This article will guide you on how to create a citizen survey about city website usability. With Specific, we can build an AI-powered survey in seconds, saving time and ensuring expert-level questions for meaningful feedback.
Steps to create a survey for citizens about city website usability
If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
You don’t even need to read further if you want to get started. The AI survey generator does the heavy lifting, pulling on expert knowledge to compose strong, relevant questions—and will even ask participants follow-up questions live to extract deep insights. For total flexibility or a different approach, the AI survey builder makes custom surveys easy for any goal or topic.
Why citizen surveys on city website usability matter
We see a common thread in smarter cities: those that prioritize meaningful feedback reap greater citizen engagement. Consider this: the top-performing city websites scored between 85% and 96% on a civic engagement index, directly correlating good digital experiences with community participation [1]. That’s not just a nice-to-have—it’s the foundation for active, responsive local government.
Without these surveys, city leaders miss what matters most: real-world usability barriers, shifting citizen needs, and opportunities to improve essential services.
Ignoring feedback stunts improvements—statistically, only 26% of local leaders rate their sites as “highly effective” today, and that number’s dropping [2].
As digital access moves mobile (now 45% of city website visitors come from mobile devices [3]), missing out on targeted input is a lost chance to build inclusive, futureproof designs.
If we’re not measuring and learning directly from our citizens, we’re operating with blind spots. Engagement surveys do more than fix bugs—they unlock real paths for trust, transparency, and satisfaction. Bottom line: the benefits of citizen feedback are too significant to ignore.
What makes a good survey on city website usability
We know from analyzing top-performing surveys that good ones draw out actionable insights and keep response rates high. Here’s how:
Clear, unbiased questions: Avoid jargon and leading language—simple phrasing drives honest answers.
Conversational tone: Respondents should feel like they’re chatting, not navigating a bureaucratic form. That builds trust and reduces survey fatigue.
Mobile-friendly design: With so many users on phones and tablets, make sure every question is easy to answer on any device.
To make these best practices concrete, here’s a quick table:
Bad practices | Good practices |
---|---|
Leading or loaded questions | Neutral, direct questions |
Long walls of text | Short, scannable sentences |
No space for detailed input | Open-ended or follow-up options |
Only multiple-choice | Mix of open and closed questions |
We define a “good” survey by quantity (high participation rates) and quality (actionable detail in responses). Both matter—you want citizens engaged and the data clear enough to act on.
Question types with examples for citizen surveys about city website usability
Solid surveys need the right mix of question types to balance depth and data clarity. Here’s the breakdown with real-world examples you can use right away (for more inspiration, check out our in-depth guide on great questions for city website usability surveys):
Open-ended questions encourage respondents to voice specific pain points, stories, or ideas in their own words. These are vital for discovering issues no checkbox could catch, especially when exploring new features or barriers. Use them at the start or when you need context. For example:
What was your most recent experience like when trying to find city services online?
Is there anything you wish our city website did differently?
Single-select multiple-choice questions are great for structured feedback, measuring satisfaction, or prioritizing updates—especially when you want quantifiable, comparable data from many users.
How easy was it to navigate our city website today?
Very easy
Somewhat easy
Somewhat difficult
Very difficult
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is essential for benchmarking citizen satisfaction over time and comparing with best-in-class experiences. It’s powerful as a recurring metric and for segmenting promoters and detractors. You can generate a ready-made NPS survey about city website usability with Specific here.
How likely are you to recommend using our city website to friends or family, on a scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely)?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": This is where you dig into the reasons behind a citizen’s response. If someone says a process was “difficult,” we want to know what tripped them up. Followups are used when initial answers are vague or suggest room for improvement. AI-driven surveys let us do this instantly, conversationally:
What made the website confusing to use? Was it the menu, search, or something else?
Can you tell us about a specific time when you felt frustrated?
Want to explore more question types or get tips on survey design? See our curated list of the best questions here.
What is a conversational survey
Conversational surveys—powered by AI—turn traditional forms into dynamic, friendly chats. Instead of static lists of questions, respondents interact with the survey like it’s a person who listens and tailors follow-ups in real time. This approach makes feedback less daunting and more natural, which means we get more (and more honest) responses—especially on mobile.
The difference is huge when you compare survey-building experiences:
Manual surveys | AI-generated surveys |
---|---|
Forms built by hand, question-by-question | Describe your goal, instantly get expert-validated survey |
No live follow-ups | Adaptive, human-like probing, real time |
One-size-fits-all logic | Dynamically adjusts tone, order, or depth depending on context |
Often ignored by respondents | Feels like a real conversation—higher completion rates |
Why use AI for citizen surveys? It’s faster, reduces the mental load of survey creation, eliminates bias, and ensures every voice is heard and explored. AI survey examples—in full conversational flow—generate richer, more actionable findings than old-school survey tools. That’s why we designed Specific to deliver the best user experience for both survey creators and those giving feedback, bridging the gap rarely crossed by manual processes.
If you want a deeper dive into setup and best practices, check out our article on how to create an AI conversational survey.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-ups transform survey feedback. Instead of collecting vague or incomplete answers, we get powerful, context-rich stories that spotlight what citizens truly think. Our automatic AI followup feature adapts in real time—like a professional researcher would—crafting clarifying questions based on the respondent’s first answer. This isn’t just useful; it revolutionizes what’s possible in public engagement, since follow-ups would usually drain time by requiring emails or manual analysis later.
Citizen: The website is hard to use.
AI follow-up: Can you describe which part of the website felt difficult? Was it finding information, submitting a form, or something else?
How many followups to ask? Most of the time, 2-3 follow-up questions strike a perfect balance—dig deep, but don’t drag on. With Specific, you can set the number of followups and automatically skip ahead when you’ve got the insights you need. This ensures surveys stay focused and engaging.
This makes it a conversational survey—each answer gets acknowledged, clarified, or explored further, just like in real dialogue. That’s how conversational surveys unlock nuance beneath headline answers.
Response analysis with AI: All those nuanced replies are easy to work with, thanks to AI-powered response analysis that summarizes, categorizes, and extracts actionable themes from even the wordiest responses (more on how in this analysis guide).
Automated followup questions are the new standard—give them a try by generating your own survey and see the difference.
See this city website usability survey example now
Your ideal survey is just a click away—engaging citizens, uncovering key insights, and making improvements fast. Make your research conversational and insightful with Specific today.