Pendo NPS Survey In-Depth Review (+Better NPS Alternative)

If you’re looking to create user surveys to examine sentiment and customer loyalty, then chances are you’ve considered using a Pendo NPS survey.

As every B2B buyer would do, it’s important to research a product before committing to it, especially in this case that you can’t try out Pendo NPS for free.

This article provides the answers you need to make a good buying decision. You’ll see the different functionalities that Pendo offers, feature limitations, cost implications, and the best alternative solution.

Overview of Pendo NPS

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys provide a good metric to gauge customer loyalty and product performance.
• Pendo allows users to create both in-app and email surveys. Email surveys are sent to users who couldn’t complete the survey in-app within 14 days.
• It’s possible to integrate third-party apps to transfer your NPS results to a different platform in real time. Pendo product integrations are limited based on price, though. The highest plan offers only 1 integration.
• Having an “Ask me later” option when you prompt your surveys is a good way to show respect for customers’ time. Sadly, Pendo doesn’t offer this feature. You can, however, get it done with Userpilot.
• Userpilot offers better segmentation and targeting options for your NPS survey compared to Pendo.
• Tagging NPS qualitative response data is a quick way to spot patterns in what’s driving customer satisfaction and loyalty of your users. However, Pendo doesn’t offer NPS survey response tagging.
• Only Pendo customers on their paid plans have access to the NPS feature, which can cost you anywhere from $7,000 to $15,000 per year (or more).
• Want to start collecting NPS responses in-app without having to upgrade to Pendo’s most expensive plans? Userpilot NPS offers more value for money than Pendo and is available in all plans.

What is Net Promoter Score NPS?

NPS is a specific user engagement metric used to measure customer loyalty and overall user satisfaction. It typically consists of an eleven-point (0-10) scale and a single sentence that asks users how likely they are to recommend a product or service to a friend or co-worker.

NPS scores are calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors (those who ranked you from 0 to 6 and are least likely to promote your product) from the percentage of promoters (those who ranked 9 0r 10 and are most likely to promote your product).

NPS detractors, passives, and promoters

What does Pendo do?

Pendo helps SaaS businesses discover product insights and analytics. The tool has an extensive list of features to help companies cater to customers at every stage of the user journey. It also offers in-app microsurveys (called Pendo Polls) but this article focuses on Pendo NPS surveys only.

Pendo NPS functionality overview

Pendo allows you to deliver your NPS survey solely in-app and through in-app + emails.

If you choose to send surveys both in-app and via email, then targeted users who didn’t complete the survey in-app within a 14-day window will receive it in their emails afterward. Both in-app and email surveys are typically accompanied by an open-ended question to collect qualitative feedback.

Once the NPS survey is live, the results will be collected in the NPS responses tab. But it’s possible to add integrations that will enable you to channel the responses to a different platform in real time. You could move them to a Slack channel, for example.

It’s worth noting that Pendo’s integrations are limited based on plans. You only get 1 integration in its Portfolio plan which is the most expensive one out of 4.

Pendo NPS content

Users can create a new NPS survey on Pendo by replacing the questions in the template below with their preferred choice of words. You can also add the usual follow-up qualitative question.

Pendo NPS survey

These are pretty standard and work well. However, adding your brand colors make the Net Promoter Score survey more personalized and harder for users to miss.

Adding the “Ask me later” option to the UI is also a good idea as it lets users know that you’re mindful of their time. There are no options for these two on Pendo, but you can easily get them with Userpilot.

NPS survey created in Userpilot

Pendo NPS segmentation and targeting

So many things can go wrong when your NPS survey is sent without proper segmentation. For instance, you don’t want to send surveys for features that customers haven’t used or ask trial users what they think about your product before they even get to use it.

Segmentation helps you solve this problem. And the good part is that Pendo lets you segment users based on any parameter you have in mind.

The default setting on Pendo is for your surveys to target all users. So to segment, you have to choose from the segmentation options provided. Click “Add Rule” to create new rules that match what you’re trying to achieve.

Targeting Pendo NPS surveys to different segments

In Pendo, you can create user segments based on various factors, including product usage data, visitor data defaults, account data defaults, and mobile-specific data.

This looks great, but note how rigid the segmentation options are. For example, how does segmenting by OS help when collecting net promoter score data?

Targeting NPS to the right users is what will get you good insights without annoying them with random NPS surveys based on how many days they were active only. This is why Userpilot provides richer segmentation options to enable you to categorize users properly.

NPS survey triggering options in Userpilot

Pendo NPS survey frequency

You can select how often you want to survey users, which is pretty standard.

Setting the frequency of a Pendo NPS survey

However, more frequency settings let you get contextual and really granular. Because in the end, the NPS survey is not just about data collection. The way you collect the data matters as it plays a huge role in how accurate your interpretation will be.

Setting the frequency of a Userpilot NPS survey

Pendo NPS localization

You can trigger NPS surveys in Pendo in multiple languages to increase the response rate. However, to enable this, you need to ensure localization is active on your in-app guides.

Userpilot lets you localize your NPS surveys automatically and manually for greater control. It supports up to 32 languages.

Userpilot NPS survey localization

Analyzing NPS surveys in Pendo

The NPS survey results can be seen in the guide report. You can find this by moving to the Guide tab and selecting the specific guide that contains your NPS.

The report is updated in real-time as more responses come in. At any point in time, you can view the number of people who have seen the survey, the number that responded, and the NPS score.

Analyzing NPS responses in Pendo

The above is just the summary. You can see the full details by clicking “View Poll Details.” This will take you to a page showing the information provided by each respondent. You get to see the NPS rating provided and their response to the qualitative questions.

In Pendo, you can also track the product and feature usage data of detractors and promoters for better insights.

Analyzing NPS responses in Pendo along with product usage data

It’s a bit sad that you can only see these results, and that’s about it. What if you want to group these results and make better sense of them? There are no options provided for such in Pendo. You may have to improvise manual methods…or turn to Userpilot.

When collecting NPS scores with Userpilot, you can look at the dashboard for a quick overview of the survey’s performance.

Userpilot NPS dashboard

You can look at qualitative responses and add tags. Userpilot also lets you view how common issues impact customer loyalty based on your applied tags. This will give you a clearer picture of what’s really going on with your product, and it will help you come up with a good action step. Because in the end, an NPS survey without corresponding action is simply a vanity metric.

Qualitative response tagging in Userpilot

How much does Pendo NPS cost?

Pendo NPS is not available in its free plan. It is available on the Starter plan which is priced at $7,000 per year and the Growth and Portfolio plans. For the latter two, we don’t have a precise figure because Pendo’s pricing is not listed on their website—custom quotes are given to businesses based on their product and needs.

However, online reviews show that the pricing can jump up to $15,000 per year. This price is based on reviews, so it might not be accurate. What we know for sure is that it’s expensive.

Pendo pricing plans

Pendo NPS survey alternatives to consider

There are so many options for creating and analyzing net promoter score surveys. You could custom-code it or use no-code software for it. The first option takes time and requires coding expertise, so many people don’t go with it.

When choosing a tool to do the job, you can go for a dedicated NPS software or a product adoption tool that also has NPS survey features. Dedicated NPS tools are great, but it will mean getting different tools for different purposes. Imagine paying for an NPS tool and still buying other tools when you want to create product experiences. Apart from the financial implications, jumping between tools can also drain you.

The best option is to use a product adoption tool with features for everything you’ll need to do at every stage of the customer journey. Userpilot is one such tool.

Userpilot NPS offers more value for money than Pendo

We’ve already covered why Userpilot NPS offers more value for money, so here’s a recap:

• Userpilot offers better personalization—you can customize the look and feel of the survey to your brand colors, for example. In addition to that, Userpilot also lets you add the “Ask me later” button, which shows you respect the user’s time.
• Userpilot offers richer segmentation and targeting options compared to Pendo.
• Userpilot has more detailed frequency settings to enable you to get accurate data.
• Tagging qualitative survey responses will help you observe common threads and see how they affect customer loyalty. This can’t be done in Pendo.
• NPS is not available in Pendo’s free plan, which means you can’t give the feature a try before paying the high subscription fee. But Userpilot is different. Even our trial users have access to this feature because we understand how important NPS is in increasing customer satisfaction.

Conclusion: Is Pendo NPS survey worth it?

Now you know what setting up a new NPS survey on Pendo looks like and you didn’t have to subscribe to any of the expensive plans to find out.

As seen in this article, Pendo’s NPS survey meets many well-known industry standards. But aside from that, the feature is pretty rigid, not giving enough room for creativity.

If you’re the type that likes to tweak and personalize your product experiences, then Userpilot might be the best option for you. And all you have to do to find out is book a demo call with our team.