Best questions for canceled subscribers survey about onboarding experience

Here are some of the best questions for a canceled subscribers survey about onboarding experience, plus practical tips for creating them. With Specific, you can generate a tailored survey in seconds—using smart, conversational AI that uncovers honest answers.

Best open-ended questions for canceled subscribers onboarding experience surveys

Open-ended questions are ideal when we want depth. They allow canceled subscribers to share stories, frustrations, and specific suggestions, providing actionable context. Open-ended feedback is especially powerful in onboarding experience surveys—it uncovers how canceled subscribers actually felt, in their own words, and points out issues we wouldn’t spot in a checklist. Using open-ended prompts early in the survey can quickly surface pain points and unmet expectations, giving us rich insights to improve future onboarding journeys. And with AI-driven surveys, the completion rate shoots up—often reaching 70–90% [1].

1. What initially attracted you to try our product or service?

2. Can you describe your first impression during the onboarding process?

3. Were there any specific steps in the onboarding that felt confusing or unnecessary? Please elaborate.

4. What expectations did you have before signing up, and how well did onboarding align with those?

5. Can you share a moment in the onboarding process that caused frustration or made you reconsider your subscription?

6. Is there anything that would have made onboarding smoother or clearer for you?

7. How did communication and support during onboarding match your needs?

8. What features or information did you feel were missing early on?

9. If you could change one thing about our onboarding experience, what would it be?

10. What could have convinced you to stay after completing the onboarding process?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for onboarding feedback

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when we want to quantify opinions or make it easier for canceled subscribers to reply quickly. They’re also a great way to “break the ice,” so people don’t feel overwhelmed by open-ended questions right away. With specific answer options, it’s simple to spot patterns or measure changes over time—like how many users felt “very satisfied” versus “very confused” at onboarding.

Question: How would you rate the overall clarity of the onboarding process?

• Very clear

• Somewhat clear

• Neutral

• Somewhat unclear

• Very unclear

Question: What was the main reason you canceled shortly after onboarding?

• Did not understand how to use key features

• Onboarding was too time-consuming

• Lack of support or guidance

• Product did not meet expectations

• Pricing concerns

• Other

Question: Did you receive enough information about our product during onboarding?

• Yes, more than enough

• Yes, just enough

• No, not enough

• No, information was overwhelming

When to followup with "why?" Whenever a respondent selects a broad or negative answer—like “unsure,” “very unclear,” or “other”—that’s our cue. Ask “why?” in a friendly way: “Could you share more about what made the process unclear for you?” That’s where the magic lives—hidden context and very specific feedback.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include "Other" for questions on reasons for cancellation or expectations. It’s an invitation for canceled subscribers to share unique issues you haven’t considered. Follow-up questions after “Other” can surface hidden usability flaws, unmet needs, or opportunities for improvement you’d otherwise miss.

NPS-style feedback for onboarding experience surveys

Net Promoter Score (NPS) helps us gauge loyalty and future advocacy by asking: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” For canceled subscribers, this question pinpoints whether onboarding created enough value to spark positive word of mouth—even if they ultimately left. Running a focused NPS survey for canceled subscribers about onboarding lets us compare their satisfaction to current users and spot where first impressions break down. Pairing NPS with a quick “why?” follow-up can make hidden onboarding issues glaringly obvious. It’s a simple metric with serious diagnostic power.

The power of follow-up questions

We believe the real insights come from dynamic probing. One of Specific’s best features is AI-generated follow-up questions that react instantly to a canceled subscriber’s reply. If someone says, “the onboarding was confusing,” AI can ask, “Was it a particular step that was confusing? Can you describe it?” This deepens understanding while the memory is fresh and genuine.

• Canceled Subscriber: The onboarding was confusing.

• AI follow-up: Was there a specific part that felt especially confusing, or was it the overall process?

How many followups to ask? Striking a balance matters—two or three follow-ups usually gets us what we need. With Specific, you can set the max follow-up depth and allow respondents to move on once their point is clear. This saves time, reduces respondent fatigue, and lets you focus on high-quality data.

This makes it a conversational survey—not a cold interrogation, but a real, adaptive chat that feels natural. Respondents feel heard (not drilled), which keeps engagement—and honesty—high.

AI survey response analysis has changed the game. You can analyze open-ended survey responses with AI—no more hours spent coding qualitative responses. Just prompt the AI, and you get summaries, themes, and actionable takeaways across all responses, at scale and 60% faster than manual tagging, with over 95% accuracy in sentiment analysis [3].

Automated follow-up questions are a brand new approach—if you haven’t tried generating a conversational survey, you should experience how it draws out richer onboarding stories from canceled subscribers.

How to craft ChatGPT prompts for onboarding experience surveys

You can instantly generate strong questions for canceled subscribers surveys about onboarding using AI, especially if you give it clear, detailed prompts. Here are some ways to do that:

Start with the basic prompt for idea generation:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Canceled Subscribers survey about Onboarding Experience.

But AI always works better with more context—add details about your product, user journey, what you want to learn, and your tone of voice, like this:

I'm conducting a survey for people who canceled their subscription during or just after onboarding. Our product is a SaaS platform for small businesses. Please suggest 10 in-depth, open-ended questions that uncover their reasons for leaving and what could have improved their first experience.

Once you have some questions, ask ChatGPT to sort and refine:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, zoom in on the categories most relevant to your goals. For example:

Generate 10 questions for categories "Missing Features," "Communication Gaps," and "Unmet Expectations."

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys are chat-based, adaptive, and smart—unlike the old static forms. An AI survey generator like Specific lets us create an onboarding experience survey for canceled subscribers just by describing what we want to know. The AI builds a natural, friendly conversation: it asks the best questions, follows up like a human would, and even reacts to ambiguity or confusion in real time. The result? Higher participation, deeper insights, and a more human touch throughout.

Here's how AI survey generation compares to the manual approach:

Why use AI for canceled subscribers surveys? Because you want more honest answers, more depth, and clearer signals on how to fix churn—without burning hours on form-building or manual analysis. Conversational AI-led surveys, like those in Specific, simply get better data, faster. Explore an AI survey example tailored for onboarding canceled subscribers, or see how to create a survey step-by-step—it’s remarkably simple.

Specific offers the best-in-class conversational survey experience for onboarding feedback and churn research, creating an engaging process for both survey creators and respondents.

See this onboarding experience survey example now

Want actionable insights from your canceled subscribers? Don’t wait. See how adaptive, AI-powered surveys can reveal what your onboarding is missing—and spark effective improvements for your product today.