The discussion guide is the script the AI moderator follows. It’s organized into moments — the individual topics you want to cover.
Start with the AI builder
The AI Study Builder is trained on what great discussion guides look like and knows Convo’s systems inside out. It’s the best way to create a guide.
You have two starting points:
- Describe what you want to learn — tell it your research goals in plain language and it builds the full guide for you
- Upload existing materials — drop in a previous study, research brief, internal doc, or anything relevant. The builder uses it as context to generate a guide that fits your goals.
You can always edit the generated guide afterward — add moments, tweak probes, reorder things. But start with the AI. It’ll get you 80% of the way there in a few minutes.
The more specific you are, the better the guide. “Understand how first-time users experience our onboarding flow and where they get stuck” produces a much better guide than “learn about users.” Tell the builder exactly what you’re trying to get out of the study.
What’s in a moment
Each moment has:
- Topic — what the AI moderator will discuss
- Goal — what you want to learn from this part of the conversation
- Priority — Low, Medium, or High
- Probes — follow-up questions the AI moderator can use to dig deeper
- Stimulus — optional media to show participants (more on stimulus)
You can reorder moments by dragging them. The AI moderator works through them in order but may adjust based on how the conversation goes.
Priorities matter
If a session runs long, the AI moderator spends less time on lower-priority moments so the important ones get covered. Mark your must-have topics as High priority.
A typical guide might look like:
| Moment | Priority | Why |
|---|
| Current workflow and pain points | High | Core research question |
| Reaction to prototype | High | Need direct feedback |
| Feature wishlist | Medium | Nice to know, not critical |
| Closing thoughts | Low | Wrap-up, can be cut if short on time |
Writing good moments
One goal per moment. If you’re trying to learn two things, split it into two moments. “What do you think about pricing and onboarding?” will get you muddy answers about both.
- Write goals for yourself, not participants. The goal is your internal note — “Understand whether users find the current checkout flow frustrating.” The AI moderator uses it to guide the conversation but doesn’t read it aloud.
- Add 5–6 probes per moment. The more follow-up questions the AI moderator has to work with, the deeper it can go. Think “Can you walk me through the last time that happened?”, “What would have made that easier?”, “How did that compare to what you expected?” Give it plenty of material.
- Keep it to 5–8 moments for a 60-minute session. More than that and you’ll rush through everything. Fewer moments with more probes gives room for natural conversation to develop.
