NKI survey: how to measure Nöjd Kund Index

The NKI survey helps you understand your customers

What do your customers think of your company? Find out! Satisfied customers are the foundation for your company to survive and make a profit. An NKI survey helps you find out what works well, and what should be improved.

The goal of an NKI survey can be to get figures on how satisfied the customers are with your products and services. You can identify the company's potential for improvement and get an NKI value (Nöjd Kund Index) that lets you compare the results between different years.

NKI is based on three core questions

NKI and Nöjd Kund Index are not trademarked terms. Anyone can construct their own model and call it Nöjd Kund Index, NKI. This does, however, make it difficult to compare the NKI of different organizations, since different companies use different models. NKI is based on three core questions:

• What is the customer's overall impression of your company?
• How well does your company live up to the customer's expectations?
• If there is a perfect supplier in your industry, how close does your company come to this ideal?

Strictly speaking, it would be enough to ask a single question: Will you do business with me again? But then you would miss a lot of valuable information. Nor can you be sure that the answer is honestly meant. It is important that you construct the questions from the customers' perspective. To construct an NKI survey that gives you value for money, you may need help from professionals. At the very least, read up properly!

• Think through the purpose of the NKI survey.
• What do you want to know?
• Ask simple and brief questions.
• The order of the questions matters.
• Limit the number of questions and answer options.
• Tell the customers why you are conducting the survey.
• Thank them for taking part in the survey.
• If a similar survey has been done before, compare the outcomes.

How to calculate NKI

Let the customers answer the three core questions on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest score and 10 is the highest. Then do this:

1. Calculate the average score for all answers to the three questions.
2. Subtract 1 from the average score.
3. Divide by 9 and multiply by 100.

Example: the average score is 7.3. Then NKI is (7.3 − 1) / 9 × 100 = 70.

Statistics Sweden (SCB), which uses the model in its surveys, interprets the result like this:

The conversion follows Statistics Sweden's table, where a score of 1 corresponds to 0 and a score of 10 corresponds to 100. Statistics Sweden also weights the three questions differently in its model, so a straight average is a simplification. Different companies also calculate in different ways. The most important comparison is therefore with your own result from the last measurement.

Source: Statistics Sweden's citizen survey, report appendix 2018 (in Swedish).

Prepare the NKI survey carefully

There are many tools on the market that can help you shape and design your NKI survey. But before you get that far, you need to spend some time and effort thinking about what you actually need to know, so that the answers can guide you in important decisions. It is also important that you find out how to phrase the questions so that your customers understand them and want to take part in your NKI survey.

Example questions for an NKI survey

Start with the three core questions and add questions about what you want to be able to improve. Here is a set you can start from:

You will find more ready-made questions among our survey templates. If you want to go through the whole process step by step, there is the guide on customer surveys.

Ten tips for a successful NKI survey

1. Plan and prepare the survey carefully: Set clear goals and define the areas and questions to examine, so that you get valuable feedback from the customers.

2. Use a mix of questions: Combine quantitative and qualitative questions to get both numerical data and deeper insights into the customers' experiences and expectations.

3. Keep the questions simple and short: Make sure the questions are clear, easy to understand and not too time-consuming to answer. This will increase the response rate.

4. Be specific: Ask questions aimed at specific aspects of the customer experience, for example customer service, product quality, delivery times, etc. This gives more detailed and useful results.

5. Offer anonymity: Make sure the respondents can answer the survey anonymously, to encourage honest and impartial answers.

6. Offer incentives: To increase the response rate, you can consider offering some form of incentive, for example a discount coupon or a chance to take part in a prize draw.

7. Vary the survey methods: Use different channels to reach the customers, for example online forms, telephone surveys or personal interviews. This lets more customers take part and gives a more representative picture.

8. Follow up and communicate the results: After the survey, it is important to communicate the results to the customers and also internally within the organization. It shows that you take their opinions seriously and gives an opportunity for improvements.

9. Analyze and act on the results: Once you have collected and analyzed data from the survey, it is important to act on the insights and feedback you have received. Identify areas that need improvement and implement suitable measures.

10. Keep measuring and following up regularly: NKI surveys are a continuous process. To make sure you maintain high customer satisfaction, keep measuring and following up regularly to monitor changes and take action when needed.

By following these tips, you can increase the chance of carrying out a successful NKI survey and get valuable insights to improve the customer experience.

NKI, NPS or CSAT?

NKI is one of three common measures of how your customers feel about you. They answer different questions and work well together.

Choose NKI when you want to follow the whole picture over time. Choose NPS when you want a quick temperature gauge, and CSAT when you want to know how a single purchase or support case went. The terms are also explained in our survey glossary.

Send the survey to the right people

An NKI survey is only as good as the answers you get. Send it to customers who have actually bought from you, and do it close to the purchase or delivery.

The easiest way is to email the link to your customer list. Write briefly why you are asking and how long it takes to answer. An SMS reminder after a few days can bring in more answers. Read more about the setup in our complete guide to surveys.