (promoters)
What would you tell a colleague about [Product] if they asked you today?

Questions to ask

  1. What disappointed you most? Tell us about the last time it happened.

    For detractors. Asking about a specific moment gets a story instead of a verdict, and stories point at the screen, step or message that went wrong.

  2. What should we fix first?

    For detractors who are short on time. It forces a priority, which is exactly what your team needs when twenty people complain about twenty different things.

  3. What is the one thing that would make [Product] something you would recommend?

    For passives. Ask which missing feature or annoyance influenced their score rather than assuming you already know what would change their recommendation.

  4. What almost made you choose a different answer?

    For passives who answered 7 or 8. It surfaces the doubt behind a lukewarm score without sounding defensive.

  5. What would you tell a colleague about [Product] if they asked you today?

    For promoters. The answer is the reason people stay, in the customer's own words, which is useful for onboarding copy and for knowing what never to break.

  6. What is the main reason for your score?

    For everyone, when you cannot branch. It is neutral enough for any rating and still invites a concrete reason.

Follow-ups that waste the answer

"Any other comments?" gives the respondent little direction. "Why did you give us such a low score?" can sound like an accusation. Prefer a neutral question about what happened. Keep "What do you like?" and "What should we improve?" separate so the respondent can tell which question you want answered.

Leading questions are the quietest problem: "How much did you enjoy the new dashboard?" assumes the person enjoyed it. Ask about their experience and let them bring up the dashboard themselves if it matters to them.

What to do with the answers

Read them in groups, not one at a time. Tag each comment with the topic it names, then look at which topics come up most among detractors and which ones promoters mention. The first list is what to fix; the second is what to protect.

When a follow-up describes a feature request, put it where your other requests live, so its votes and its status are tracked with everything else instead of in a survey export nobody opens again.

How the answers are scored

Answers of 9 or 10 count as promoters and answers from 0 to 6 as detractors; the Net Promoter Score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors.Source [1] What counts as a good score depends on the industry and the survey method: see thecited NPS benchmarks.

Answers to the follow-up question are often feature requests. On afeedback board they are counted with everyone else’s requests, and the people who asked hear when they ship.

Frequently asked questions

Should I ask promoters for a review or a referral right away?

You can, as an optional second step after their answer, never before it. Ask the open question first; asking for a favour before listening reads as if the survey was only a pretext.

What if most people skip the follow-up question?

Shorten it and make it more specific. A question that can be answered in a few words, such as asking what to fix first, gets more replies than a broad request for feedback.

Can I ask more than one follow-up?

Keep it to one open question per answer. If you need more detail, ask permission to contact the person and continue the conversation by email or in a short call.

Sources

  1. Bain & Company, “Measuring Your Net Promoter Score”: www.netpromotersystem.com/about/measuring-your-net-promoter-score/, retrieved .

Net Promoter, NPS and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., NICE Systems, Inc. and Fred Reichheld.

Ask these questions with UpVoiced

UpVoiced is adding NPS and CSAT microsurveys to its widget; they are coming soon and not available yet. Its feedback board, roadmap and changelog are in development, and you can try them on a fictional demo.

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