With some of my clients, I go even further. Where possible, I figure out what the possible answers to my question might be and write them in a concise numbered list (with a “something else” option at the end”). Ideally, the response is a number with a little context. At the very least, it prompts a response that challenges my assumptions, which is useful too.

I started doing this because I received so many short and incomprehensible or long and incomprehensible responses that rarely included the information I asked for.