Here are some of the best questions for an inactive users survey about feature awareness, plus our tips for crafting them. With Specific, you can build your own conversational survey in seconds—leveraging AI to make every question count.
Best open-ended questions for inactive users surveys about feature awareness
Open-ended questions are invaluable for uncovering authentic user perspectives, especially from inactive users. They let people share what really matters to them—what’s confusing, helpful, or missing—without being boxed in by predetermined options. Use them when you want unexpected insights, full context, or to understand motivations behind user behavior. Notably, open-ended questions can also boost response rates if they feel relevant and lightweight, both critical when inactive user surveys often experience nonresponse rates as high as 40% or more. [1]
What was the main reason you stopped using our product?
Which features were you aware of before you became inactive?
Can you describe a feature you wish you’d known about earlier?
Were there any features you found confusing or hard to discover?
What would motivate you to come back and use the product again?
How did you first learn about our product’s features?
Do you remember any feature that felt unnecessary or overwhelming?
What’s one improvement that would make you reconsider using us?
Is there any feature you expected to find, but didn’t?
If you could suggest one change to help users discover features, what would it be?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for inactive users surveys about feature awareness
Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you want quick, quantifiable data or to help respondents get started. They lower friction (great for inactive users facing survey fatigue) and offer jump-off points for follow-up questions. Structured choices help you spot trends and quickly segment your data, which is crucial when web surveys with this audience can see nonresponse rates approach 60% for younger people. [2]
Question: Which of the following features were you aware of before you stopped using our product?
Core dashboard
Notifications
Data export
Tutorials and help center
Other
Question: What primarily influenced you to stop using the product?
Lack of needed features
Complex interface
Found better alternative
No longer needed the product
Other
Question: How did you originally learn about new features while using the product?
Email updates
In-app notifications
Word of mouth
Never heard about new features
When to follow up with "why?" Use a follow-up "why" when you want to dive deeper into the respondent’s initial choice. For instance, if someone chooses “Complex interface,” ask, “Why did the interface feel complex to you?” This conversational approach often uncovers actionable details that static forms miss.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include "Other" when you suspect your list of options may not be exhaustive. Follow up with "Please tell us more" to tap into unexpected insights or new feature requests that your team did not anticipate.
NPS-style questions for inactive users: should you ask them?
NPS, or Net Promoter Score, is a classic measure of customer sentiment: “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” For inactive users and feature awareness, it can be surprisingly effective. If users weren’t aware of key features, their willingness to recommend will be low—but the follow-up can reveal critical “why” insights about missed communications, confusing rollouts, or underwhelming capabilities.
Using an NPS variation—combined with tailored follow-ups for detractors, passives, and promoters—lets you quantify sentiment and isolate the exact causes of user inactivity. If you want to try this out instantly, Specific can generate an NPS survey for inactive users on feature awareness and even guide follow-up.
The power of follow-up questions
Specific is built for automated follow-up questions—and this is a game-changer for uncovering true, usable insights. Rather than asking respondents to fill in static forms, Specific uses dynamic, AI-generated probing in real time, just like a skilled interviewer. It can clarify ambiguous answers, ask "why" or "how" for more details, explore edge cases, and gently nudge respondents to share full context—all without overwhelming them.
Inactive User: "I stopped using it because it wasn’t what I needed."
AI follow-up: "Can you share more about what needs weren't met, or which features you felt were missing?"
How many follow-ups to ask? The sweet spot is usually 2-3 follow-ups per question. More than that can cause fatigue, especially for inactive audiences. With Specific, you can set a max follow-up depth and allow respondents to skip ahead once you get the detail you need—a big win for both insight and respect for users’ time.
This makes it a conversational survey: Respondents feel like they're having a two-way conversation, not struggling through a dull form. That’s a big reason why conversational surveys increase participation and quality.
Easy to analyze, even with tons of text: With AI survey response analysis, all those rich, open-ended replies and follow-up threads are automatically summarized, categorized, and made searchable. The AI does the heavy lifting—so qualitative feedback is simple, not a reporting headache.
These AI follow-up questions are still new to many teams. Try generating a survey yourself and see how conversational it feels—we think you’ll never want to go back!
How to compose the best AI prompt for survey question ideas
If you want to use ChatGPT (or another GPT) to get question ideas for an inactive users survey on feature awareness, start broad:
Use this base prompt:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for inactive users survey about feature awareness.
Whenever you can, add more context about your product, users, and survey goals. For example:
Our SaaS product just released major new features, but we’ve noticed many users have become inactive. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a conversational survey to understand which features they were (or weren’t) aware of, what confused them, and what might bring them back.
Then, seek organization or clarity:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Pick the categories that matter most (like "Awareness," "Motivation," or "Feature Clarity") and expand as needed:
Generate 10 more specific questions for the categories Awareness and Motivation.
Add, refine, or edit further using an AI prompt, or try Specific’s AI survey editor to iterate your survey by chatting in plain language.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is an interview-like experience powered by AI, focused on making feedback feel like a back-and-forth conversation. With an AI survey generator like Specific, you describe what you want (“An inactive user feature awareness survey, please!”) and AI instantly spins up relevant, engaging questions tailored to your audience. Follow-up questions adapt on-the-fly, probing for detail and clarifying fuzzy answers—so you always get context, not just vague data.
Let’s highlight the key distinctions:
Manual survey creation | AI survey generator |
|---|---|
Lengthy, repetitive manual editing | Instant drafts from a simple prompt |
Static, generic wording | Dynamic, tailored to your audience and goals |
No automatic follow-ups | Real-time probing for depth and context |
Analysis is a pain, requires manual effort | AI summarizes, categorizes, and chats with you about feedback |
Why use AI for inactive users surveys? Inactive users are the toughest group to reach and engage, with response rates often below 2% if you don’t offer incentives or personalization. [3] An AI-driven, conversational approach removes friction, adapts to user responses, and helps you capture actionable detail—while making the whole process smoother for both creator and respondent. Check out our guide to creating these surveys step-by-step.
With Specific, you get a best-in-class conversational survey experience—lean, intuitive, and built to ensure both you and your users enjoy the feedback process. Whether you’re starting on a blank slate or iterating from templates, the process is effortless, and friendly AI takes care of the heavy lifting. If you want a real-life AI survey example, you can launch a tailored survey in minutes, not hours.
See this feature awareness survey example now
Experience a new way to reengage and learn from inactive users—see how Specific’s conversational surveys spark richer feedback, AI-powered analysis, and effortless survey creation. Start uncovering what really matters to your former users today.