NPS Survey Template: The Questions, the Score, and What to Do With It

Open the NPS templateDownload the NPS survey kit (PDF)

The question and the score

Net Promoter Score is built on one question. On the Net Promoter System site, it is worded "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?", answered on a scale from 0 to 10.

The answers fall into three groups: 9 and 10 are promoters, 7 and 8 are passives, and 0 to 6 are detractors. The score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Passives count towards the total but not the result, so the score runs from −100 (everyone a detractor) to +100 (everyone a promoter).

A worked example, so the arithmetic is clear: 40 people answer. 22 give 9 or 10, which is 55%. 10 give 7 or 8. 8 give 0 to 6, which is 20%. The score is 55 minus 20, which is 35. Note that it is a number, not a percentage, and that moving one person from 6 to 7 raises it as much as moving one from 8 to 9.

Comparing your score with a published "industry average" is less useful than it looks, because surveys are sent at different moments to different customers. Compare your own score with itself, round after round, asked the same way.

The template, question by question

The builder's Net Promoter Score template is a survey, so it shows one question at a time, which suits a two-minute survey opened on a phone. It contains four questions:

1. The recommend question on a 0–10 scale, labelled "Not at all likely" and "Extremely likely" at the ends. Required.
2. "What's the main reason for your score?" Optional. This is where the useful information is.
3. "What's one thing we could do better?", shown only when the score is below 7.
4. "Would you be happy to leave us a public review?", shown only when the score is above 8.

The third question is good practice: detractors get asked for the fix, while everyone else gets a shorter survey. The fourth needs a decision from you, explained in the next section, before you send the survey to customers.

The review-request trap

Showing a "leave us a review" request only to people who scored 9 or 10 is a common NPS trick. If the review is for Google, it is against the rules. Google's policy on fake engagement says businesses must not "discourage or prohibit negative reviews, or selectively solicit positive reviews from customers". Asking only promoters is selective solicitation, often called review gating.

There are two clean ways to handle it. Either change the condition on the fourth question so it shows to everyone (or delete the condition), or remove the question and ask every customer for a review separately, whatever their score. Our guide on how to ask customers for reviews covers the wording.

What you can do freely is use the scores privately: call the detractors, learn from the passives, thank the promoters.

Step by step: send it and read the results

1. Open the NPS template

Open the free form builder with the NPS template (the button at the top of this post opens it directly). If a form is already in progress in your browser, use "← Templates" to start over.

2. Check the wording

Keep the recommend question word for word; changing it makes rounds harder to compare. Put your business name in the intro so people know who is asking.

3. Decide the review follow-up

Select the review question and either set "Show this question" back to Always, or delete it.

4. Publish and send the link

Publish with your email; the Share tab in your new account has the link and a QR code. On the free plan the portal does not send email for you, so send the link from your own email or as a text, or print the QR code on a receipt or invoice. Send it soon after the job is finished, while people remember it.

5. Read the score

Open the form and choose the Summary tab. It shows views, starts, completions and the completion rate, then a chart per question; for a 0–10 scale that includes the average, the spread of scores and the NPS score itself. The Results tab lists every answer with search and filters, so "score less than 7" gives you this round's call list. Check the Summary figure against the tally sheet in the PDF once, so you know exactly how it is worked out.

What to do with each group

The score is a thermometer; the follow-up is the treatment. A simple plan that fits a small business:

• Detractors (0–6): contact every one personally within a week. Read their reason first, then ask what would have made it right. Some will tell you about a problem you can still fix; all of them will notice that someone read the answer.
• Passives (7–8): read every reason and look for the one missing thing that comes up more than once. Passives are usually satisfied but not impressed, and the gap is often small: a slow reply, an unclear price, a missed reminder.
• Promoters (9–10): thank them. If you run a referral offer, this is the moment to mention it, because they have just told you they would recommend you.

Keep the survey to the same short set of questions every round, and send it at the same point in the customer's journey, such as a week after the job is finished. To put the survey link on your website or a receipt, the embedding guide covers the link, QR code and pop-up options, and the conditional logic guide explains how the score-based follow-ups work if you want to add your own.

Questions people also ask

Sources

• Net Promoter System — Measuring your Net Promoter Score
• Google — Maps user contributed content policy: fake engagement
• Qualtrics — What is Net Promoter Score