Why asking the right question in NPS surveys is so important.

An NPS® survey is about much more than just the quantitative rating customers give your company. You can track your customer score, but it's the qualitative feedback that gives you the “why” behind it and puts the customer's voice in the foreground.

If you ask the right NPS question to consistently increase your customer satisfaction, you will get an accurate understanding of how your company, product or service is perceived. Start the process by identifying the optimal Net Promoter Score® survey template.

As with face-to-face interviews, the wording, tone, and wording of a survey have a major impact on the respondent's response. Your choice of words can therefore influence the feedback from your customers.

Below are a few examples that you can use to get meaningful insights from your respondents. If you're having trouble increasing the response rate to your survey and getting actionable feedback, you can use our examples to optimize your main rating and individual follow-up questions.

The NPS survey structure

The Net Promoter Score survey consists of several parts. In the first part, your customers are asked to rate your company, product or service on a scale from 0 to 10. The second part is an open-ended follow-up question designed to determine why the specific rating was given.

Both the assessment and the open questions have a standard format in order to carry out the survey within the framework of the NPS formula. However, they can be customized to suit your business specifications and the goals of your NPS campaign.

Questions that you can use as part of the NPS score survey.

Ask customers to rate your company

Especially when you are re-implementing the NPS, it is advisable to record a basic customer sentiment about your company.
The standard core question in the classic NPS question style is simple:

"How likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?"

This is followed by the option of giving a rating on a scale from 0 to 10.

A simple question and structure that provides you with the basis for your customer communication and gives your customers the opportunity to express their opinion. In that regard, your first NPS survey is the perfect icebreaker. Furthermore, the feedback you receive after answering this question provides a consistent overview of your company and provides insights into problems that you may not even be aware of.

Although very simple, the question is very efficient to measure customer loyalty or, for example, to track the results of a particular marketing campaign. If this data is carried out periodically, it can also be used as a basis for a long-term growth strategy.

Replace the word "company" with a product or service

Better: Create another survey. Your first survey remains as a basis and asks your existing customers 1 - 2 times a year. Even completely automatically with Callexa Feedback.
With the new survey, you are now trying to get feedback on a specific product or service. Just replace the word "company" with the name of the product, brand, or service.

This leads to a subtle change in the question, but it has a significant impact on the result:

"How likely are you to recommend our {product name} to a friend or colleague?"

This shifts the focus of the feedback to the specific product that the customer may have just bought, or that you have just published, updated, or promoted. The information obtained is invaluable, especially for product managers.

You will also get an insight into which functions are not used, where improvements are necessary, which innovations are desired and of course what makes your product so popular with customers. This information can be used to better plan future product updates.

Adjust the NPS score survey according to your wishes and ask customers, for example, about their satisfaction with your support or the delivery times.

Questions that you can use as part of the NPS follow-up survey.

As already mentioned, you will get more qualitative feedback if you make the surveys more detailed. For this purpose, Callexa Feedback offers the opportunity to ask the respondent a follow-up question based on his or her evaluation after the actual NPS score survey. Our examples should help you to improve your follow-up questions and thus increase the feedback received.

Go straight to the rating.

We found that customers are more likely to provide additional text feedback if the follow-up question relates directly to the score they just submitted.

“What is the main reason for your score?” Can be a sufficient formulation here to find out more details from the customer.

Not quite as direct, but still targeted, would be these follow-up questions:

"What was missing or disappointing in your experience with us?"

This question encourages users to discuss the aspects of your product or service that they do not like about your product or service if they leave a negative review. Constructive criticism can be of great value to your company. Inviting customers to give them to you is more likely that they will, too.

Many people hesitate to leave a negative review in a survey. This type of question shows them that it is okay to list any errors they may have encountered while using your product.

"How can we improve your experience?"

If a customer has left a passive review, this follow-up question will give you practical suggestions on how to take your product or service to the next level.

With this question you will learn what exactly you have to do to correct errors and get your product or service back on track. You can prioritize issues and opportunities for improvement based on information provided by your customers.

"Which functions do you value / use the most?"

If you have a multi-feature product, this question can be a great insight into which features your customers value the most. Ask your customers who have given a positive rating. Since these are already among the supporters of your brand and more likely to give you information about it. This type of campaign can be of great benefit to product managers and their teams.

The data gathered through this question can be of great help in figuring out which features you should prioritize for future updates and improvements. Therefore, you can use NPS as a benchmark for customizing your product roadmap.

"What do you like most / least about (company or product name)?"

This question is very useful as it gives you a sense of the aftertaste your customers have when they interact with your product or service. It's easily customizable for both promoters and critics. You may wonder what they liked best or what they liked least about their experience with your company.
When you know what works for your customers, you can tweak that to better serve them.

With a sufficient number of answers, this question can also help you to discover new perspectives for advertising and marketing campaigns and to find new ways of positioning your product. This feedback is invaluable as it directly improves your understanding of your customers' problems, and therefore gives you the right tools to better meet their expectations.

In the case of critics and passives, you will get specific answers about what they dislike about your product or company, and you will know exactly what to do to ensure a more pleasant customer experience for those two customer groups.

In terms of promoters, this question is efficient in generating great testimonials / customer testimonials. Because you will get complete answers that define your product and its strengths, the feedback on this question is ideal for use on the pages where this form of customer verification is important.

When you have identified the answers that you can use as testimonials, contact the respondents to ask for a profile picture or company logo, as well as their title / position / role.

Add these next to each answer and you will have a variety of testimonials to use for your website.

"How do you benefit from using our product / service?

This question may seem like it is repeating itself, but it is not really because it suggests a different point of view.
Let's say your product is an app that many customers praise for its fast and intuitive interface. By answering this question, they would explain why speed and ease of use are important to them.
While for some users the variety of functions has more weight in the perception of your product, others may focus primarily on usability aspects.

This question gives you insights into how your product is performing from a different perspective. The answers to this question should be included in marketing campaigns as this is exactly what potential customers are interested in.

"How does our product meet your requirements?"

This is another way to ask if your product is right for your customers. It should be best sent to promoters and passives who have at least some level of satisfaction with it, as opposed to critics who couldn't seem to find what they were looking for.

The collected feedback helps you to adapt your offer and to focus on relevant functions. Customer proposals guide your actions in designing and developing the product. In addition, you will understand the target audience better and expand your customer base based on the new insights.

"What problem are you trying to solve with our product?"

Every user who becomes a customer needs your product to solve a specific problem that varies from case to case.

Getting to know the problem itself would reveal a broad knowledge of customer expectations. Regardless of whether they are promoters, passives, or critics, customers share common problems that their company can respond to.
Asking this question is similar to doing market research. Whether you did your homework before creating your offering, you can refine it, add new features, or possibly redesign it from scratch.

It is very likely that critics will share more insight here.

Just like the question above, this one provides new insights into your customer base, while a thorough analysis can help identify potential customers to target.

"Why did you choose our product compared to our competition?"

Companies always compare themselves to competitors and spend a lot of time and money adding new features to their product to make it more attractive.
But what exactly do customers like about your product that made them choose to work with you rather than the competitor? Is it the price, the ease of use, the fast shipping, the variety of options?

With the help of this question you can find out what exactly sets you apart so that you can further develop and use this advantage.

"What can we do to make you happier?"

One of the most valuable things an NPS survey can offer companies is the ability to close the customer feedback loop and delight their customers. This question is important to show your customers that you care about success using your product.

Customer success managers can use the information in the responses to build fruitful relationships with customers. This question could be particularly crucial when dealing with critics. If you are quick to respond to feedback and offer your customers a unique solution, you can potentially turn your critics into passionate promoters.

With all the questions, don't forget the Thank You message

A thank you message is a great way to express your gratitude to customers. After all, they took the time to complete a survey for you and they deserve your credit for doing so. You can use the following examples, one for each customer category, to thank you for the responses to your NPS survey.

For promoters

Thank you for your feedback. It's nice to hear that you're a fan of (our company or product). Your feedback helps us discover new ways to improve (our company or product) and ensure that you are the best possible To get experience."

For passives

"Thank you for your feedback. Our goal is to develop the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play an important role in this. We are very grateful that you help us identify areas for improvement."

For Detractors

Thank you for your feedback. We value all ideas and suggestions from our customers, whether positive or critical. In the future, our team may contact you to learn more about how we can improve (our product or service) so that it exceeds your expectations. "

With Callexa Feedback, you can successfully leverage the benefits of NPS and gain insights into customer sentiment. Improve customer loyalty while reducing churn. Register your free starter tariff today and start surveying your customers right away.

Reading recommendation: If this article helped you and you would like to find out more about the Net Promoter Score, continue reading here: “The Net Promoter Score – Basics and Areas of Application”