Best questions for user survey about documentation quality

Here are some of the best questions for a user survey about documentation quality—and tips on how to create them fast. If you want to build your own survey in seconds, you can generate a complete user documentation survey with Specific’s AI survey builder anytime.

The best open-ended questions for user survey about documentation quality

Let’s start with open-ended questions. These invite users to answer in their own words, which means you get richer stories and details—far beyond a simple “yes” or “no.” The real benefit? Open responses reveal issues, ideas, and gaps you never even thought to ask about. But there’s a tradeoff: open-ended questions often see higher nonresponse rates—on average, 18% according to Pew Research Center, and sometimes even higher[1]. That means you’ll want to use them strategically, usually not as the very first question, and keep the overall survey tight, which also drives up completion rates[2].

1. What challenges have you faced when trying to find information in our documentation?

2. Can you describe a time when our documentation didn’t meet your needs?

3. Which topics or sections do you feel could be explained more clearly?

4. How does our documentation compare to others you’ve used?

5. When was the last time our documentation helped you solve a problem? What was the situation?

6. What specific improvements would make the documentation more useful for you?

7. Have you noticed any content that’s outdated or incorrect? Please specify.

8. What types of examples or use cases would help you better apply the documentation?

9. If you were onboarding a new colleague, what would you tell them about our documentation?

10. What’s missing from our documentation that would save you time?

Curious how Specific’s conversational surveys can dig even deeper? See how AI can ask automatic real-time follow-up questions to explore responses—leading to fresh insights you’d miss in a standard form. Read about AI follow-up questions for more.

The best single-select multiple-choice questions for user survey about documentation quality

Now, onto single-select multiple-choice questions. These work best when you want to capture quantifiable trends, or just make it easy for users to share their experience quickly. There’s less friction—respondents only have to click, not brainstorm—which drives response rates closer to 98-99%[1]. So, they’re great for benchmarks and trend tracking, or as a gentle opener to nudge people into deeper conversation with follow-ups.

Question: How would you rate the overall clarity of our documentation?

• Very clear

• Somewhat clear

• Neutral

• Somewhat unclear

• Very unclear

Question: How easy was it to find the information you needed?

• Very easy

• Somewhat easy

• Somewhat difficult

• Very difficult

Question: Which section of the documentation do you find least useful?

• Getting started

• API reference

• Troubleshooting

• Examples

• Other

When to follow up with "why?" After any multiple-choice question, ask “why?” when you want to understand the reasons behind a user’s choice—especially if they selected less-than-ideal options, like “Somewhat unclear” or “Very difficult.” For example, if a user selects “Somewhat unclear,” you can prompt a follow-up: "Can you share what made the documentation unclear for you?" This often uncovers actionable feedback that drives improvement.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Add "Other" when you know your list of categories or options might miss something. Followup questions to "Other" answers often reveal issues or requests you wouldn’t have predicted, leading to valuable new directions or fixes.

NPS for user documentation surveys: does it make sense?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) isn’t just for products—it's also a powerful way to capture users’ overall sentiment about your documentation. A classic NPS question like, “On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend our documentation to a colleague?” tells you fast if you’re delighting users or if something’s missing. You can use follow-ups to ask promoters for praise (so you know what to double down on) and detractors for specifics (so you can fix pain points). If you want to experiment, there’s even a prebuilt NPS survey for documentation quality you can launch right now—complete with conversational follow-ups.

The power of follow-up questions

Want better insights in less time? That’s the promise of automated, conversational follow-up questions. Read more about this on our dedicated AI follow-up questions page. Follow-ups clarify user intent, probe for examples, and fill in gaps—so you’re never left guessing. Thanks to Specific’s AI, these follow-ups are generated live, responding to each user’s words just like an expert interviewer. It saves you from endless back-and-forth via email, and respondents feel like they’re chatting, not filling out a boring form.

• User: “Sometimes it’s confusing.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you give an example of when you found the documentation confusing?”

How many followups to ask? Two or three are generally enough to get detailed, actionable feedback, but it’s ideal to automatically stop once you’ve learned what you need. Specific lets you define these settings—so the conversation stays on target and fatigue is minimized.

This makes it a conversational survey: The magic is in the flow. Followups deliver a conversational survey experience, not a dry interrogation—so users open up, and you get a stream of insights you can actually use.

AI response analysis: Even if you collect a ton of free-text responses, Specific’s AI makes analysis simple. You can chat with your entire dataset to spot patterns instantly—no need to wade through mountains of qualitative data yourself.

These kinds of intelligent, automated follow-up questions are new to many teams. Try generating a survey and see how much it speeds up insight gathering—and how it levels up the quality of your data.

How to prompt ChatGPT (or other GPTs) for better user documentation survey questions

If you want to use AI tools like ChatGPT to help you brainstorm, you’ll get best results by being specific with your prompts. Here’s how I’d approach it:

First, start broad:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for user survey about documentation quality.

But if you include more context—like who your users are, the product’s complexity, or your main goal—AI can give you more tailored, more relevant questions:

Our documentation serves mostly non-technical users who often report getting stuck on setup instructions. Suggest 10 open-ended questions focused on identifying the hardest parts of our documentation for these users.

Once you have a list, ask the AI to categorize them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Then, you can dig deeper into specific categories (like “navigation,” “clarity,” or “examples”):

Generate 10 questions for the “navigation” and “clarity” categories.

This lets you zero in on the issues that matter most, and ensures your survey is laser-focused.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey is exactly what it sounds like: a survey that feels like a real conversation, not an interrogation. Instead of blasting people with static forms, you guide them through simple, flowing questions. The AI listens, responds, probes, and adapts—just like a sharp interviewer would.

Contrast that with how most traditional surveys are built:

Why use AI for user surveys? You’ll save time, avoid common pitfalls, and collect higher quality feedback that’s both nuanced and structured. Studies show conversational, AI-driven surveys can boost response and completion rates dramatically[3]. If you want more tips, check our full guide on how to create a user survey about documentation quality.

Specific offers one of the best conversational survey experiences anywhere—tailored for both simplicity and deep insight. Your respondents will actually enjoy giving feedback, and your team will enjoy what you get back. It’s a win-win, and an AI survey example you’ll want to try for yourself the next time documentation feedback is on your roadmap.

See this documentation quality survey example now

Create and launch an interactive AI documentation survey in seconds—get higher completion rates, richer user feedback, and instant AI-enhanced insights. Make your survey a natural conversation users actually want to finish—see the impact for yourself.