Surveys are effective at showing what people think. A customer gives a score of 6, chooses a competitor or says a price feels too high. What a survey rarely shows is why.
Open-ended questions are the usual way to capture that context, but respondents often skip them or answer in a few words, such as “it was fine” or “too expensive”. There is no one to ask what they meant. Moderated interviews solve this, but they require recruitment, scheduling and moderators, so most teams run only a few, and the findings arrive weeks after the survey data.
Why follow-up questions matter
Uncovering underlying motivations, specific friction points, and real context turns basic quantitative metrics into actionable strategic insights. Without follow-ups, teams are left guessing the reasoning behind ratings and selections, which often leads to misdirected solutions and missed opportunities.
Introducing Interview (Chat)
Interview (Chat) is a new AI-powered question type that lets you program follow-up questions on any question in your survey. You select the question, define what you want to learn, and QuestionPro AI conducts a short text interview with each respondent, asking follow-up questions based on the original question and the answer given. When the interview ends, the respondent continues with the rest of the survey.
If you have used Deep Dive, the concept will be familiar. Interview (Chat) is its next generation, with a new name, expanded AI capabilities and much greater control over what the AI asks.
Illustrative example
Imagine a respondent rates their onboarding experience a 4 out of 10. Instead of leaving you with an ambiguous low score, Interview (Chat) dynamically asks, “We noticed you gave a lower rating for onboarding. What specific part of the setup felt confusing or difficult?” The respondent replies, “The verification step took forever and didn’t accept my phone number.” The AI then probes further: “Thanks for sharing that. Did you encounter an error message, or was it just delayed?” In seconds, you gain precise, actionable technical feedback that would otherwise require a follow-up email or user interview.
How it works
In the survey editor, select Add Question → Advanced → Interview → Chat. In Follow-up mode, choose the question you want to follow up on and write the opening question. You can insert the respondent’s answer into the opening question, for example “Can you tell me more about ${Q115}?”, so the interview begins with their own words. In Independent mode, you write an opening question with no source question, which suits exploratory topics.
Three settings let you shape every interview. Key learning objectives tell QuestionPro AI what you want to understand and guide each follow-up question. Moderator instructions set the tone and approach, such as staying curious or asking about a recent visit before moving on. Maximum follow-ups sets an upper limit on the number of questions, and QuestionPro AI decides how many are needed within that limit, which keeps interviews short.
Each chat uses one QuestionPro AI credit. The editor shows how many more chats your balance covers, so the cost is clear before you publish.
Where it helps
Interview (Chat) is most useful wherever an answer needs an explanation. CX teams can follow up on NPS and CSAT scores to understand what drove them while the experience is still recent. Brand teams can ask why a respondent preferred one product over another. Pricing teams can follow a Van Westendorp or Gabor Granger question by exploring what made a price feel too high.
For research agencies, Interview (Chat) makes hybrid qualitative and quantitative studies practical on a survey budget, with one project, one audience and one platform, and no moderators or scheduling.
Tips for effective interviews
- Keep learning objectives specific: Clearly define what detail you need so the AI doesn’t stray into overly general conversation.
- Set appropriate follow-up limits: Cap follow-ups at 2–3 questions to balance depth of feedback with survey completion rates.
- Guide the moderator’s tone: Use moderator instructions to align the AI’s persona with your brand voice (e.g., empathetic, neutral, or direct).
From Deep Dive to Interview (Chat)
Deep Dive added AI follow-up to single-select questions as a simple on/off setting. Interview (Chat) makes follow-up a dedicated question type. It can follow up on any earlier answer or start independently, and it lets you define the objectives, moderator style and length of every conversation.
Chat first, with voice and video to follow
Interview (Chat) is the first format of the Interview question type. Interview (Voice) and Interview (Video) are planned for upcoming releases. The way you set up an interview will stay the same, and only the way respondents answer will change.
Getting started
Interview (Chat) is available in Beta. To enable it for your account, contact your account manager. Then open a survey, select Add Question → Advanced → Interview → Chat, choose the question to follow up on and set your learning objective.
