Here are some of the best questions for a prospect survey about use cases, plus quick tips on crafting them to get deeper insight. If you want to build a tailored AI-driven survey in seconds, you can generate your own with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for a prospect survey about use cases
Open-ended questions fuel meaningful conversations. They help you uncover unexpected needs, motivations, and barriers—essential when exploring use cases with prospects. These questions are your best tool if you want honest, unfiltered feedback that gives you context beyond standard forms. Surveys that feel like a natural conversation, especially when powered by AI, can achieve 3-5x higher response rates compared to old-school forms. [1]
What problem or need led you to look for solutions like ours?
Can you describe how you currently address this challenge?
What would an ideal solution look like for your situation?
Are there features or capabilities you wish existed in a tool solving this issue?
Have you tried other products before? If so, what worked or didn’t work for you?
How does success look for you after solving this problem?
Where do you see the biggest obstacles to adopting a solution like ours?
How would using a product like ours change your daily workflow or business?
What information do you still need before you’d try a new approach or tool?
Who else is involved in the decision to try or buy a new solution in your team?
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for prospect survey about use cases
Single-select multiple-choice questions are spot-on when you want to quantify patterns or give people a gentle entry point. They’re excellent icebreakers: prospects often find it easier to click a quick option than to write out a long reply—and from there, you can trigger relevant follow-ups for deeper insights. This structure lets you efficiently see trends or segment your audience.
Question: Which of these best describes the main challenge you’re looking to solve?
Improving team efficiency
Reducing costs
Finding new customers
Other
Question: How urgent is your need for a new solution?
Very urgent—need to solve ASAP
Soon—actively researching
Not urgent—exploring options
Question: What is your primary goal with a new tool?
Automate manual work
Increase revenue
Enhance customer experience
Other
When to follow up with "why?" Add a "why" follow-up when you want richer context—like understanding the motivation behind a choice. For instance, after someone chooses "finding new customers," you might follow up with: “Why is that your top priority right now?” This digs into the prospect’s pain and urgency.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Adding “Other” gives respondents an open field for an answer you didn’t anticipate. Following up with “Can you tell us more about that?” often uncovers emerging trends or edge cases that can spark new feature ideas or messaging angles.
Should you include an NPS question in a prospect use case survey?
NPS (“Net Promoter Score”) is often used to measure customer loyalty, but it can be a strategic question for prospects too. It quickly reveals how much potential users believe in your solution after seeing its core features and use cases. Asking, “Based on what you know, how likely would you be to recommend our product to a colleague?” gives you an instant read on perceived value—before a prospect even becomes a customer. Check out a ready-to-use NPS setup for prospect surveys here.
The power of follow-up questions
Open-ended questions are only powerful if you get full context. That’s why automated follow-ups are a game-changer—AI can clarify vague replies, dig deeper when it senses a lead, and stop when it’s got what you need. This is exactly how Specific’s AI-powered follow-up questions work, probing smarter than any form and saving teams hours of manual email wrangling later. Automated follow-ups keep the conversation flowing, which helps maintain high engagement and yields quality insights—one reason AI surveys deliver up to 90% completion rates, while traditional forms often stall out at just 10-30%. [2]
Prospect: “We want to improve efficiency.”
AI follow-up: “What’s slowing your team down the most right now?”
Prospect: “Tried other solutions but didn’t work.”
AI follow-up: “Can you share what didn’t work so we can avoid those pitfalls for you?”
How many follow-ups to ask? Generally, 2–3 context-driven follow-ups are perfect to get complete answers. Specific lets you set how persistent the AI should be—and skip to the next question once the response has what you need. That balance keeps surveys conversational but concise for busy prospects.
This makes it a conversational survey—not just a form, but a dynamic back-and-forth. The survey adapts based on real replies and gathers richer narrative data.
AI-powered response analysis eliminates the headache of sifting through open text. Solutions like Specific’s AI response analysis let you surface key patterns from qualitative data instantly—even if you ran dozens of unique follow-ups.
These automated follow-up questions are new for many teams—try creating an AI-powered conversational survey and experience the difference yourself with the AI survey builder.
Prompting ChatGPT and other GPTs for better prospect use case survey questions
GPT models are great at generating relevant, on-target survey questions—if you prompt them well. Start with a broad prompt:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a prospect survey about use cases.
Want better results? Give more context about your business, your audience, and your survey goal. For example:
I work at a SaaS company building a new productivity tool. Suggest ten open-ended questions to ask prospects in a survey about their current use cases, the problems they face, and what features matter most to them. The goal is to inform product roadmap.
After generating a question list, prompt the AI to help organize:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, take your favorite categories and dig deeper with:
Generate ten questions for categories workflow challenges and desired features.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey mimics an organic, back-and-forth chat—driven by AI—rather than static, generic forms. This shift removes friction and makes participation faster and more enjoyable. The result? Completion and engagement rates dramatically outperform old survey tools: conversational surveys powered by AI now achieve up to 90% completion, with 3-5x higher response rates—even among busy prospects. [1][2]
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Conversational Surveys |
|---|---|
Static forms; everyone gets same questions | Adaptive, personalized; asks smart follow-ups in real time |
Hard to analyze open text; easy to miss insights | AI summarizes, categorizes, and flags themes instantly |
Lower response rates; risk of drop-off | Mobile-friendly, natural chat = higher completion rates |
Why use AI for prospect surveys? When you need real understanding—not just check-box data—AI surveys collect deeper feedback with less effort. With templates and real-time AI editing (see how to create any survey here), you launch, adapt, and analyze seamlessly. The experience is better for both you and your prospects.
The best AI survey builders, like Specific, deliver a best-in-class conversational experience and analysis layer, making every step—from design to insight—smooth and engaging.
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