diff --git a/etc/telegraf.conf b/etc/telegraf.conf
index d81e1b993..0a1607281 100644
--- a/etc/telegraf.conf
+++ b/etc/telegraf.conf
@@ -3918,8 +3918,15 @@
 #   ## schema can be tcp, ssl, or ws.
 #   servers = ["tcp://localhost:1883"]
 #
-#   ## MQTT QoS, must be 0, 1, or 2
+#   ## QoS policy for messages
+#   ##   0 = at most once
+#   ##   1 = at least once
+#   ##   2 = exactly once
+#   ##
+#   ## When using a QoS of 1 or 2, you should enable persistent_session to allow
+#   ## resuming unacknowledged messages.
 #   qos = 0
+#
 #   ## Connection timeout for initial connection in seconds
 #   connection_timeout = "30s"
 #
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
index df7869a86..0ec668c40 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/README.md
@@ -13,8 +13,16 @@ The plugin expects messages in the
   ## MQTT broker URLs to be used. The format should be scheme://host:port,
   ## schema can be tcp, ssl, or ws.
   servers = ["tcp://localhost:1883"]
-  ## MQTT QoS, must be 0, 1, or 2
+
+  ## QoS policy for messages
+  ##   0 = at most once
+  ##   1 = at least once
+  ##   2 = exactly once
+  ##
+  ## When using a QoS of 1 or 2, you should enable persistent_session to allow
+  ## resuming unacknowledged messages.
   qos = 0
+
   ## Connection timeout for initial connection in seconds
   connection_timeout = "30s"
 
diff --git a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
index 58074af79..5853ad939 100644
--- a/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
+++ b/plugins/inputs/mqtt_consumer/mqtt_consumer.go
@@ -53,8 +53,15 @@ var sampleConfig = `
   ## schema can be tcp, ssl, or ws.
   servers = ["tcp://localhost:1883"]
 
-  ## MQTT QoS, must be 0, 1, or 2
+  ## QoS policy for messages
+  ##   0 = at most once
+  ##   1 = at least once
+  ##   2 = exactly once
+  ##
+  ## When using a QoS of 1 or 2, you should enable persistent_session to allow
+  ## resuming unacknowledged messages.
   qos = 0
+
   ## Connection timeout for initial connection in seconds
   connection_timeout = "30s"