Transactional NPS questions

A transactional survey goes out right after something happened: an order arrived, a call ended, a ticket was closed, an account was set up. It measures how that interaction changed the person's willingness to recommend you, so it has to be sent quickly and worded around the event.

The risk is ambiguity. If the question only names your company, people mix the event with their general opinion and the answer tells you little about the interaction you wanted to measure.

Questions to ask

Based on [your recent order], how likely are you to recommend [Company] to a friend?
The opening clause anchors the answer to the event. Replace the bracket with the interaction in plain words: your delivery, your call with our team, your sign-up.
What went wrong with [the interaction]? At which step did it happen?
The second sentence gives you the step, which is what you need to route the comment to the team that owns it.
Did we resolve what you came to us for?
A yes or no next to the rating. A low score with a "yes" points at how it was done; a low score with a "no" points at what was done.
What could we have done to make this go more smoothly?
For middle scores. It asks for a concrete improvement to the process instead of an overall opinion of your company.
Who or what made the difference for you?
For promoters after a human interaction. Answers often name a person, which is useful for recognising good work and for training.

Timing and sampling

Send it while the interaction is still fresh, ideally the same day, and only once per interaction. People who interact with you often should not get a survey after every single one: cap how often one person can be asked, or you will measure survey fatigue instead of the interaction.

Keep the answer tied to the event

Show the event in the survey itself: the order number, the date of the call, the subject of the ticket. It reminds people what they are rating and lets you join the answer to the record of the interaction later.

Report transactional scores per type of interaction rather than as one number. A great delivery experience and a frustrating returns process average out into a score that describes neither.

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.

Keep going

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

How soon after the interaction should I send the survey?

As soon as the interaction is complete, while people still remember it: the same day for calls, chats and support tickets, and once the order has arrived for deliveries.

Can I compare transactional and relationship scores?

Not directly. They measure different things, so track them separately. A strong transactional score next to a weak relationship score usually means the problem lies outside the interactions you survey.

Should I survey every interaction?

Survey a sample, and limit how often the same person is asked. Asking after every single interaction tires out your most active customers first.

Sources

Bain & Company, “Measuring Your Net Promoter Score”: www.netpromotersystem.com/about/measuring-your-net-promoter-score/, retrieved 2026-10-25.

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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