Incident questions that show how users want to hear when you are down
Ask users how they found out about the last incident, how clear your updates were and what the outage cost them. Each question below comes with when to ask it and what the answer tells you.
What incident communication survey questions tell you
Incident communication survey questions ask users whether they know where to check your status, how they first heard about the last outage, how clear and frequent your updates were and what the incident stopped them from doing. Uptime numbers describe the outage. These answers describe how it felt from the user's side and whether your communication kept their trust.
Ask within a day or two of a major incident, by email to affected accounts or inside the product once it is back, while the outage is fresh. Pick four or five: how they found out, the clarity of updates, what it stopped them doing, trust and the open question about your status page.
Each response gets an urgency, a sentiment and a theme, and an owner and a status in the inbox, so an account that lost real work gets a personal reply. On every plan, workflows can post responses to the Slack or Microsoft Teams channel where your incident review happens.
- Questions
- 14
- Best asked
- Within a day or two of a major incident
- Industry
- SaaS
- Where to find them
- From library in the Usertick survey editor, on every plan
The 14 status page and incidents questions, with when to ask each
Grouped by what they tell you. Use them as they are or change the wording.
Finding out about an incident
Start with how users learned about the outage, which shows whether your first notice arrives in time.
- 01Yes / No
Do you know where to check whether we are down?
Asks whether the user knows where to check if you are down. A low share of Yes is a reason to link your status page from the product, your help center and your error pages.
- 02Customer effort
How easy was it to find out what was happening during the last incident?
A customer effort score for finding out what was happening during the last incident. Low scores point to updates that were hard to find or arrived too late.
- 09Yes / No
Did our email reach you before you noticed the problem yourself?
Asks whether your email arrived before the user noticed the problem. A high share of No shows the first notice goes out too late.
- 12Dropdown
How did you first learn about the outage?
How the user first learned about the outage, from your status page to hitting the error. A large share hitting the error first means your notices arrive late.
Updates during the incident
These set your channels, your update rhythm and what each status update must say.
- 03Multiple choice
How should we tell you about an incident?
Lets users pick every channel they want incident news in, from email to an RSS feed. The bars show where to post first in the next incident.
- 04Stars
How clear were our updates while it was down?
Five stars for how clear your updates were while the product was down. Read it with the grid to see whether honesty or frequency pulled the rating down.
- 06Multiple choice
How often did you want an update while it was down?
One choice from every fifteen minutes to only when it is fixed. The donut sets your update rhythm for the next incident.
- 14Text
What should our status page tell you that it does not?
An open question for what your status page should say. The answers can ask for affected features, regions or a time to fix, a direct list for your status template.
The cost to users
Ask what the outage stopped and how it touched trust, so you know which accounts need a personal reply.
- 05Ruler
How many minutes of downtime start to hurt your work?
Minutes of downtime before it starts to hurt, on a ruler up to two hours. The median and the middle half help set how fast your first notice has to go out.
- 07Text
What did the incident stop you from doing?
An open question for what the incident stopped the user from doing. Each response gets an urgency, so accounts that lost real work rise to the top of the inbox.
- 08Big scale
How much did the last incident affect your trust in us?
How much the incident affected trust, on a ten-step scale. Compare scores across incidents you handled differently to see what your communication is worth.
How you handled it
End with the feeling, the grid and the write up, which give your incident review the user's view.
- 10Mood dial
How did our handling of the incident feel?
A mood dial for how your handling of the incident felt. Results shows the faces with each share, a quick summary for the incident review.
- 11Matrix
Rate how we handled the incident
Rates the speed of the first notice, honesty, how often it was updated and the write up on one grid. The heat map shows which part of your incident process to improve.
- 13Yes / No
Do you need a written report after a major incident?
Asks whether the user needs a written report after a major incident. The share of Yes tells you whether to publish a write up for every major outage.
Tips for asking about status page and incidents
Small choices that get honest, useful answers.
- 01
Ask within two days
Send the survey a day or two after the incident is resolved, while users still remember how they found out.
- 02
Ask the affected accounts
Send it to the accounts the incident touched, by email or link, so the answers describe this outage.
- 03
Reply to anyone who lost work
Give every response with high urgency an owner in the inbox, and reply personally before the write up goes out.
- 04
Use the answers in the review
Bring the grid and the open answers to your incident review, next to the timeline, so the user's view is part of the record.
Add these questions to a survey
From the library to the first answers.
- 1
Open the library
In the Usertick survey editor, choose From library, filter by industry and topic, and add several questions at once.
- 2
Or paste your own list
Paste questions reads up to 10 questions from any text on Free, 100 on Starter and 200 on Pro and above, keeps your wording and picks an answer type for each.
- 3
Choose where it runs
Show the survey on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.
- 4
Read the answers
Results counts every score and choice, and Usertick reads each written answer and files it by topic, on every plan.
Templates and more questions about status page and incidents
Full surveys that ask about the same things, and neighboring topics in the library.
Templates
Browse all templatesFrequently asked questions
A day or two after a major incident is resolved. Usertick sends by email to a contact list now or on a date up to 30 days ahead, so send it right after the fix or once the write up is out.
Four or five. Start with how the user found out and how clear the updates were, add what it stopped them doing, and end with the open question about the status page.
Wait until the product is back, so the survey doesn't compete with your status updates and users can judge the whole incident.
Yes, on every plan. Workflows can post each response to a Slack or Microsoft Teams channel, add it to Google Sheets or call a webhook.
Yes. The question library comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.
Yes. Once a question is in your survey, reword it, change its options or its answer type, and add logic to skip it for some answers.
Yes. The library is translated into Usertick's built-in languages, and in any other language it shows in English for you to translate.
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