Running NPS correctly is as important as calculating it. Here's how to get actionable data rather than a number that looks good on a dashboard.
Two types of NPS surveys
Relationship NPS: Sent to all customers on a schedule (quarterly or semi-annually). Measures overall satisfaction with your company. Best for tracking trends and comparing against industry benchmarks.
Transactional NPS: Triggered by a specific event (onboarding completion, feature launch, support ticket resolution). Measures satisfaction with a specific interaction. Best for identifying specific fix points.
Timing guidelines
- Don't survey new customers in their first 30 days (they haven't seen full value yet)
- Wait 7 days after a negative experience before surveying
- Never survey the same customer more often than every 90 days
- Transactional: survey within 24 hours of the trigger event
The follow-up question matters more than the score
The single-question NPS score tells you what your score is. The follow-up open-text question ("What's the main reason for your score?") tells you why. Code the responses into categories (e.g., "missing features," "price too high," "excellent support") and track the distribution. This is where the actionable signal lives.
Closing the loop
Reply to every detractor within 48 hours. Acknowledge the specific concern they raised. This converts 15–25% of detractors to passive or promoter, and generates trust regardless of outcome.
Use our NPS Calculator to calculate your NPS score from survey raw numbers.