Topics vs. findings — what's the difference?

Topics and findings are built from the same conversations, but they answer different questions — and they're structured differently under the hood, not just labeled differently.

One topic, but several findings

When Synthight analyzes a conversation, it assigns it to exactly one topic — the single subject or workflow the conversation is fundamentally about, like "Billing & Invoices" or "Password Reset." Every conversation has one, and only one.

That same conversation can also surface anywhere from zero to several findings — specific, distinct problems or requests pulled out of it. A single billing conversation might raise two completely separate findings: "invoice PDF doesn't show a tax breakdown" and "auto-renewal messaging is confusing" — both real, both evidenced, both worth tracking on their own.

Why a conversation's findings can span topics your team wouldn't expect

Because topic and finding assignment happen separately, two findings from the very same conversation don't have to relate to each other, and a finding doesn't have to match the "theme" of its topic. A conversation filed under "Account Setup" might still surface a finding about pricing confusion, if that's genuinely what the customer brought up. Findings follow the evidence, not the topic label.

Reading the two together

• Use Topics when you want to understand shape and volume — what your customers are contacting you about, and how that's trending.
• Use Findings when you want a prioritized, actionable list of specific things to fix or build — regardless of which topic they happened to come up under.

A topic with high volume but no real findings usually just means people are asking a routine question, not that something's broken. A topic with even modest volume but several urgent findings is often the one that deserves attention first.

Next steps

• Understanding topics
• Understanding findings

Frequently asked questions