This article will guide you on how to create a citizen survey about mobile app experience, and show how Specific can help you generate surveys in seconds, allowing you to start gathering actionable insight from day one.
Steps to create a survey for Citizens about mobile app experience
Let’s be honest: it’s never been easier to create high-quality, conversational surveys. If you want to save time, just click this link to generate a survey with Specific and see the survey structure instantly.
Tell what survey you want.
Done.
That’s it. You barely need to read further—AI will build your citizen survey about mobile app experience in seconds, with expert-level questions and logic. It even creates tailored followup questions that dig deeper, allowing you to discover insights you would have missed with a static form. If you ever want to start fresh, just visit the AI survey generator and prompt it with your own ideas. Semantic surveys have truly changed the game.
Why citizen surveys on mobile app experience matter
Citizen surveys on digital services hold a massive opportunity—and you might miss out if you’re not proactively engaging your community. Let’s look at some hard facts:
Over 5 billion people worldwide use mobile phones, and more than 90% of mobile time is spent within apps, underlining just how essential outstanding app experiences are for day-to-day life.[1]
For local governments, the demand is even more acute—70% of citizens prefer interacting with local governments via mobile apps, showing digital is the default for most residents.[2]
If you’re not running citizen surveys on your app experience, you’re missing the most direct route to understanding what works, what’s broken, and how satisfied people really feel. The value is obvious:
Capture honest, direct feedback from a wide demographic
Spot usability problems before they impact app adoption (remember, 21% of apps are used only once before being abandoned—often due to bad experience)[3]
Foster a sense of involvement and trust. When 88% of citizens prefer reporting issues through apps rather than legacy channels, you need their voices to guide improvements[4]
Bottom line: skipping user feedback is skipping real growth. You can also explore the benefits of citizen feedback surveys in more depth if you’re interested.
What makes a good citizen survey on mobile app experience
Not every survey hits the mark. Here’s why the best ones stand out:
Clear, unbiased questions – Jargon, complex structures, or leading wording can tank response quality.
Conversational tone – If it feels like a real, friendly chat, people open up—and honesty produces actionable, trustworthy insights.
You want both quantity and quality of responses to be high. A confusing, boring, or overly long survey might get ignored or lead to superficial answers. Here’s a quick cheat sheet:
Bad practices | Good practices |
|---|---|
Leading or biased questions | Neutral, conversational tone |
Long, technical wording | Simple, clear language |
One-size-fits-all forms | Dynamic, adaptive questions |
No follow-ups | Relevant, thoughtful follow-up probes |
Keep these principles front and center. It's how we approach survey design at Specific, and why respondents actually complete our conversational surveys at a much higher rate.
Question types with examples for citizen survey about mobile app experience
Smart surveys use a range of question types to explore both breadth and depth of user experience. Here’s how we break it down:
Open-ended questions let citizens describe their experiences in their own words—critical when you want nuance or want to discover issues you hadn’t considered. Great for when you need real stories or want deeper context. Examples:
Can you describe a recent time you used our city’s mobile app and what stood out to you?
If you could change one thing about the app, what would it be and why?
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for structured insights, especially when you want to quantify how common certain problems or use cases are. Example:
What is the main reason you use our city’s mobile app?
Reporting city issues
Paying bills/taxes
Community news & events
Other
NPS (Net Promoter Score) question is ideal for benchmarking loyalty and satisfaction. It’s a go-to metric in app feedback. You can generate an NPS survey for citizens about mobile app experience instantly. Example:
On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our city’s mobile app to your neighbors?
Followup questions to uncover "the why": Sometimes a single answer isn’t enough. Followup questions dig deeper—essential for understanding the root causes or unique local needs. This is especially powerful if you want to understand ambiguous or surprising answers. Example:
You said you stopped using the app—can you tell us more about what happened?
What would make you try the app again?
For even more example questions and detailed tips, explore our full guide on the best questions for a citizen survey about mobile app experience. We’ve made it easy for you to pick and fine-tune questions.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey isn’t just a fancy phrase—it’s a new approach to gathering feedback. Instead of a rigid, form-based structure, it guides citizens through chat-like interactions, adapting questions based on previous answers just like a thoughtful interviewer would. Imagine texting with a helpful agent rather than filling out a static form.
AI-powered survey generation is a leap ahead of the old way. Traditional survey tools mean tinkering with endless question lists and guessing followup needs. With intelligence built in, AI survey generators do the hard work: they build adaptive, context-aware, and respondent-friendly surveys—fast.
Manual survey | AI-generated survey |
|---|---|
Rigid; static questions | Adaptive; adjusts followups |
Time-consuming to build | Ready in seconds |
No real dialogue | Feels like a real conversation |
Harder to analyze qualitative data | Integrated AI-powered response analysis |
Why use AI for citizen surveys? We’ve found that AI-generated, conversational surveys not only collect better quality data—they boost completion rates and make respondents feel heard. For anyone wanting an AI survey example tailored to their city or app, this approach is a game changer. Plus, Specific delivers the best-in-class experience, designed for smooth, frustration-free feedback flow for both you and your respondents.
Curious how it works? Read our full guide on how to create a survey using AI for more context and tips.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are where conversational surveys truly shine. They’re built right into Specific’s AI follow-up question engine and serve to clarify, confirm, or go deeper based on previous answers in real time. Instead of static answers, you get the full story—right away.
Smart followups save you hours you’d spend chasing down clarification over email, and they keep respondents engaged. Here’s what happens if you don’t follow up:
Citizen: “The app’s fine, but parts are slow.”
AI follow-up: “Could you tell us which parts feel slow or have caused frustration?”
Without the second question, you’d never learn which features actually need fixing.
How many followups to ask? Typically, 2–3 smart follow-ups per area do the job. Of course, it’s best to set up surveys to skip or pause follow-up chains when you’ve got what you need—Specific allows you to tweak this easily.
This makes it a conversational survey. Instead of a rigid form, you’re having a real dialogue—responding the way a good interviewer would. That’s what keeps data clean and context-rich.
AI-powered analysis, insights, summaries: Don’t worry if these deeper responses feel harder to process. With Specific’s AI survey response analysis, you can instantly summarize and explore all open-ended and follow-up answers. Even huge volumes of free text become actionable in seconds.
Follow-up questions are a fresh, modern survey superpower. If you haven’t tried it yet, generate a conversational survey and experience it firsthand.
See this mobile app experience survey example now
Try composing your own citizen-focused app survey in minutes and discover the difference. See how AI-powered, conversational follow-ups deliver deeper, clearer, and more actionable feedback—no manual setup, just instant insights.