An NPS survey has one required question: "How likely are you to recommend [product] to a friend or colleague?", answered on a 0 to 10 scale. Follow it with one open question that asks why, such as "What is the main reason for your score?" Everything else is optional, and every extra question lowers the number of people who finish.

Below are the standard question, 30 follow-ups grouped by what you want to learn, and the rules for when to send them. To turn answers into a score, use the free NPS calculator.

The standard NPS question

How likely are you to recommend [product] to a friend or colleague?

  • Scale: 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely). Keep all 11 points; changing the scale makes your score impossible to compare.
  • Groups: 9 to 10 are promoters, 7 to 8 passives, 0 to 6 detractors.
  • Score: % promoters minus % detractors, from -100 to +100. See Net Promoter Score for the full definition.

Small wording changes are fine: "[product]" can be your company, a feature or a support experience, and "friend or colleague" can become "a peer at another company" for B2B.

Follow-up questions: the "why"

Ask one of these right after the score. Open text works best here.

  1. What is the main reason for your score?
  2. What is the one thing we could do to raise your score?
  3. What do you value most about [product]?
  4. What almost stopped you from giving a higher score?
  5. In a few words, how would you describe [product] to a colleague?

Questions for detractors (0 to 6)

Show these only to detractors, if your tool supports branching. Aim to learn what is broken and whether they are at risk.

  1. What disappointed you most?
  2. What were you expecting that we did not deliver?
  3. Which task is hardest for you in [product] today?
  4. Are you considering another tool? If yes, which one and why?
  5. Would you be open to a 15-minute call so we can understand the problem?

Questions for passives (7 to 8)

Passives are satisfied but not excited. Ask what would move them up.

  1. What is missing that would make [product] a must-have for you?
  2. What would make you recommend us without hesitation?
  3. Which feature do you wish worked differently?
  4. What other tools do you use alongside [product] for the same job?

Questions for promoters (9 to 10)

Promoters tell you what to protect and are the easiest people to ask for help.

  1. What would you tell a friend [product] is best at?
  2. Which feature would you miss most if it went away?
  3. May we quote your answer on our website? (Ask for permission, never assume it.)
  4. Would you be willing to leave a review or join a customer call?

Product and feature questions

Use these when the NPS survey is your main touchpoint with users and you want product input. Link the answers to your feature request board so they do not sit in a spreadsheet.

  1. Which feature do you use most?
  2. Which feature did you try and stop using? Why?
  3. If you could add one feature to [product], what would it be?
  4. How well does [product] fit into your daily workflow? (1 to 5)
  5. How easy was it to get started with [product]? (1 to 5)

Relationship vs transactional NPS

A relationship survey asks about the product overall, on a schedule (for example every quarter). A transactional survey asks right after a specific moment. These variants fit transactional surveys:

  1. How likely are you to recommend our support team, based on this conversation?
  2. How likely are you to recommend [product] after completing onboarding?
  3. How likely are you to recommend [new feature] to a colleague who does similar work?

B2B and team questions

In B2B, the person answering is often not the buyer. These questions add context.

  1. What is your role? (Admin, daily user, decision maker, other)
  2. How many people on your team use [product]?
  3. How likely are you to recommend [product] to another team at your company?

Employee NPS (eNPS)

The same method works for employees, asked anonymously.

  1. How likely are you to recommend [company] as a place to work to a friend? Follow with: What is the main reason for your score?

When and how to send an NPS survey

  • Give people time with the product first. Ask after they have used it enough to judge, not on day one.
  • Pick one rhythm. Relationship NPS on a fixed schedule (quarterly or every six months) gives you a trend. Do not survey the same user more often than that.
  • Ask where they already are. An in-app survey reaches active users; email reaches people who have drifted away. Know which one you used before comparing scores.
  • Keep it to two or three questions. The score, one "why", and at most one branch question.
  • Close the loop. Reply to detractors, tag themes, and tell people when you ship what they asked for, for example in your changelog.

How to calculate your NPS

Count promoters (9 to 10), passives (7 to 8) and detractors (0 to 6). Divide promoters and detractors by total responses, then subtract:

NPS = (promoters / total × 100) − (detractors / total × 100)

Example: 100 responses with 50 promoters, 30 passives and 20 detractors give 50% − 20% = +30. Passives count toward the total but not toward either percentage. The NPS calculator does this for you.

Tools for sending NPS surveys

Most survey tools support the NPS question type. For a comparison of ten options with prices checked in November 2026, see the best customer survey tools. FeatureOS includes an NPS field in its forms and surveys module, which is in beta, and the survey generator drafts question sets you can copy into any tool. For broader feedback questions beyond NPS, see customer feedback survey questions.