Survey Questions: Everything You Need to Know in One Place

You’re looking to make an important business decision, but you’re just not sure which direction to take. Which new product to offer? Where to open your next store? Which features or services to add? So many difficult questions but only one logical answer – do a survey.

Just put your questions together using our survey builder, ask your audience for their opinion, and voilà – you’ve taken most of the guesswork out of your next business steps. But first, you need to make sure you’re asking all the right survey questions.

Free Survey Questions: 60 Example Survey Questions to Inspire Your Next Survey

How to Ask Good Survey Questions

With so many different survey question options, how do you choose the right ones for your needs? Before being able to build an effective survey, you need to ask yourself how you intend to use the results obtained in the survey.

Deciding on the exact goals of your survey beforehand will make the choice of an adequate survey question type much easier. For example, your question choice and response options are likely to differ depending on whether you’re looking to measure customer satisfaction, calculate your net promoter score (NPS), or conduct market research.

Some of the factors that may determine the type of survey questions you’re going to use include:

  • The type of information you need
  • The depth of information you need
  • The amount of time your respondents have available

Sometimes just slightly varying the types of survey questions and answer choices can have a significant impact on the value and quality of the results you obtain, as well as on the response rate. That’s why you need to pay special attention to the length of your survey and the number (not just the type) of questions included.

The Ideal Survey Length

Another important point to consider is the length and number of survey questions. Modern internet users, whose attention span has never been shorter, are exposed to ridiculous amounts of content every minute of every single day. In such circumstances, you wouldn’t expect them to sit through mind-numbingly long customer satisfaction surveys or read ridiculously long questions.

With that in mind, questions should be fairly short. One or two lines of text the most. When it comes to the number of questions, from our own experience, some of the best-performing surveys ever have had 8-10 questions.

8 Most Commonly Used Types of Survey Questions + Examples

Closed-Ended Questions

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Closed-ended questions are basically those questions that provide respondents with a predefined list of answer options to choose from. Usually, those can be answered with a simple yes or no, a predefined value on a fixed point scale, or with a specific piece of information.

The most common types of closed-ended survey questions include different variations of categorical and interval/ratio questions. Opposite to close-ended questions are open-ended questions, but we’ll explore those in more detail a bit later in the text.

Examples of closed ended questions:

How long have you had the product?

  • Less than a week
  • Between one week and a month
  • 1-3 months
  • 3-6 months
  • More than 6 months

What was your number one priority when buying this product?

  • Quality
  • Size of the package
  • Pricing
  • Delivery options

How long did  it take our customer service to solve issues with the product?

  • Less than a day
  • 1-3 days
  • 3-7 days
  • More than a week

What is your age?

  • Under 18
  • 18-24 years old
  • 25-34 years old
  • 35-44 years old
  • 45-54 years old
  • Over 55

Categorical Questions

Categorical or nominal survey questions are a perfect choice if you’re looking to get a simple, easy-to-analyze count, such as “85% of respondents had a satisfying customer experience with our business” or “48% of men and 63% of women preferred our brand to our competitors”.

There are several types of survey questions that fit this category, the most commonly used ones being:

  • Dichotomous (‘Yes/No’) questions
  • Multiple-choice questions
  • Checkbox questions

As mentioned above, these types of survey questions enable different types of analyses (usually involving counts and percentages) and, as such, work very well for graphs and charts.

Let’s briefly examine each of the specific question types.

1. Dichotomous Questions

As the word ‘dichotomous’ adds a somewhat unnecessary sense of complexity to the issue, in the simplest of terms, these are what we generally call ‘yes/no’ questions – the types of survey questions that can be answered with a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

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If you’re looking for an easy way to ‘screen out’ the people not relevant to your survey, dichotomous questions are as easy as it gets. They can also be used to segment the respondents into those ‘who have used’ and those who ‘have not yet used’ your services.

Tip – if the app you’re using to create your surveys does not support yes/no questions, you can simply create a multiple-choice question and offer ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ as the only answer options.

Examples of yes/no questions:
  • Was this product useful? (Yes/No)
  • Was this product delivered in time? (Yes/No)
  • Are you using this product on a daily basis? (Yes/No)
  • Did our customer support help you with your issue? (Yes/No)
  • Did this online course meet your expectations? (Yes/No)
  • Is this the first time you are using our product? (Yes/No)
2. Multiple-Choice Questions

Multiple-choice survey questions usually offer three or more predetermined answer options, while they can allow for single or multiple answers (check the checkbox questions below).

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For this type of survey questions, it may be wise to consider including the editable “other” category as one of the answer options if you think there’s a possibility that the respondent’s answer may differ from all of the given options.

Example of multiple-choice question:

What are the things you consider when buying this type of product?

  • Quality
  • Size of the package
  • Packaging
  • Pricing
  • Delivery options
  • Return options
  • Ecological sustainability
  • Company’s values
  • Other _____________________

What did you like about our software product update?

  • New features
  • Design
  • Added integrations
  • Promotional offers
  • New pricing plans
  • User experience
  • Other _____________________

What did you like about our online course?

  • Topics
  • Lesson structure
  • Textbook materials
  • Video materials
  • Exams
  • One-on-one lessons
  • Group lessons
  • Open consultations with the teacher
  • Other _____________________
3. Checkbox questions

Checkbox questions are multiple choice-type questions that add the flexibility of being able to choose more than one option. Add as many answers as you want, and respondents can pick as many answers to the question as you allow them to.

Example of checkbox question:

How would you like to receive your learning materials?

  • Via mail
  • Via email
  • Via online transfer

Which payment options are available for your purchase?

  • Cash
  • Checks
  • Credit cards
  • Debit cards
  • Mobile payments
  • Electronic bank transfers

Which type of non-dairy milk do you drink?

  • Soy
  • Almond
  • Spelt
  • Oat
  • Hazelnut
  • Coconut
Extra tip: Image choice questions

Who says that surveys have to be all words and blank screen? If you want to add a bit of spice to your survey and boost the response rate and respondents’ engagement, you can also use multiple image choices as answer options.

Interval/Ratio Questions

4. Rating Scale Questions

With rating scale survey questions, the respondents are asked to assess an issue on the basis of an already predetermined dimension. The question usually displays a range of answer options that can be on any scale you want (1 to 10, 0 to 100, and so on).

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Since most of these scales use numbers as values, it’s important to clarify the gradation method and clearly explain those values. If the question is ‘How much do you like online quizzes?’ and you use a 1-10 scale, you need to explicitly state that, for example, 10 means that you just adore them, while 1 means that you’re not really a fan.

When creating rating questions, a good idea would be to use the same rating scales for all questions, as only this way it’ll be possible to compare the ratings directly with each other (obviously, a value of 3 doesn’t have the same strength on a scale of 5 as on a scale of 10).

  • How likely are you to recommend our product on a scale of 0-10?
  • How satisfied are you with our product/service on a scale of 1-10?
  • How would you rate our customer service on a scale of 1-5?
  • How would you rate our online course on a scale of 1-5?
  • How satisfied are you with product delivery time on a scale of 1-5?
5. Likert Scale Questions

Remember that last time when you were taking a survey and ‘neither agreed nor disagreed’ or ‘completely agreed/disagreed’ with a question? You may not have known it at the time, but those questions were based on what’s called a Likert scale.

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It’s one of the most popular and reliable ways of measuring perceptions, attitudes, and opinions. Likert scale survey questions are characterized by a wide range of answer options to choose from, usually ranging from one extreme (e.g. ‘strongly agree’) to another (e.g. ‘strongly disagree’).

Likert scale questions are especially suitable if you want to question your audience on a new product release, customer loyalty, user experience, a recent development at the company, or do a follow-up on the success of a big event, and so on.

Even though Likert scale questionnaires, in theory, can have an unlimited number of questions and answers, the two most common ones are the 5-point and 7-point Likert scales. You can also decide to use even-numbered answer options, but keep in mind that such a scale eliminates the possibility of a neutral answer.

  • How strongly do you agree with the following statement: I am satisfied with the product I purchased?
    1 – Strongly disagree
    2 – Somewhat disagree
    3 – Neither agree nor disagree
    4 – Somewhat agree
    5 – Strongly agree
  • How satisfied are you with our customer service?
    1 – Very dissatisfied
    2 – Somewhat dissatisfied
    3 – Slightly dissatisfied
    4 – Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
    5 – Slightly satisfied
    6 – Somewhat satisfied
    7 – Very satisfied
  • How strongly do you agree with the following statement: textbook materials used for online course were easy to understand and use?

1 – Strongly disagree
2 – Somewhat disagree
3 – Neither agree nor disagree
4 – Somewhat agree
5 – Strongly agree

6. Matrix Questions

Matrix survey questions are perfect if you’re looking to ask several questions in a row that contain the same answer options. Basically, a matrix question is a series of rating scale or Likert scale questions.

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Matrix questions can significantly simplify large-scale surveys, but at the same time they can be confusing to some respondents and are also not always the best choice for mobile devices.

7. Ranking questions

A ranking question asks respondents to order answer choices by way of preference. This allows you to not only understand how respondents feel about each answer option, but it also helps you understand each one’s relative popularity.

It’s important to keep in mind that ranking questions can take more time to answer. So try not to use them if other question types can provide the data you need. Also, only use them when you’re confident that respondents are familiar with each answer option. Otherwise, they’ll be next to impossible to answer accurately and honestly.

For instance, in the question below, respondents need to be familiar with each show before they can compare them.

Example of ranking question:

Rank your priorities when you consider buying this type of product?

  • Quality
  • Size of the package
  • Packaging
  • Pricing
  • Delivery options
  • Return options
  • Ecological sustainability
  • Company’s values

7. Open-Ended Questions

Open-ended survey questions enable respondents to answer questions in the provided text box. This means that there are no predefined answers and respondents have the freedom to express their opinion in their own words. It also gives them the chance to respond in more detail.

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When creating a survey, you need to gauge the optimal number of open-ended questions carefully. As answering these questions can be demanding and time-consuming, you don’t want to overwhelm your users. In addition, since there are no uniform answer options, compiling and analyzing survey responses is more difficult than with closed-ended questions. However, they can be a great source of qualitative data.

  • What information on our website is missing?
  • What is your biggest concern about purchasing this product?
  • Is there anything that would make a checkout process on our website easier?
  • If you did not make a purchase today, what stopped you?
  • What is the maximum price you would pay for this type of product?
  • Which products would you like to see added to our catalogue?

8. Demographic Questions

Demographic survey questions are particularly useful if you’re looking to gather background information about your user. If used properly, these enable you to learn more about your target audience. They are often used to segment audiences on the basis of who they are and what they do, making it easier for marketers to be certain that they are targeting the right people.

What is your name?

  • What is your age?
  • What is your gender?
  • What is your ethnicity?
  • What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed?
  • What is your current employment status?
  • What industry do you work for?
  • What is your marital status?
  • What is your household income?
    In which department do you work?
  • What is the size of your company?

Other Specific Survey Question Examples

Screening Questions

Do people qualify for your surveys?

Making sure you ask the right questions is important. It is equally important to ensure you’re surveying the right people. Screening questions are used at the beginning of surveys to qualify or disqualify respondents from taking a survey.

Sample screening question:

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Attention Check Questions

Are your respondents completely invested or are they just clicking random answer options only to finish the survey as quickly as possible?

An easy way to check could be to include an attention check question somewhere in your survey. The thing with attention questions is that they often seem very easy to answer. Too easy, in fact – there’s usually a catch that can be overlooked if someone is not paying attention.

Sample attention check question:

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Double Barreled Questions

Whether on purpose or as a result of carelessness, badly formulated questions can lead to invalid survey results.

One of the most common types of survey fallacy are double barreled questions. Such questions ask about two or more topics but leave room for a single answer. Similarly to double-barreled, you should avoid other kinds of confusing, ambiguous, and leading questions.

Sample double barreled question:

Should the government create more jobs and ban guns?

4 Tips for Writing Top-Notch Survey Questions

They say a survey is as good as its questions (the same goes for online quizzes). So, how to make sure the survey questions you create are nothing short of top-notch?

Be precise, specific, and focus on one topic. In order to get as accurate survey results as possible, you should be as precise as possible when phrasing your questions and answers. Also, you should aim to narrow down the topic of your survey and be specific about the desired outcomes.

Avoid using vague words or expressions. We already mentioned that you need to be precise when phrasing your questions, but we have to repeat it once again – it is that important. The takers need to comprehend exactly what you mean in order to supply you with an accurate answer. Plus, you need to be extra careful with different kinds of sensitive questions.

This is also important with rating scales and similar types of survey questions, where you need to clearly specify the value of each answer. In other words, you should do your best to make deciding on the gradation of answers a no-brainer for the questionnaire takers.

Structure it as a question rather than a statement. Due to the acquiescence response bias, a phenomenon inherent in human nature, regardless of the content of the survey, its respondents tend to agree with statements more often than disagree.

This is why it’s always more beneficial to ask questions than to supply the respondents with a ready-made statement and ask them to agree or disagree. At least if you’re looking to get accurate results. So, try to avoid leading questions that can cause bias.

Determine the ideal number of answer options. Generally, you want to keep your surveys short and sweet. As already mentioned, 8-10 questions should be optimal.

Once you find your way around different types of survey questions, you’ll quickly realize the full potential of online surveys and learn how to use them to obtain valuable data. Different survey question types are suitable for getting different pieces of information from your respondents.

How to Make a Survey Using Survey Tool

If all of these tips and tricks seem overwhelming – take a breath. Creating a great survey is no rocket science if you have the right survey tool. A good tool allows you to create visually appealing survey questions and gather answers that seamlessly produce useful and actionable quantiative and qualitative data. With LeadQuizzes survey maker, you can use a pre-made survey templates or create a fully customizable survey from scratch.

Step 1 – Use LeadQuizzes Survey Template

If you are tight with time and need something reliable, we got you covered. Here you can find survey templates for:

Of course, all of these templates are fully customizable, so you can easily switch up the images and questions, or add survey questions that are relevant to your business.

Step 2 – Create a Survey Landing Page

If you want to create your survey from scratch, here’s what you need to do – just click here to access the LeadQuizzes dashboard – no strings attached, we offer a free trial that allows you to assess whether this survey tool is the right fit for your needs!

Your survey landing page should be simple and straightforward – alongside survey name, add one sentence stating the purpose of the survey. LeadQuizzes offers ample design opportunities, so you can even add a nice background picture.

If you have dozens of tests, you can add pictures that relate to a particular lesson your vocabulary quiz refers to. You can do that by clicking on “select media” button in the Build section.

Step 3 – Create Survey Questions

After that, you can move on to creating survey questions. Don’t forget – keep it short, sweet, and engaging. With multiple-choice questions, you can go for simple text questions, or create image questions. You can even add videos!

For open ended questions, you can adjust required answer length and play around with textbox labels.

For the final step, you can make a simple “thank you” page, or you can redirect respondents to a custom URL.

And finally, step 4 – Track survey answers and data

Once you create your survey, you can embed it on your website, display it in a pop-up window or post it on social media. LeadQuizzes offers integrations with Facebook Pixel and Google Ads, as well as sleek report dashboard, so you can easily track respondents’ engagement and drop-off points, which allows you to fine-tune your survey questions for maximum response rate.

There is also an extra breakdown of individual responses, as well as the option to export your survey responses and data as a CSV to analyze it using Excel or Google Sheets.

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