Survey template: Student survey about textbook costs

Textbook costs are a serious struggle for many students, impacting both finances and academic decisions—so if you want to truly understand the impact, use and try this AI survey template from Specific, the conversational survey leader.

What is a conversational survey and why AI makes it better for students

Talking directly to students about textbook costs is crucial—but it’s easy for traditional surveys to miss the mark. Manual student surveys are time-consuming to create, tedious to fill out, and easy for busy students to abandon. It’s often hard to get real, honest insight.

That’s where AI survey templates like this come in. AI survey generators let us build a survey that feels like a chat conversation—easy, natural, responsive. Instead of a bland form, students engage in a smarter, real-time interview that adapts to their replies. This translates to higher engagement and more thoughtful answers.

Completion rates tell the story: AI-powered surveys see up to 70–80% completion, compared to just 45–50% with traditional tools [3]. That’s a game-changer, especially when 65% of students say textbook costs have made them skip a purchase, hurting their grades and academic experience [1].

Here’s what sets AI-driven conversational surveys apart:

Why use AI for student surveys?

• Personalization: Adapts questions to get more honest, useful answers.

• Higher engagement: Students are more likely to complete a chat-based survey, even on mobile.

• Faster insights: AI processes results in minutes, not weeks.

• Human touch: Mimics a real interview, not a boring form.

We built Specific to offer the best conversational survey experience in education research—both for you as the creator and for every student who answers. If you’re curious about crafting great questions, see our guide on the best questions for a student survey about textbook costs.

Automatic follow-up questions based on previous reply

The real magic of our AI survey template is in the follow-up questions—powered by the same kind of AI as ChatGPT, but specialized for education. When a student respondent gives a brief or unclear answer, our system doesn’t just move on. It instantly asks a deeper question based on their specific reply, like a seasoned interviewer would—no awkward manual follow-ups via email necessary.

This is where conversational surveys excel. Here’s how a typical exchange might play out if you don’t have smart follow-ups:

• Student: "I didn't buy the textbook, too expensive."

• (No follow-up): You’re left guessing—How much was “too expensive”? What impact did it have? Did they find an alternative?

With Specific’s automatic follow-ups, you get:

• Student: "I didn't buy the textbook, too expensive."

• AI follow-up: "Could you tell me if not buying the textbook impacted your understanding of the course or your grades?"

The difference is huge. You collect full context, real stories, and actionable details instantly. Every conversation stays on track and you save hours of back-and-forth.

Ready to see it in action? Try generating your own student survey and experience conversational follow-up for yourself.

Those follow-up questions turn survey-taking into a real conversation. That’s why we call it a conversational survey, not just a static form.

Easy editing, like magic

Customizing your AI survey template is as easy as chatting. Just type what you want to change—maybe you want to add a new question about financial aid, tighten up your language, or shift the tone to be even more student-friendly. Our AI survey editor instantly applies your edits with expert-level research logic. No dragging, no logic trees, no fiddling with forms—your survey evolves in seconds, shaped by your own natural language feedback. The hard work is handled by AI; you direct the survey, it does the rest.

If you’re new to survey design, check our guide on how to create a student survey about textbook costs—or if you want to create a custom survey about anything else, try the AI survey builder and just describe your needs.

Ways to deliver your AI survey—landing page & in-product

How you deliver a student survey about textbook costs matters. With Specific, you have two simple, powerful options:

• Sharable landing page surveys: Instantly generate a unique survey link—share via email, course platform, or social media. Great for reaching students wherever they are, collecting broad feedback about textbook affordability and its personal impact.

• In-product surveys: Embed the survey directly in your student portal, digital classroom, or campus app. Perfect for capturing student feedback on textbook costs at key points, like when enrolling, registering for courses, or purchasing materials. Higher response rates, less friction.

If textbook costs are discussed across various channels, sharable landing pages make the survey accessible to all. For more targeted feedback (for example, right after course registration or when viewing assigned materials), embedding an in-product survey gets you answers while the topic is top-of-mind.

AI survey analysis: instant, actionable insights

Once responses flow in, our AI survey analysis tools get to work—summarizing individual answers, surfacing key themes, and translating raw student feedback into actionable insights within minutes. No spreadsheets, no manual coding, and no wasted time. Features like automatic topic detection and the ability to chat with AI about your results mean you get both the big picture and the finer details—effortlessly. If you want a deep dive on extracting the most value, see our walkthrough on how to analyze student textbook cost survey responses with AI.

Analyzing survey responses with AI finally makes the feedback process as smart as the surveys themselves.

Use this textbook costs survey template now

If you care about real answers to the real problem of textbook costs, start collecting richer, more honest insights right away with this AI survey template—get rapid results, smarter follow-ups, and instant analysis, thanks to Specific’s conversational AI survey engine.