The best open ended questions for employee engagement surveys come right after your eNPS score – but they need to be different for each response group: promoters, passives, and detractors. eNPS scores alone don't tell the full story—the real insights come from the follow-ups you ask next.
Let’s dig into great questions for eNPS follow up that actually get employees talking, sharing specific feedback you can use—tailored for each answer group.
Follow-up questions for promoters: building on positive momentum
Promoters (those who score 9-10) are your advocates, but don’t treat their praise as the final word—their feedback helps you uncover exactly what’s working and where excellence already exists. Their stories inspire—and can even be used to inform best practices you roll out across the organization. According to research, engaged employees contribute to 12% higher customer satisfaction and 18% greater productivity[1].
What’s one thing about working here that makes you proud to recommend us?
Can you share a specific example of when you felt especially motivated or supported at work?
If a friend was joining our team, what would you tell them to expect—and why?
What team practices or cultural elements do you wish everyone could experience?
Is there anything we can do to ensure your positive experience continues?
These questions work because they ask for specific examples rather than generic praise. They also help surface best practices or company moments that often get overlooked in broader discussions. Don’t hesitate to use AI for real-time probing—tools like automatic AI follow-up questions can instantly dig deeper if a promoter shares something special, ensuring you get all the context without missing those culture-defining highlights.
Engaging passives: uncovering what would make the difference
Passives (scores 7-8) are on the fence—they’re satisfied but not yet enthusiastic, and often have the clearest view on what’s missing. Your challenge is to prompt them into sharing those “almost there” insights.
What’s the one thing we could improve that would move your score from “good” to “great”?
Is there something that held you back from giving a higher score? Can you describe it in more detail?
Are there specific team processes or resources that feel lacking to you?
If you could change one thing about your day-to-day work, what would it be?
What improvements would make you feel like you truly belonged here?
Surface-level question | Probing question |
|---|---|
What would you like to see changed? | Is there a specific moment or example when things didn’t meet your expectations? What happened? |
How can we do better? | What support or resources would have made your recent project easier or more enjoyable? |
What really sets you apart is digging for specifics. Conversational AI surveys can automatically reply to vague answers with clarifying follow-ups, bringing richer insights to light. For instance, the AI survey response analysis feature makes it easy to spot patterns in feedback from passives—which often turns out to be the most actionable, since these employees are already close to becoming promoters.
Remember: passives are giving you a low-hanging opportunity to increase engagement. A little attention here—using these targeted follow-ups—can shift the needle across your whole organization. Companies that act on feedback from “almost happy” employees routinely see gains in satisfaction and retention[3].
Detractor follow-ups: turning criticism into action
Detractors (scores 0-6) aren’t just dissatisfied—they might feel real pain at work. When following up, tread thoughtfully. Your goal: make them feel heard and safe, so you can understand their concerns, not just record their complaints.
What’s the main issue or friction point you experience working here?
Can you share a recent situation that made you feel undervalued or frustrated?
What would need to change for you to feel better about working here?
What’s one suggestion you have that you feel would actually be heard and acted on?
If you could improve just one thing, what would your top priority be?
Handle with care: Tone makes all the difference here. An empathetic approach builds trust and guards against defensiveness. Just as important, AI-powered surveys keep your tone consistent, welcoming honest feedback even when it’s raw or critical. Research shows that open-ended questions encourage richer, more nuanced feedback—leading to actionable insights and making employees more likely to engage further[5].
Defensive approach | Constructive approach |
|---|---|
That’s not been our experience. Are you sure? | I appreciate your honesty. Can you walk me through what happened so I understand the experience? |
Why didn’t you tell us sooner? | What support would have helped in that situation? |
Conversational formats make it easier for detractors to open up. With AI follow-ups built in, you’ll ensure every concern is probed gently for actionable next steps without overwhelming the respondent—turning their feedback into improvement, not resentment.
How AI clarifiers remove ambiguity from employee feedback
We all know how frustrating vague feedback can be—“management could be better” or “communication needs work” leaves you guessing. This is where AI-powered clarification shines: instead of letting ambiguity slide, your survey can instantly prompt for more detail the moment a fuzzy answer appears, producing the actionable insights that drive real change.
Employee response: “Leadership isn’t great.”
AI clarifier: “Could you share a recent example of when you felt leadership fell short?”
Employee response: “Work-life balance is okay.”
AI clarifier: “What’s one change that would improve your work-life balance here?”
Employee response: “Communication is sometimes a problem.”
AI clarifier: “Was there a specific situation or channel where communication broke down?”
Automatic clarifiers like these save HR teams hours of manual follow-up—turning vague complaints into specific action items. If you want to make these clarifications part of your process, embedding smart engagement surveys with in-product conversational survey tech means you’re always having a real conversation, not just filling out a static form. The end result: feedback that’s richer, clearer, and far more usable.
And the beauty of it—all this happens naturally, in real time, making the survey feel like a true conversation instead of a faceless form.
Making employee engagement surveys conversational
Having great follow-up questions is just the beginning. If you want to unlock deeper engagement and higher-quality feedback, build a fully conversational survey experience:
Use dynamic, branching follow-ups so every response leads to the right next question (not a generic list)
Automate clarifying questions to ensure ambiguous answers become actionable insights—right in the moment
Adjust survey frequency with global recontact periods to avoid fatigue and get honest responses every time
Iterate rapidly: an AI survey editor lets you update questions or add probes in seconds—so your survey never gets stale
Done right, conversational surveys generate 2-3x more detailed insights than traditional survey forms[6]. If you're not using dynamic follow-ups, you're missing the real story behind your eNPS scores—and leaving transformative feedback on the table.
Create your own survey with smart follow-up logic to finally get actionable, specific feedback that drives employee engagement forward.