This article will guide you on how to create a citizen survey about digital government services. With Specific, you can build your own in seconds—no technical expertise required.
Steps to create a survey for citizens about digital government services
If you want to save time, just generate a survey with Specific.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
You don’t even need to read further. AI will create your citizen survey with expert logic and even ask respondents smart follow-up questions to uncover deeper insights. If you want to get hands on, try creating a survey from scratch—just type your intent and our system handles the rest, leveraging conversational surveys and best-in-class AI.
Why running citizen surveys about digital government services matters
Without regular feedback from citizens, digital government services can easily miss the mark for real user needs.
According to an OECD survey, 66% of citizens across member countries were satisfied with the quality of administrative services in 2023, but achieving—and maintaining—high satisfaction rates requires constant checking in with your community. Countries like Estonia and Switzerland even exceed 80% satisfaction, showing what's possible with a strong feedback loop built into their digital offerings. [1]
If you’re not running citizen surveys, you’re missing opportunities to:
Spot pain points as soon as they appear
Compare satisfaction levels across services, regions, or demographics
Catch gaps in inclusion or digital literacy that traditional analytics might miss
Validate if new digital features actually help or hinder user experience
Staying proactive on feedback is critical: a recent KPMG report found an 11% decline in citizen satisfaction with public services in the UK from 2021 to 2023, highlighting what happens when organizations get complacent. [5] That gap means lost user trust, missed innovation, and higher support costs down the road.
The importance of a citizen recognition survey can’t be overstated. When we gather fresh feedback, we can make benefits of citizen feedback tangible—rolling out relevant, inclusive, effective services faster.
What makes a good survey on digital government services
Nailing a digital government services survey goes beyond just asking questions. You want your survey to feel approachable, clear, and respectful of citizens' time. We’ve seen a clear pattern: higher quality input when surveys are conversational, unbiased, and easy to complete.
Write questions in plain language your respondent actually uses
Avoid leading, double-barreled, or loaded questions that bias results
Keep it short but gather context—this is where follow-up questions shine
Let people opt out of questions or give context in their own words
Bad practice | Good practice |
|---|---|
Are you unhappy with our online form? | How would you describe your experience with our online form? |
Is our website clear and easy to use and secure? | How easy was it for you to use our digital services today? |
Too many questions, no explanation | Short survey with reasoned follow-ups |
The best way to measure if your survey is any good? Look at both the quantity and quality of responses. You want plenty of citizens completing the survey, and answers detailed enough for you to actually act on.
What are question types with examples for citizen survey about digital government services
Mixing question types can give you a deep, nuanced view of digital government service experience. Each serves a slightly different purpose, and the best surveys know when to use which. If you want a bigger list of sample questions for this audience and survey topic, check out our article on the best questions for citizen surveys about digital government services.
Open-ended questions are powerful for drawing out real-world stories, frustrations, or suggestions that you’d never capture in a yes/no format. Use them at the start or after multiple-choice questions for richer insights.
What was the biggest challenge you faced when using our digital application process?
If you could improve one thing about our online services, what would it be and why?
Single-select multiple-choice questions keep analysis efficient and are best when you’ve mapped out the most common citizen journeys. It’s great for benchmarking satisfaction, identifying rough edges, or tracking specific features.
Which digital government service did you use most recently?
Renewing official documents online
Making a payment
Requesting support or information
Other
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is the gold standard for measuring loyalty and overall satisfaction. It works especially well for tracking improvement over time and comparing with benchmarks. Want an instant NPS survey tailored for citizens and digital government services? Generate one now.
On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our digital government services to friends, family, or colleagues?
Followup questions to uncover "the why" are key for turning bland answers into actionable context. If someone rates a service poorly or gives a neutral answer, a tailored follow-up like “What made you feel this way?” or “Can you give an example?” can transform data into stories you can act on.
Why was making a payment online difficult for you?
What would have made your digital experience easier?
If you want to learn more about crafting these questions and see more examples, explore our article with the best citizen survey questions and tips on how to design them.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys feel like a dialogue, not a cold form. Respondents answer in their own words, and the AI adapts—delivering follow-up questions in real time to dig beneath the surface. This means citizens are more likely to stay engaged, leading to higher completion rates and more honest feedback.
If you’ve ever built a traditional survey manually, you know how slow and clunky it can be, especially when trying to personalize at scale. AI survey generators completely flip the script:
Manual survey creation | AI-generated survey |
|---|---|
Design every question from scratch | Explain your goal in a sentence; AI generates expert questions |
No real-time adaption—follow-ups need manual scripting | Dynamic follow-ups based on each respondent’s answer |
Analysis requires heavy lifting | Instant AI summaries, themes, and insights |
Why use AI for citizen surveys? When you use AI, you save time on creation, boost the quality of responses, and make analysis practically effortless. If you want to see the difference, use our AI survey generator tool—try making an AI survey example and see how much faster you can launch and learn.
Specific is built for conversational surveys. We put user experience first, ensuring both creators and citizens enjoy a smooth, engaging process. If you want details on each step, check out our guide on how to create and analyze survey responses using AI.
The power of follow-up questions
The difference between a basic questionnaire and a great conversational survey often comes down to smart, context-aware followup questions. Specific uses AI to ask thoughtful followups in real time—just like an experienced interviewer would. That means richer insights without the back-and-forth of scheduling interviews or chasing respondents over email. Want to dive deeper? Here's a detailed look at our automatic AI followup questions feature.
When you skip followup questions, you risk collecting ambiguous or surface-level answers. Here’s what that could look like:
Citizen: "It was okay, I guess."
AI follow-up: "Could you share what made the experience just 'okay'? Was there a particular step that felt confusing or frustrating?"
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2-3 followups is the sweet spot for depth without feeling repetitive. But our platform lets you control the maximum or allow respondents to skip ahead when they’ve given enough info.
This makes it a conversational survey. Instead of a dull checklist, you have a genuine dialogue with every citizen who responds—raising response quality and making feedback more useful.
AI survey analysis becomes easy, too—even when you have pages of open-ended feedback. Specific’s analysis tools can summarize, theme, and let you chat with the results directly, so qualitative data is never overwhelming. For more tips, check our article on how to easily analyze survey responses from citizen surveys.
Automated followups are a new way to collect insights—try generating a survey and see how much more valuable your data becomes when every answer leads to a deeper conversation.
See this digital government services survey example now
Create your own citizen survey about digital government services instantly. Get clear, conversational feedback and discover deeper insights—no barriers, no friction, and always on your terms.