Understanding the loyalty of your customer base is essential for brand success.
Asking the correct Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions of your customers will determine how loyal they are to your brand, providing businesses with ways to improve their experience.
Using a Likert scale, these questions allow respondents to rank their satisfaction levels from 1 to 10, revealing how likely they are to recommend your business to others.
Not only is NPS important for measuring customer satisfaction metrics, but it can also allow brands to measure competitive insights against competing companies.
The Main Benefits Of An NPS Survey
NPS surveys are more than just an effective tool to measure and understand consumer loyalty. Below, we'll review the best ways quality NPS survey questions can deliver actionable consumer insights.
Benchmarking insights
First off, these surveys are a great way to benchmark data around competing businesses.
By comparing your NPS with the score of rivals, brands can gauge how they're performing competitively - which is essential to success.
Of course, brands with high NPS ratings are likely to do well, while ones with lower scores will need to address issues to improve their strategies.
That's why our net promoter score company always recommends adding a follow-up question that asks respondents to explain their rating.
With this insight, you can better understand what you are doing right and what things need to be improved.
Track results over time
In addition to comparing your results to competitors, when conducting NPS surveys, you should be comparing your results year-over-year.
Doing this not only allows for continuous improvement, but it's a way for businesses to measure internal fluctuations.
For example, if your NPS continues to rise over a period of time, this indicates customers are happy with the improvements you've made.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, a decreasing NPS over time shows that immediate action is necessary before it dips any lower.
Predictive analytics
Lastly, another key benefit of using net promoter score questions is that they can predict future revenue patterns.
In more detail, this can include:
- Cash flow
- Business growth
- Likelihood of gaining new customers
Again, all this stems from using customer data to improve services, resulting in more business.
To showcase this, teams that work well with customers can see up to a 21% increase in sales.
Types of NPS Survey Questions
Usually, a survey looking to measure their net promoter score will include two basic questions.
The first NPS question is: On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend Company ABC to a friend, family member, or colleague?
The follow-up open-ended NPS question is: Please explain why you provided a [X] rating.
Based on their responses, customers are placed into three groups:
- 😍 Promoters are customers who rate your brand a 9 or 10 are considered promoters. Those who are actively loyal and promote your brand to others.
- 😐 Passives are customers who rate your brand a 7 or 8 are considered passives. Those who like your brand but are not overly loyal and are susceptible to switching to competitors.
- 😡 Detractors are customers who rate your brand a 0 to 6 are considered detractors. Those who are actively unhappy with your brand often have conversations about using competitors or already using them.
Here is how you would calculate your NPS based on the percentage of customers who fall into each category.
Relational NPS
Just as it sounds, relational NPS measures the relationship between the consumer and your company.
Relational net promoter score questions are the most common in this category and cover how likely a customer is to recommend your brand instead of interactions they've had.
Unfortunately, relational NPS survey questions are often misused in transactional customer surveys. Instead of asking NPS questions in transactional surveys, topics like customer effort score (CES) would be a better fit.
Additionally, changes in wording can also turn a relational NPS question into a transactional one, which we'll discuss next.
Transactional NPS
These NPS questions don't focus on the relationship between the customer and your brand but on specific transactions between the two of you.
Again, relational NPS questions are often used incorrectly, in a transactional sense. This just makes for the waste of a good question!
Instead, transactional NPS questions can follow the same pattern as relational ones but target a key interaction. For example, this type of question may ask a customer about a recent experience (AKA, transaction).
Whereas relational NPS survey questions are great for identifying the overall happiness levels of customers, transactional questions are ideal for discovering more pressing issues in the buying process.
NPS Survey Structure
This part varies depending on the needs of a brand, but with the help of a third-party team like Drive Research, the proper survey structure will be created.
Generally, these surveys will start by asking the key net promoter score survey question: how likely are you to recommend ABC company?
After the main question is asked, a follow-up question is used to have the respondent explain their response in an open-ended text box.
This helps understand the motivations behind the customer's original NPS rating.
It's also normal to include related questions about the customer experience after this to gather more useful data. These will often center around ways to better customer interactions and other related topics.
Sample NPS Questions To Ask
Below are some examples of what you may find in an NPS survey.
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to recommend [your brand] to a friend?
- After using [product/service] how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
- Which of our offerings played a role in your likelihood to recommend us?
- After interacting with our customer service team, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?
As we discussed earlier, sometimes there are more questions added to an NPS survey depending on your needs.
These can be open-ended or multiple-choice, such as the following:
- What services do you prefer?
- What would make you not recommend our services?
- What areas can we improve?
Other NPS Things to Think About
The most important aspect of NPS surveys is how you use that customer data. Even after receiving useful customer insights, the data is only good if it's put into action.
But how can this be done?
First, NPS data can be used to improve customer protocols as specified in the survey.
It's key to focus on what the detractors in your survey mentioned and how those areas can be rectified.
Considering negative feedback is always the most important part of reviewing survey results, as it's a clear view of customers' pain points.
NPS results can also be used in additional strategies such as marketing. Consider featuring the NPS page on your brand's website to provide more information to potential customers.
Additionally, this information can also be used in content like white papers to fully showcase the NPS survey findings.
Contact Our NPS Survey Company
Drive Research is a full-service market research company specializing in net promoter score surveys.
Our team of senior market research professionals manages each aspect of your NPS survey to ensure 100% quality respondents and data. This includes survey design, programming, fielding, and analyzing feedback.
Interested in conducting an NPS survey with our team? Contact us through any of the four channels below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Lark Allen
As a Content Marketing Specialist, Lark has a strong background and passion for creative, professional, and journalistic writing. She is also a self-proclaimed music freak and 90s enthusiast.
Learn more about Lark, here.
