Overview

Alchemer AI Smart Question is an embedded AI capability within Alchemer that analyzes respondent answers in real time and generates contextually relevant follow-up questions. It is used by organizations to deepen qualitative insights and create more natural, conversational survey experiences without manual question design.

Common uses for the Alchemer AI Smart Question feature

• Automatically probe open-ended responses with a relevant follow-up question
• Replace static question branching with AI-driven conversational flow
• Increase qualitative depth in NPS, CSAT, or open-feedback surveys
• Reduce survey design time by letting AI generate follow-up logic on the fly

What can the Alchemer AI Smart Question integration do?

• Ask AI Generated Follow-Up Question

You will need

• Alchemer AI Smart Question enabled on your account
• An Alchemer plan that includes integrations and the Integration Manager permission enabled
  • Contact us if you are unsure whether your plan includes integrations.
• A Hidden Value field on the same survey page as the AI action. This is where the AI-generated question text will be stored.
• An open text or essay question on a subsequent survey page. This is the question the respondent will answer, configured to display the AI-generated text as its question title.

Setup Alchemer AI Smart Question integration in surveys

Alchemer AI Smart Question | Ask AI Generated Follow-Up Question

You will need:

• Alchemer AI Smart Question enabled on your account
• A survey question that accepts open text input. This is the question the AI will read and respond to.
• A Hidden Value field on the same page as the AI action to store the generated question text
• An open text or essay question on a subsequent page, configured to use the Hidden Value merge code as its question title

How it works

When a respondent submits an answer to the question you select, Alchemer AI Smart Question reads that text and generates a new follow-up question in real time. The generated question text is saved to a Hidden Value field on the same page. On the next survey page, an open text or essay question displays the AI-generated text as its question title using a merge code that references the Hidden Value. The respondent then answers that question, creating a natural conversational follow-up experience.

Step 1: Add a Hidden Value field

1. In Survey Builder, navigate to the page where the AI action will run.
2. Add a Hidden Value field to that page. This field will store the AI-generated follow-up question text.
3. Note the merge code for this field. You will need it in Step 3.
4. Set the page to auto-submit so respondents are not shown this page. The AI action and Hidden Value will process in the background before advancing to the next page.

Step 2: Configure the AI action

1. On the same page, select Add New: Action.
2. In the Add Action modal, scroll to the Integrations section.
3. Select Integration --> Alchemer AI Smart Question.
4. Select Action --> Alchemer AI Smart Question | Ask AI Generated Follow-Up Question.
5. Alchemer AI Smart Question | Select questions: Choose the open-text question whose answer the AI will evaluate.
6. Alchemer AI Smart Question | Get data back: Select the Hidden Value field you created in Step 1. The AI-generated question text will be saved here.
7. Save the action.

Step 3: Add the follow-up question

1. Add a new page to your survey after the page containing the AI action.
2. Add an open text or essay question to this new page.
3. Set the question title to the merge code for the Hidden Value field from Step 1. This causes the AI-generated text to appear as the question the respondent sees and answers.

Status codes

• 200: Follow-up question was successfully generated
• 400: The Alchemer AI integration returned an error

Testing and Troubleshooting

Testing and Validation

How to test

• Submit a survey response with a substantive open-text answer to trigger the AI action.
• Confirm a follow-up question was generated and saved to the designated field.
• Review the Action Log to verify the AI processed the input and returned output successfully.

How to verify results

• Check the value stored in the designated output field. It should contain a full, contextually relevant follow-up question.
• Ensure the generated question reflects the content and tone of the respondent's original answer.

Monitoring Integration Activity

Where to find logs

• Go to Results → Individual Responses.
• Select the response you want to inspect.
• Open the Action Log tab.

What logs display

• Success or failure status
• Timestamp
• Input value (the respondent's original text answer)
• Output value (the AI-generated follow-up question)
• Returned status code

Troubleshooting

Alchemer AI not available

• Alchemer AI is not enabled on your account. Contact your account manager.
• Integration Manager permission is not enabled for your user

No follow-up question generated

• The source question's response was empty or too short for the AI to evaluate
• The action fired before the respondent submitted a text answer

Mapping errors

• No output field selected to store the generated question
• The output field type is not compatible with text storage

AI model errors

• Response content was flagged by content safety filters
• Unexpected input format caused the model to return an error

FAQs