When running customer and competitive analysis, the most valuable insights come from understanding not just your NPS score, but how customers compare you to alternatives.
The best questions for NPS benchmarking go beyond the standard 0–10 rating—they dig into the ‘why’ behind scores and uncover specific competitive advantages or gaps.
This article shares ready-to-use question templates and analysis strategies for building NPS surveys that capture both loyalty metrics and your competitive positioning.
Core questions that combine NPS with competitive benchmarking
Classic NPS asks, “On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our company to a friend or colleague?” To extract real competitive context, I always build in a follow-up question right after the score—one that makes customers compare us to the competition.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
“On a scale of 0–10, how likely are you to recommend [Brand/Product] to a friend or colleague?” (NPS core question)
“What alternatives or competitors, if any, did you consider before choosing us?” (competitive baseline)
“Why did you choose us over [named competitors]?” (or, for detractors: “What would make you choose [named competitor] instead?”)
“How does our product/service compare to [top competitor] on [important feature or value]?”
Combining NPS and competitive benchmarking lets us segment loyalty, but also understand why people stay or churn—and what competitors are winning in their minds. Simply asking for a rating gives you a number; asking for a direct competitor comparison delivers actionable, strategic insight.
Quantitative ratings tell you who’s happy or unhappy; qualitative follow-ups show you why and how to win.
Standard NPS Questions | Competitive NPS Questions |
|---|---|
How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? | How do we compare to [top competitor] on [feature]? |
What’s the main reason for your score? | What would make you switch to a competitor? |
Dynamic follow-ups supercharge this process. The survey can automatically drill into unique customer logic based on their initial score. Automatic AI follow-up questions let you automate this probing—so you get richer, more tailored feedback with less manual setup. According to McKinsey, 58% of organizations now embed at least one AI capability in their customer-facing operations, showing increasing recognition of the value in smart, adaptive feedback mechanisms [1].
Tailored follow-up questions for promoters, passives, and detractors
NPS isn’t one-size-fits-all—segmentation matters. Here’s how I’d approach dynamic follow-ups for each group:
Promoters (9–10)
What made you choose us, rather than alternatives like [competitor A/B]?
Which competitor came closest to winning your business, and why did you ultimately stick with us?
If a colleague asked why we’re better than [competitor], how would you explain it?
Passives (7–8)
If you were to switch products, which competitor would you consider first—and what’s most attractive about them?
Where do you think our solution falls short compared to [competitor]?
What changes would make you definitely recommend us over any competitor?
Detractors (0–6)
What could [competitor A] do to better meet your needs than we do?
Have you already started looking at alternatives? If so, which ones—and why?
What would convince you to give us another try instead of switching?
Each follow-up illuminates a different part of the customer’s decision process. Promoter questions uncover perceived strengths and help you double down on those differentiators. Passive questions reveal what’s at risk—giving you a playbook for converting them into fans. Detractor follow-ups expose competitive weaknesses and churn drivers, so you can prioritize fixes faster.
Specific’s user experience is tuned for maximum engagement—dynamic, conversational probing means respondents don’t feel like they’re filling out a test, but rather having a natural conversation. See how AI dynamic follow-ups work.
And this is exactly why follow-ups transform your NPS into a genuine conversational survey—not a lifeless form.
How to segment competitive themes from NPS responses
Getting great feedback is only the start. Next, segment responses by competitive themes–like price, support quality, features, usability, or brand trust—so you can connect customer perception to NPS segment and competitor.
With AI-powered tools like AI survey response analysis in Specific, you simply ask the platform to group responses by competitor mentions, feature requests, or driver of churn/retention, and the AI handles clustering and summarization.
Group responses by competitor mentioned (e.g., “Which customers mention [Brand X] most frequently, and what are their main reasons?”)
This prompt helps identify which competitors keep surfacing in feedback and their associated strengths/weaknesses.
Segment detractor responses by reason for dissatisfaction, and show patterns in switching intent to main competitor.
An AI thread like this clarifies if detractors are leaving because of missing features, price, or another factor—and who they’re switching to.
Summarize themes among promoters—what unique strengths do they mention compared to alternatives?
Use this to codify the messaging and assets for future sales/marketing campaigns tied directly to actual user sentiment.
Competitor filtering lets you drill deeper—e.g., see “only responses that mention [competitor Y]” and contrast their pros and cons with what customers say about you.
Feature gap analysis goes even further: spot patterns like “most detractors mention reporting features as a reason for leaving” to fuel rapid product roadmap decisions. Creating separate analysis threads in Specific means you don’t get lost in generic feedback: every competitive angle gets a dedicated discussion and instant, shareable output.
Exporting NPS benchmarking summaries for stakeholder reports
Once the responses are in and analyzed by AI, it’s time to extract and package the most valuable competitive insights for your team or leadership. Distilling hundreds of survey replies into a handful of clear positioning takeaways saves everyone hours in meetings and excel sheets.
Specific’s AI summaries turn thick qualitative data into bite-sized, evidence-backed statements—perfect for executive briefings or team retros. Here’s how I format exports:
Share headline findings for each NPS segment (e.g., “Promoters prefer us for reporting speed; detractors switch mostly for integrations.”)
Break out competitor win/loss reasons—so sales, CS, and marketing all get actionable talking points.
Export segment and competitive trends in tables for easy team digestion.
Executive summaries speak directly to leadership or board members: “Here are the top three reasons we win and lose vs. key competitors this quarter.” Keeping it concise and strategic means it’ll actually get read.
Product team exports get more granular: theme breakdowns, feature gap lists, verbatim quotes grouped by competitor. This goes straight to the roadmap—to prioritize fixes and amplifications based on customer voice.
And since Specific lets you spin up multiple analysis chats at once, each department or project can pull a bespoke summary focused on their competitive concerns—in parallel, not sequentially.
If you’re not running these competitive NPS surveys, you’re missing out on understanding why customers choose competitors over you—and exactly what needs fixing next.
Launch your competitive NPS benchmarking survey today
Don’t wait for quarterly reviews—capture fresh, nuanced competitive insights from real customers using conversational AI surveys. Let AI-powered follow-ups reveal the subtle drivers behind customer loyalty and churn that rigid forms never catch. Create your own survey with the AI survey builder—it crafts a complete, competitive NPS survey from your simple prompt, saving hours and surfacing sharper insights every time.