How easy was it to complete your task? Product Survey Question
Understand how friction impacts task completion and pinpoint exactly where users struggle, so you can streamline workflows and reduce support costs.
Question type
Rating scale 1-7
Primary metric
Answer scale variations
| Style | Options |
|---|---|
| Typical choice | Very difficult Difficult Somewhat difficult Neutral Somewhat easy Easy Very easy |
| More emphatic | Extremely difficult Very difficult Difficult Neither easy nor difficult Easy Very easy Extremely easy |
| Experience-focused | Frustrating Challenging A bit challenging Acceptable A bit smooth Smooth Effortless |
| Time-based | Took way too long Took too long Took longer than ideal Took a reasonable time Took less time than expected Quick Very quick |
Follow-Up Questions
When users tell you something was "difficult," what specifically went wrong? A low CES score flags friction but doesn't pinpoint where users got stuck, which features confused them, or what actually blocked their progress. These follow-up questions help you identify the specific pain points that need fixing and understand whether the difficulty was about your product, unclear instructions, or something else entirely.
For users who reported difficulty, this open-ended question captures the specific obstacles they encountered. You'll discover whether they struggled with confusing UI, missing features, technical errors, or unclear instructions, giving you concrete issues to prioritize in your roadmap.
This categorizes friction by stage, helping you see whether users struggle with discoverability, usability, performance, error handling, or output quality. When you know which stage creates the most friction, you can focus improvements where they'll have the biggest impact.
This forward-looking question turns complaints into solutions. Users often have clear ideas about what would help them, whether it's better onboarding, shortcuts for common tasks, clearer error messages, or different workflow options.