Usertick
Start free
Help center search survey template

Catch the questions your help center misses, right at the empty search

Three questions for the moment a help search finds nothing: what the person was looking for, what they were trying to do and whether they want someone to help. Use it as it is or change any question, and Usertick reads every written answer for you.

Get started freeAll templates

What this help center search survey tells you

A help center search survey asks people about the search that just failed them. This template takes under a minute: what they were looking for in their own words, the kind of task behind it, such as fixing an error or understanding a charge, and whether they want a person to help.

It is written for the search results page of your help center when a search returns nothing. From Starter, or on 1 survey on Free, your page fires a custom event when the results come back empty and the popup opens on that event. On every plan, you can target the results page by its address and open the survey after a short delay instead.

Usertick reads each search phrase, files it under a category from your list, such as billing and payments or account and access, and gives it a type, such as a question or a bug. Results lists the phrases filterable by theme and shows the share of each task and the share who asked for help.

On your websiteAs a linkIn an emailAs a conversation
Questions
3
Time to answer
About a minute
Written for
The help center search page, when a search finds nothing
Plans
Every plan, the free plan included

See it on every channel

The same template on your website, behind a link, in an email and as a conversation.

On your website

Show it as a popup, a side button or inside the page, and choose the pages and the moment it opens: on page load, after a delay, on scroll or as someone is about to leave, on every plan. Event and behavior triggers work on 1 survey on Free and on every survey from Starter.

The 3 questions, one by one

What each question asks, why it is there, what it shows you and what to change.

Question 1 of 3 · Text

What were you looking for?

Why ask it
The words people typed, and the words they use to explain it, are the titles of the articles you are missing. Search logs show the query; this answer shows the intent behind it.
What you learn
Usertick reads each answer, gives it a theme from your list and a sentiment, and lists the answers filterable by theme, with up to 8 themes and their trends, so a gap that grows this month stands out.
Make it yours
Keep it first and required, since one phrase per person is the main thing this survey collects.
Question 2 of 3 · Multiple choice

What were you trying to do?

Why ask it
The task behind the search tells you which part of the help center to write: setup guides, error fixes, billing explanations or settings pages.
What you learn
A donut with the share and count of each task, with typed Other answers listed. Select Understand a charge to read only the billing searches.
Make it yours
Rename the options to your own common tasks, such as Connect an integration or Cancel my plan, and keep Other for the rest.
Question 3 of 3 · Yes / No

Would you like someone from our team to help?

Why ask it
A failed search is the moment a person either contacts support or gives up. Offering help turns it into a case your team can answer.
What you learn
Results shows the share that said yes. Select Yes to see what those people were looking for and which tasks they had.
Make it yours
Add a Contact question after it, with a rule that ends the survey on No, so people who say Yes leave an email, unless your help center already passes signed-in users to Usertick.identify().

What the answers show

Results turns each question into numbers you can follow week by week.

What were you trying to do?

The share of each answer with its count. Select an answer to narrow the whole page to those people and read what else they said.

Every written answer, read for you

Each answer arrives with its category, theme, type and urgency, so the urgent ones reach your team first.

Use this template in four steps

From the template to the first answers.

  1. 1

    Open the template

    Sign up free and pick Help search with no results in the template gallery. It opens in a matching style, ready to change.

  2. 2

    Make the questions yours

    Reword any question, change the options, and add logic or more questions.

  3. 3

    Choose where it runs

    Show it on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.

  4. 4

    Publish and read the answers

    Answers arrive in Results and the inbox as people send them, each written one read and filed by Usertick.

Tips for this survey

Small choices that keep people answering and the answers useful.

  1. 01

    Trigger it on the empty result

    From Starter, or on 1 survey on Free, have your search page fire a custom event when no result comes back, and open the survey on that event, so it never shows after a search that worked.

  2. 02

    Write the missing articles first

    Each week, take the top themes from question 1 and write or retitle articles for them, using people's own words in the titles.

  3. 03

    Route help requests at once

    On every plan, a workflow posts every Yes to Slack or Microsoft Teams, and from Starter it can also reach Zendesk or Intercom, so someone replies while the problem is fresh.

  4. 04

    Ask again after a few days

    Set the frequency to show again after a number of days, so a person who answered once can report the next failed search too.

Customer supportWebsite surveysSupport questions

More support templates and questions

Templates like this one, and single questions from the library to add to it.

Templates

Browse all templates
SupportSupport follow-upCheck whether a support conversation actually solved the problem, how much effort it took and how the person who helped did. Send it automatically when a ticket is closed.
SupportContact form follow-upCheck that messages sent through your contact form got a timely, useful reply. Send it two days after the form is submitted.
SupportLive chat ratingRate each chat conversation and see whether it solved the problem the first time. Show it when the agent closes the chat.
SupportPhone support ratingMeasure hold times, first-call resolution and how callers rated the person they spoke with. Send it by text or email right after the call.

Questions from the library

Browse the question library
  1. Was your issue resolved?Yes / No · Support
  2. How much effort did it take to get help?Customer effort · Support
  3. How could we have handled this better?Text · Support
  4. Have you looked for help inside the app?Yes / No · Help inside the app
  5. How easy was it to find the help section?Customer effort · Help inside the app
  6. What did you do when you got stuck?Multiple choice · Help inside the app

Frequently asked questions

From Starter, or on 1 survey on Free, fire a custom event from your search page when the results are empty and use it as the trigger. Without the event, target the search results page by its address with a short delay, which also shows it after searches that worked.

It works on any help center where you can add the Usertick script on your own domain. Where you can't add a script, link to the survey from the no-results message instead.

Add a Contact question after the help question, or pass signed-in users to Usertick.identify(), so their name and email arrive with the answer. Each response then gets an owner, a status and notes in the inbox.

Write or rename articles for the phrases that come up most, and add the words people used to your article titles, so the next search finds them.

Yes. Every template comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.

Yes. The template becomes your own survey, so reword any question, add or remove questions, and change the options and the logic. The gallery stays as it is.

Yes, from Starter. The template is written in US English. Add languages by hand or with AI translation, and each person sees the survey in their browser's language.

Listen better, act faster, and build what truly matters.

Start free, see what your customers mean, and get each answer to the person who can act on it.

Get started freeTalk to sales
  • 150 responses a month on Free
  • Every channel and AI analysis
  • No card needed