Collecting feedback through a voice of the customer example during onboarding uncovers the essential jobs-to-be-done and brings friction points into focus. Great questions onboarding voice of the customer strategies should reveal why customers chose your product, and what might prevent their success.
By hearing directly from customers in those first moments, we learn how to truly help them progress and deliver value, fast.
Why voice of the customer matters during onboarding
Onboarding is when customers form their first tangible impressions—both of your product and your team’s ability to help them succeed. Expectations are high, and every missed cue or hidden hurdle can increase the risk of churn. Understanding where reality matches—or falls short of—customer expectations is crucial. Done right, voice of the customer (VoC) questions expose the real problems customers are trying to solve, not just what they told sales or read in your marketing.
Conversational surveys, especially those driven by AI, make feedback collection feel like an authentic back-and-forth at this pivotal phase. Asking for feedback in a chat-style conversation—rather than a static form—puts people at ease and surfaces richer, more actionable input. In fact, a field study found AI conversational surveys produced responses that were more informative, specific, and clear compared to traditional online forms [3]. For those seeking a frictionless way to capture such nuanced feedback, Conversational Survey Pages are a perfect starting point.
Essential voice of the customer questions for onboarding
To uncover your customers’ jobs-to-be-done and highlight their unique friction points, you need targeted, thoughtful questions. Here are five essential VoC onboarding questions, along with the unique insight each one provides:
What problem were you hoping to solve when you signed up? (Pinpoints the “job” they hired your product to do and surfaces real intent.)
What almost stopped you from getting started? (Brings friction points into focus—anything from confusing pricing to technical roadblocks.)
How would you describe our product to a colleague? (Shows the customer’s level of understanding and perceived value.)
What’s the first thing you want to accomplish? (Reveals their individualized definition of success, so you can focus onboarding efforts where it matters most.)
What confused you during setup? (Highlights unclear steps, missing information, or user experience pain.)
I always find that following up on these answers—with clarifications or “why” questions—makes insights exponentially more valuable. Conversational platforms, especially those with intelligent AI, make these follow-up exchanges seamless and natural.
How AI follow-ups transform basic questions into deep insights
Static survey questions alone only scratch the surface. The real value emerges when you probe deeper—like a skilled interviewer would. Automated AI follow-up questions do just this: responding to unique answers in real time and drilling for specifics, context, or emotion. With Specific’s automatic follow-up questions, your survey morphs into a genuine, personalized interview.
Here’s how the process evolves:
Initial question: What problem were you hoping to solve when you signed up?
Customer: I needed something that could handle client invoices automatically.
AI Follow-up: Can you share where your old process made handling invoices difficult or slow?
Customer: I spent hours each week fixing errors and chasing late payments.
Deeper insight: Automating error detection and payment reminders is the key value driver here.
Initial question: What almost stopped you from getting started?
Customer: It took me a while to find the pricing details.
AI Follow-up: Was it unclear where to access pricing, or did something about the pricing itself give you pause?
Customer: The page wasn’t visible from the signup form, so I felt hesitant to continue.
Deeper insight: Visibility of pricing information early in onboarding is a friction point.
These follow-up pathways don’t just gather raw answers—they unveil the “why” behind the feedback, creating a genuinely conversational survey flow. This is the edge Specific brings to every onboarding feedback loop, enabling teams to capture details that static forms routinely miss.
Turning onboarding feedback into actionable improvements
Simply collecting customer responses isn’t enough. The real challenge—and opportunity—lies in distilling that feedback into tangible improvements. That’s where AI-powered survey response analysis comes in. By harnessing intelligent analysis, we can identify patterns and themes across segments: for example, multiple users stalling at step three, or power users interpreting “value” in unexpected ways.
With Specific’s AI survey response analysis tools, you can chat directly with your onboarding data. Filtering responses by user type, product journey stage, or cohort makes it easy to spot actionable themes. I’ve found this far more efficient compared to manual deep dives, especially as response volume grows.
Manual analysis | AI-powered analysis |
|---|---|
Time-consuming review of open-ended feedback | Instant, AI-generated summaries & theme detection |
Challenging to segment by user type or milestone | Dynamic filtering across segments in real time |
Limited ability to ask follow-up “why” questions | Conversational chat to explore causes, blockers, and new opportunities |
By leveraging these analytical superpowers, it becomes easier to make changes that reduce churn, boost activation, and improve the overall onboarding journey.
Best practices for onboarding voice of the customer surveys
Success with onboarding VoC surveys starts with strong habits, not just good technology. Timing your questions matters—don’t bombard users immediately. Instead, trigger surveys after key milestones: when a user activates a feature, completes setup, or reaches an “aha” moment. Keeping questions conversational (thanks to AI-driven survey builders) boosts response quality and engagement—see AI survey generator as an example of how easily you can create these.
Good practice | Bad practice |
|---|---|
Send surveys after onboarding milestones (first login, feature activation) | Ask for feedback immediately after signup, before any engagement |
Phrase questions in natural, friendly language (“What almost stopped you?”) | Rely on stilted, robotic prompts (“Did you experience issues? Yes/No”) |
Act on feedback quickly—let customers see the impact | Let data idle without follow-up or changes |
In-Product Conversational Surveys—like those available from Specific—allow you to pinpoint survey timing based on precise onboarding events. This way, feedback always feels timely, relevant, and respectful of the customer’s attention.
Start collecting onboarding insights today
Transform your onboarding by uncovering rich Voice of the Customer insights, using questions and follow-up paths that actually reveal what your customers need. Specific makes it easy to build conversational surveys that real customers want to complete. Ready to create your own survey? Personalize it with the AI survey editor for deep, actionable insights—get started now and empower your team to turn onboarding feedback into growth.