The Best Survey Questions to Ask + Examples (2024 Guide)

Do you need help thinking of survey questions for your website?

Surveys are a great way to get feedback from your site visitors and customers, but it’s important to ask the right questions. In this post, we’ve searched the web and put together the best survey questions to ask plus examples.

The Best Survey Questions Examples

Here’s a table of contents of the best survey question examples:

Demographic Question Examples

• What’s your age?
• What’s your date of birth?
• Which gender are you?
• What’s your ethnicity?
• Tell us your highest level of education.
• What’s your current employment status?
• Where do you live? (City, State, Country, etc)
• What’s your marital status?
• Tell us your household income.

However, some of these can be sensitive questions, so ask for only what you absolutely need. Keep in mind you can also use Google Analytics to find out some of these demographic details about your visitors, but not specific ones.

In some cases, it may be a good idea to use anonymous feedback surveys to encourage more people to respond freely.

Demographic survey questions are some of the most effective basic survey questions to ask people. Online surveys aren’t done in person, so sometimes you need to ask the user obvious questions about themselves for your data.

NPS Rating Scale Example

Rating scale questions like NPS surveys are popular because the response rate on them is high. For NPS Surveys, you’ll use a customer rating system to find out what someone’s overall satisfaction with a product, service, or company is. It’s a great way to find out how strong customer loyalty for your brand is.

Using a conditional logic form, you can ask different questions based on how low or high a particular rating is. For example, let’s say you’re asking about the quality of your customer service and someone rates it at a 2 out of 10. You can set up your form, so a question like “How did we disappoint you and what can we do to make things right?” appears.

This is an awesome way to get even better data from your forms and show the customer you’re really listening. Check out how to create an NPS survey form in WordPress to learn more, and check out the WPForms Surveys and Polls addon.

Likert Scale Example

Likert scales, another form of rating scale questions, are great to use on many types of WordPress surveys. You’re probably already familiar with these “do you agree or disagree” type of questions. They’re sometimes called matrix questions.

An effective Likert scale will include a series of questions with around 5-7 balanced responses users can choose their answers from. It often comes with a ‘neutral’ midpoint.

Some common Likert scale questions include:

• This company invests time in providing quality support to its customers
• Express your level of satisfaction after using our products
• I require help from specific departments when I shop

To set up a Likert scale, head over to how to add a likert scale to your WordPress forms.

Multiple Choice Example

Multiple choice questions are questions that have multiple answer choices. This helps keep answer choices simple and straightforward. That’s because the answer options are already created for them, so it creates an easier experience to complete the survey.

Multiple Choice Images Example

Multiple Choice images are just like multiple choice questions, but with an image for each selection. You can easily add image choices to WPForms in Multiple Choice, Item, or Checkbox fields. They are incredibly engaging.

Closed-Ended Question Example

Closed-ended questions are the type of questions that limit your survey taker’s response options. They’ll have to select from pre-selected choices. A multiple choice question is considered a closed-ended question.

This could include many of the above, like yes or no multiple choice questions, rating scale questions, and Likert scale questions.

Open-Ended Question Example

Asking yourself what’s an example of an open-ended question? Check out this example below.

Unlike closed-ended questions, you can simply ask a general question that doesn’t prompt an answer. You might love how much info you get by asking an open-ended question. But, you might also get rambling answers that are hard to sort through.

To get around this, you can run open questions in a pilot survey, then turn them into closed questions when you run the real survey. Our article on questionnaire examples and templates talks about this in more detail.

Open-ended questions can be easily created by simply turning a Paragraph text field into any question you’d like. But be careful not to ask ambiguous questions or bad survey questions, which we review next in our FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions on Surveys

The world of online surveys can be overwhelming, but we’re here to make it simple for you. Here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions about asking survey questions on the web.

How Do You Write a Good Survey Question?

If you’re looking for a good way to find out more about your products and services, you’ll want to create a survey online. But, you want to make sure you write good survey questions.

One way to do this is to use a survey template. WPForms Pro has survey templates that follow the rules and examples in this post. It makes it super easy for anyone to run a survey on their WordPress website.

But to write a good survey question, here are some general rules to stick to when you’re coming up with ideas:

• Ask specific questions — If you want to get good data from people, you need to be as precise and specific as possible to lead them to an honest and helpful answer.
• Be clear and concise — Be direct and get to the point so you don’t lose your visitors’ attention.
• Avoid subjective verbiage — How often is ‘regularly’ in the question “Do you exercise regularly?”
• Don’t force answers — Be selective about which questions you require on your surveys, so you don’t lose respondents who are looking for privacy or want to skip a question.
• Avoid double-barreled questions — An example of this would be “Was this the fastest and friendliest customer service you’ve ever received?”
• Lean toward closed-ended questions — Try and keep it to less than 3 open-ended questions on longer surveys like multi-step surveys, and 1-2 on shorter ones.
• Avoid leading questions — Don’t set up a question with bias like “How much fun was that event?!”
• Don’t make questions too similar — Make sure you’re using the survey taker’s time wisely by asking a variety of questions.

What Is a Bad Survey?

In some ways, a bad survey is subjective. But when you’re running a website and a business online, a bad survey is one that doesn’t convert well and doesn’t get you good data.

This is most often caused by asking too many bad survey questions, and not enough good survey questions. Let’s take a look at some examples of bad survey questions next, so you know which ones to avoid.

What Are Some Examples of Bad Survey Questions?

Here are some examples of bad survey questions to watch out for:

“Why are we the best t-shirt company on the planet?”

This is a leading question and should be avoided, even if you feel the statement is true. Leading questions are a bad idea to put on your surveys. It shows bias which will end up giving you poor data.

“What is your age and your birthday?”

Don’t ask for the same thing more than once. This could be considered a waste of time by the person taking your survey. Make sure to only ask for the data you need.

“How would you rate our product and our customer service?”

Try to avoid asking double-barrelled questions that ask for more than one thing at a time.

“If you could pick our next product, what would it be, what would it do, what would you call it, how much would it cost, and what color would it be?”

Did you even finish reading that sentence? Don’t ask long-winded questions and remember to keep your survey tight, concise, and to the point.

“What do you think of our website?”

This is a pretty vague and ambiguous question, so make sure you get way more specific on your survey.

“Is your favorite color blue or green?” 

Don’t offer too few options for people when way more options exist. If you don’t know the other options, include an ‘other’ box with a line text field to let people input their answers. You may end up getting more accurate answers than you would’ve if you hadn’t included the other field.

What Are Ambiguous Questions?

If you’re expecting respondents to answer ambiguous questions, you are going to be surprised when you check out your reporting dashboard. You might see a lot of traffic on your site but few responses to your survey.

That’s because ambiguous questions, which are vague and have more than one meaning, are confusing. They break one of the biggest rules about writing a good survey and they aren’t concise or direct.

How Do You Analyze the Results?

You can analyze survey results in different ways depending on the question fields that you used. Closed questions are normally easier to analyze than open questions.

If you use Likert scales, it’s a good idea not to use tons of answer choices so you can draw a stronger conclusion.

If you need help, we have some pro tricks on how to write survey results summary that will help you to present your findings in the best way.

And there it is! Examples of the best survey questions to ask. Hopefully, this post helped you fine-tune your survey strategies for your small business website and find the best types of survey questions for you.

Next, Learn About Survey Design Best Practices

Now that you know what questions to ask, you should also consider taking a look at the survey design best practices to boost your conversions and user engagement.

Also, chatbots are becoming more popular lately for collecting feedback. If you’re wondering if you should use one over a web form, we recommend reading our guide on choosing between chatbots vs forms.

You may also want to check out our post on exit survey questions you need to ask.

Ready to build your survey? Get started today with the easiest WordPress form builder plugin. WPForms Pro includes lots of free templates and offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.

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