diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
index ddb5a073b..a9e8236ee 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
@@ -7,8 +7,11 @@ and creates metrics using one of the supported [input data formats][].
 
 ```toml
 [[inputs.mqtt_consumer]]
-  ## MQTT broker URLs to be used. The format should be scheme://host:port,
-  ## schema can be tcp, ssl, or ws.
+  ## Broker URLs for the MQTT server or cluster.  To connect to multiple
+  ## clusters or standalone servers, use a seperate plugin instance.
+  ##   example: servers = ["tcp://localhost:1883"]
+  ##            servers = ["ssl://localhost:1883"]
+  ##            servers = ["ws://localhost:1883"]
   servers = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:1883"]
 
   ## Topics that will be subscribed to.
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
index 2f07b3aff..9ceeb1389 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
@@ -76,8 +76,11 @@ type MQTTConsumer struct {
 }
 
 var sampleConfig = `
-  ## MQTT broker URLs to be used. The format should be scheme://host:port,
-  ## schema can be tcp, ssl, or ws.
+  ## Broker URLs for the MQTT server or cluster.  To connect to multiple
+  ## clusters or standalone servers, use a seperate plugin instance.
+  ##   example: servers = ["tcp://localhost:1883"]
+  ##            servers = ["ssl://localhost:1883"]
+  ##            servers = ["ws://localhost:1883"]
   servers = ["tcp://127.0.0.1:1883"]
 
   ## Topics that will be subscribed to.