Best questions for inactive users survey about churn reasons

Here are some of the best questions for an inactive users survey about churn reasons, along with practical tips for crafting them. We know you want to get the most actionable insights—let Specific help you build a survey tailored to your unique needs, in just seconds.

Best open-ended questions for inactive users survey about churn reasons

Open-ended questions open the door to candid, unfiltered feedback. When you want to understand the real reasons behind churn—and not just get a checkbox answer—these questions are your best friend. They’re especially powerful when responses might reveal unexpected patterns, frustrations, or unmet needs that simple choices can’t surface.

Here are the 10 best open-ended questions to ask inactive users about their churn reasons:

1. What’s the main reason you stopped using our product?

2. Was there anything frustrating or confusing about your experience?

3. Did you consider any alternatives before deciding to stop using our service? If so, which ones—and why?

4. Was there a feature or benefit you felt was missing?

5. Did something specific happen that caused you to leave?

6. How did our product fit (or not fit) into your daily workflow?

7. What could we have done differently to keep you as a user?

8. Are there changes or improvements that would win you back?

9. How did you feel about the value you received for the price?

10. If you could share one piece of advice for us, what would it be?

Open questions like these encourage depth. In many industries, retention rates trend downward as churn rises—hospitality and travel, for instance, see customer retention dip as low as 55% and churn rates go up to 24% in retail and 25% in financial services. Understanding the nuances behind these numbers is critical for action. [1][2]

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for quantifying churn reasons

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you need structured data to quantify key drivers of churn. They're a gentle way to start the conversation—especially if an inactive user might not want to type out a long response. Present a few clear options, then dig deeper with open follow-ups or branching logic for richer insight.

Question: What was the main reason you stopped using our product?

• Lack of needed features

• Too expensive

• Found a better alternative

• It didn’t fit my needs

• Other

Question: How satisfied were you with the overall product experience?

• Very satisfied

• Somewhat satisfied

• Neutral

• Somewhat dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: How likely are you to consider returning to our product in the future?

• Very likely

• Somewhat likely

• Unsure

• Unlikely

• Very unlikely

When to followup with "why?" Any time a single-select question highlights “dissatisfaction,” “lack of features,” or “other”—this is your invitation to ask, "Why did you feel this way?" or "What specifically was missing for you?" These follow-up questions turn a dry statistic into compelling, actionable feedback.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include “Other” if your choices might not capture every user's situation. An “Other” option (followed by an open-ended input) often uncovers insights you didn’t expect—think new use cases or pain points you never considered. Follow up on “Other” responses to explore those outlier perspectives fully.

NPS question for understanding sentiment in churn feedback

Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions aren’t just useful for active users—they’re a powerful lens for understanding how inactive users feel about your product, even after churn. The classic NPS asks, “How likely are you to recommend our product to a friend or colleague?” on a scale from 0–10. This lets you segment former users as promoters, passives, or detractors, which is crucial for learning what really causes churn—and which users might return with the right changes.

If you want to gather NPS data for your churned audience, you can generate an NPS survey for inactive users about churn reasons directly in Specific.

The power of follow-up questions

Follow-up questions are at the heart of a truly conversational, AI-driven survey. If you want to collect deeper insight—especially from open-ended feedback—a static survey falls short. That’s why we designed Specific’s automated follow-up questions to be like chatting with a sharp researcher: they probe, clarify, and dig deeper in real time, asking all the right things based on context.

Why does this matter? Because survey data is only as good as its clarity. When you only ask one question (or fail to dig deeper), you risk misinterpreting vague responses, like:

• Inactive user: “It just didn’t work out for me.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you tell us more about what specifically didn’t work out?”

This extra step saves hours of back-and-forth over email and creates responses you can really use.

How many followups to ask? We typically find that 2–3 thoughtful follow-ups are enough to get the full context, while keeping things engaging. Specific lets you set limits and even skip to the next question once you’ve collected the info you need.

This makes it a conversational survey—not a static form. Respondents feel heard, which means richer data and more authentic feedback.

AI survey response analysis: Even with lots of unstructured text, AI tools like Specific’s analysis capabilities make it easy to organize, summarize, and act on every detail—so you never drown in data.

The conversational, follow-up-driven method is a game-changer. Try generating a survey yourself and see just how dynamic and insightful the process can feel.

How to prompt ChatGPT to generate excellent churn survey questions

Writing an effective prompt for ChatGPT or another AI model is simple, but if you give more context, you get dramatically better results. Start with something focused, like:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Inactive Users survey about churn reasons.

But you’ll get even richer and more tailored questions if you add details about your product, your users’ typical motivations, and your strategic goals. For example:

Our app helps remote teams collaborate on projects. Many users have gone inactive in the last 3 months. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to ask these inactive users about why they stopped using our product, and what might bring them back.

Next, organize your questions further. Use a prompt like:

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

Finally, dive deeper into the categories that matter most. If “Pricing” and “Missing Features” stand out, prompt:

Generate 10 questions for categories Pricing and Missing Features.

The more you share, the better the AI builds context-aware, high-ROI survey questions—no guesswork.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is a modern feedback format where the AI agent interacts with each respondent like a human interviewer. Instead of dumping ten static questions in a form, you ask questions, listen, probe, and adapt on the fly. That’s fundamentally different from what most in-house survey tools offer.

Let’s see how it compares:

Why use AI for inactive users surveys? Trying to learn from churned users is always tough—response rates are low, attention spans are shorter, and the risks of misinterpretation are high. An AI survey generator makes the process painless: it adapts to each respondent in real time, asks smarter follow-ups, and instantly analyzes results for you. With Specific, you get not only better questions but also richer, more actionable feedback—especially when compared to build-it-yourself tools. Check out our guide to creating a survey for churned users for a step-by-step overview.

If you want the best-in-class user experience in conversational surveys, Specific is purpose-built to make feedback frictionless and engaging—both for your team and for every respondent you reach.

See this churn reasons survey example now

Get actionable insights in minutes. Leverage AI-powered conversational surveys to deeply understand churn reasons from inactive users—and turn lost users into loyal ambassadors.