Looking for a customer needs analysis example that actually works? The secret lies in asking the right questions at the right moment in your customer's journey.
In-product surveys capture needs when they’re most relevant—right when users are engaging with your product.
Let’s dive into great questions for customer needs in-product, broken down by lifecycle stage, and how you can surface them for actionable results.
Questions for new users during onboarding
New users see your product with fresh eyes—they haven’t adapted to the quirks or built habits around surprises. Their expectations are unfiltered, which makes their feedback pure gold at this stage.
What motivated you to try our product today?
This question reveals the core jobs your customer is hiring your product for. Understanding motivation sets the tone for every feature and message you build next.Which part of getting started felt unclear or confusing?
Unfiltered onboarding feedback highlights friction points, so you can refine instructions and guidance before complexity snowballs.Is there anything you expected but couldn’t find?
This exposes gaps between promise and reality. Closing these expectation gaps is key to building trust early on.What’s one thing you’d improve about signing up?
Small annoyances that seem trivial to veteran users are crystal clear to newcomers. This question surfaces those so you can smooth them out fast.
Spotting and addressing these insights early helps raise the onboarding ceiling for everyone—and with in-product surveys, you collect this feedback right as the experience is happening. In fact, response rates for well-placed in-app surveys regularly surpass 30%, sometimes reaching 55%—far above the results of generic email forms. [1] For a seamless approach, use in-product conversational surveys that blend right into the user's flow.
Example prompt:
"Show me all onboarding survey responses where users mention problems signing up. Summarize the top three pain points."
Understanding needs of active users
Active users know your product’s ins and outs, yet even regulars have wishlist items and small frustrations they learn to work around. Catching these signals mid-flow keeps competitors from edging in.
Are there features or tools you wish we offered?
This lets you crowdsource the product roadmap. Frequent requests point to clear gaps or emerging trends demanding attention.What’s the most time-consuming part of using our product?
Uncover workflow blockers and automation opportunities you may never have noticed from analytics alone.If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change about your daily experience here?
Open, creative questions like this surface bold ideas you might never brainstorm yourself.Is there anything making your work harder than it should be?
This practical approach zeroes in on pain points you can fix quickly for instant goodwill.
Open-ended questions uncover what analytics can’t—what customers dream the product could be. Follow-up questions are vital for digging beneath the first answer. If someone mentions a missing feature, automatic AI follow-up questions can ask "Why?" or "How would that help you?" building a stack of actionable context.
Time these surveys after users complete meaningful actions—like saving a project or inviting a teammate. Keep them concise and relevant: longer surveys drop response rates dramatically as user fatigue sets in. [2] Here’s a practical prompt to analyze feedback:
Example prompt:
"Filter feedback from users who completed three projects in the past month. What features do they request most, and why?"
Identifying needs when engagement drops
When users log in less or skip steps, there’s usually a deeper story. Maybe a competitor is tempting them, or a small blocker feels insurmountable. Flagging disengagement as it starts is critical: 80% of dissatisfied customers head straight to competitors or drop off silently. [3]
What’s keeping you from using the product as often as before?
This direct question often gets honest, actionable answers.Did something frustrate you or make it harder to get value?
This shows you care about their success—not just their usage patterns.Was there a moment when you considered leaving us? Why?
Candidly asking about churn risk surfaces deal-breakers while you still have a chance to fix them.What would bring you back to using our product more?
Instead of guessing, just ask—users will tell you what their dream return offer looks like.
Trigger these questions when behavioral signals stutter: a sharp drop in logins, feature use, or abandoned tasks. Proactive surveys initiated by the right triggers can turn attrition into renewed engagement, while reactive surveys often miss the chance to save at-risk users. Here’s a quick comparison:
Proactive approach | Reactive approach |
Triggers at the first sign of friction | Fires only after churn/lapse |
Allows for real-time intervention | Collects feedback on lost users only |
A conversational tone is especially crucial here—when questions feel like a helpful chat (not an interrogation), users open up rather than shut down.
Example prompt:
"Show me responses from users who haven’t logged in for 14 days. What specific changes would re-engage them?"
Triggering the right questions at the right time
Timing is everything in customer needs analysis. You want your survey to feel like a natural next step—not an annoying interruption. With Specific, you can trigger the right conversation at the perfect moment using behavioral or event-based cues.
Onboarding completion: Launch surveys once users complete their first setup or tutorial—catching fresh impressions.
Key feature usage: Trigger questions after someone uses a core function, like publishing their first post or making a purchase, to make feedback immediately relevant.
Inactivity detection: Fire surveys when logins or activity frequency drops, ideally after a pre-defined inactivity threshold (e.g., 14 days without use).
Milestone achievements: Celebrate and collect feedback when users hit certain milestones (e.g., 100th task completed)—they’re primed to share wins and wishes.
Both code and no-code event triggers are supported—meaning you can connect these touchpoints through your product’s codebase or trigger them instantly from analytics dashboards and workflow tools. Adjust question sets anytime using the AI survey editor—just describe the change, and AI handles the update for you.
To avoid survey fatigue, Specific lets you control frequency and recontact intervals, so users aren’t blitzed with too many prompts. For instance, you might show an onboarding survey only once per user, but trigger engagement checks monthly for actives and at-risk users.
Practical behavioral triggers can include:
User completes a key workflow (e.g., submits first report)
No activity detected for 10+ days
User achieves a new badge or unlocks premium feature
Looking to generate custom surveys fast? The AI survey generator lets you build surveys tailored to your audience, topic, and delivery method—just prompt it in plain English and review the draft instantly.
Example prompt:
"Create an in-product survey triggered when a user completes onboarding, focused on identifying early friction and unmet expectations."
Turn insights into action
Understanding customer needs isn’t about more data—it’s about asking the right questions at the right time and acting fast.
With Specific’s conversational approach, you’ll see customers sharing richer, more honest feedback.
Start now: create your own survey and discover the insights that drive retention, innovation, and true loyalty.