diff --git a/asyncpg/connection.py b/asyncpg/connection.py
index 71fb04f8..a496eb3b 100644
--- a/asyncpg/connection.py
+++ b/asyncpg/connection.py
@@ -341,6 +341,23 @@ async def execute(
         :param float timeout: Optional timeout value in seconds.
         :return str: Status of the last SQL command.
 
+        When query arguments are provided, the command is executed as a
+        prepared statement and is eligible for the connection's LRU
+        statement cache.
+
+        The status string for an ``INSERT`` has the form
+        ``INSERT <oid> <count>``.  A result such as ``INSERT 0 0`` is a
+        legitimate outcome for queries that insert zero rows (for example,
+        ``INSERT ... SELECT ... WHERE false``), and does not indicate a
+        failure.  To confirm that a single row was inserted, check the
+        status string:
+
+        .. code-block:: pycon
+
+            >>> result = await con.execute(
+            ...     'INSERT INTO mytab (a) VALUES ($1)', 1)
+            >>> assert result == 'INSERT 0 1'
+
         .. versionchanged:: 0.5.4
            Made it possible to pass query arguments.
         """
diff --git a/docs/api/index.rst b/docs/api/index.rst
index c0fa8d1b..7e7f9f1f 100644
--- a/docs/api/index.rst
+++ b/docs/api/index.rst
@@ -50,7 +50,20 @@ a need to run the same query again.
 
    asyncpg automatically maintains a small LRU cache for queries executed
    during calls to the :meth:`~Connection.fetch`, :meth:`~Connection.fetchrow`,
-   or :meth:`~Connection.fetchval` methods.
+   or :meth:`~Connection.fetchval` methods.  :meth:`~Connection.execute`
+   also uses the cache when query arguments are provided.
+
+   To confirm that an ``INSERT`` succeeded, inspect the command status string
+   returned by :meth:`~Connection.execute`:
+
+   .. code-block:: pycon
+
+      >>> result = await con.execute(
+      ...     'INSERT INTO mytab (a) VALUES ($1)', 1)
+      >>> assert result == 'INSERT 0 1'
+
+   An ``INSERT 0 0`` status is a legitimate result for queries that insert
+   zero rows (for example, ``INSERT INTO foo (SELECT * WHERE false)``).
 
 .. warning::