Looking for the best questions for NPS? This guide breaks down how to create highly effective Net Promoter Score surveys using an AI survey builder.
I'll walk you through composing your NPS question, crafting personalized follow-ups, smart scheduling, and using AI for faster, deeper analysis. We'll make your NPS as actionable—and easy—as it should be.
Let's get into asking better questions, right when they matter most.
Crafting the perfect NPS question
The gold standard for NPS is that familiar, powerful question:
How likely are you to recommend our product/service to a friend or colleague? (0 – Not at all likely, 10 – Extremely likely)
Wording really matters here. Even small tweaks—like saying "How likely are you to recommend us?" vs. "How likely would you be to recommend us to a friend?"—can shift responses. Too vague or too direct, and you risk muddying your results. Stick to the classic phrasing for benchmark compatibility, but don’t stop there. The big value comes in your follow-up questions, which is where AI shines as the survey builder of choice.
Context matters. Asking NPS after onboarding looks very different than after a customer support win—or loss. By tailoring the “would you recommend” question to recent experiences, you unlock much richer insights.
Generic NPS | Contextual NPS |
|---|---|
How likely are you to recommend us? | After your recent upgrade, how likely are you to recommend us? |
Sends to all at once | Targets users after a key action or moment |
Crafting context-aware NPS questions is painless with the AI survey generator—just give a prompt, and the system handles the nuance for you.
Dynamic follow-up questions that get real insights
After the core NPS question, segment your follow-ups. There are three NPS groups:
Promoters (9–10): Your champions, likely to advocate for you
Passives (7–8): Satisfied, but not thrilled—at risk of churn
Detractors (0–6): At best, neutral; at worst, spreading the bad word
Follow-up strategy is where AI elevates your survey—especially with automatic AI follow-up generation. Here are proven prompts for each segment:
Promoters (9–10)
What’s the main reason you would recommend us to others?
Can you name one feature or experience that really delighted you?
How could we make your experience even better?
Passives (7–8)
What could we do to turn you into a raving fan?
Was there anything missing or disappointing in your recent experience?
What’s one thing that would have pushed your score even higher?
Detractors (0–6)
Can you share what let you down or caused frustration?
Is there anything we could have done to improve your experience?
What needs to change to earn your recommendation?
With Specific, the AI generates these probes on the fly, tuned to each response, instantly surfacing what matters most—without extra manual work or guesswork from your side. Explore more about dynamic follow-ups here.
When to ask: Timing your NPS surveys
Survey timing isn’t just a detail—it’s the difference between an actionable insight and a shrug. NPS is most useful when collected in context, right after meaningful user touchpoints.
Recurring cadence means regularly scheduled NPS (monthly, quarterly, or after key milestones). This lets you spot trends and respond to shifts, but overdoing it can dampen response rates—so use frequency controls to balance signal with potential fatigue. Remember, ClearlyRated noted a drop in median NPS response rates from 30% in 2014 to just 25% by 2023, largely due to over-surveying [1].
In-product moments are those “aha!” or “ouch…” times—finishing onboarding, completing a purchase, or after a support ticket closure. Triggering conversational NPS at these points feels natural and yields richer data. In-app surveys, timed post-action, are often preferred—see how in-product conversational survey targeting works to maximize reach and relevance [2].
Great NPS triggers include:
Moments after a purchase is delivered
After a customer support chat is resolved
Once a key feature is first used or a project milestone is hit
And keep your survey short—each extra question can cut responses by up to 10% [3]. Frequency controls are your friend to prevent fatigue and maintain healthy participation [1].
Turning NPS responses into actionable insights
Once your NPS results roll in, don’t just look at the number—use AI to unlock the “why.” Modern AI makes it easy to turn qualitative, open-ended responses into precise, actionable themes. Instead of reading every comment, you’ll get distilled patterns and clear direction in minutes.
Chat-based analysis lets you explore findings like you’re brainstorming with a research analyst. Common example prompts for AI analysis:
What are the most common reasons given by promoters?
Summarize key issues detractors mentioned about support quality.
What feature requests are trending among passives?
Compare this month’s pain-point themes to last quarter’s.
The insights you generate through chat-based analysis tools like Specific’s AI survey response analysis reveal patterns that spreadsheets can’t: not just “what,” but “why” and “how to fix.”
Pattern recognition with AI means you can easily launch parallel threads: one digging into churn drivers, another unearthing what keeps promoters hooked. This multi-angle approach leads to smarter next steps for your product or team.
Advanced NPS strategies with conversational surveys
Ready for advanced tactics? Multilingual NPS surveys lower the barrier for global user insights—Specific handles real-time translation and lets respondents answer in their own language.
Tone customization boosts rapport. Sound casual for consumer apps or more buttoned-up for B2B—simply describe your intent, and the AI adapts phrasing and follow-ups for your brand style with a natural touch. The conversational style not only improves clarity, but, as a study shows, AI-powered chat-based surveys deliver higher quality responses in areas like specificity and informativeness [4].
Let’s be blunt: If you’re not running conversational-style NPS—complete with tailored follow-ups and multilingual support—you’re missing out on sharper insights and real user stories that your competitors might already be using. You can easily tailor, localize, or remix your NPS questions using a chat-based AI survey editor.
Follow-up questions are what transform a basic score into a true conversation—and that’s what makes a conversational survey so much more valuable than a static form.
Start building your NPS survey
Create your own NPS survey with an AI survey builder and get more honest, actionable responses than any old-school feedback form. You’ll capture deeper insights with dynamic follow-ups and chat-based analysis—Specific makes it feel effortless for both you and your respondents.