Creating effective, engaging, and impactful surveys, polls, and other web forms is a crucial step in the data collection and analysis process. A well-designed survey with simple and clear questions that flow will help businesses and organizations get more responses, thus allowing them to better understand the needs of their customers, employees, and stakeholders, and make informed decisions based on accurate and reliable data.

However, developing such forms requires consideration of several factors, such as choosing the right question type depending on the data you want to acquire from respondents, the format of the form, and its target audience. If you want to understand why the new Nike model of sneakers is not in demand, you need to use the language of your target audience, which is teens, to help you better understand the reasons behind the poor sales figures. Boring, unclear, and overly complex forms are often either not completed at all or left unfinished, forcing survey creators to look for new respondents to ensure the objectivity of the results obtained.

In this article, we will discuss popular question types, how they differ, and how to choose the right question type based on the data you want to obtain from your target audience. We will also cover common mistakes to avoid when creating a form to increase its completion rate.

Choose the Right Question Types

SurveyJS offers a vast variety of different types of input fields for its users.
You've got basic single and multi-line input fields, check boxes, drop-down lists, Booleans and radio groups, matrix questionnaires, Likert scales, file uploads, HTML embeds, and more. Every field supports input validation (both static and async), and expression evaluation (for example, assessing a respondent's age from their DOB input).

The right question type depends on the data you want to collect and the type of information you are looking to gain.

Let's focus on the most common question types.

Single- and Multiple-Choice Questions

This type of question allows respondents to select one or more answers from a list of options. They are useful for collecting data about preferences, opinions, or demographic information. A Radio button group, Dropdown boxes and Check boxes are the most popular questions in this category.

SurveyJS ships its dropdown menu with server-side filtering, lazy loading and a search-as-your-type feature out-of-the-box. It also allows you to hide selection options that have already been selected by a respondent to make the search even more convenient. And if you have a long list of choices to choose from, such as a list of countries, populate your dropdown menus with data loaded from a REST API web service. A Tag Box version of a Dropdown list is also available. It displays selected items in the input field as removable tags.

Rating Scale Questions

A Rating Scale question asks respondents to rate their agreement or satisfaction with a particular statement using a common 5-point or 10-point scale.

They are useful for collecting data about opinions and perceptions.

Ranking Order Questions

A Ranking Order Question allows your respondents to prioritize a list of choices in the order of preference, priority, importance, or some other factor. They are useful for collecting data about priorities and preferences.

Unlike the abovementioned types of questions, Ranking Questions require users to evaluate their preference towards all options available, not only one or two.

Open-Ended Questions

This type of question allows respondents to provide written answers to a question.

They are useful for gaining qualitative data on a subject or simply for collecting personal information, such as name, phone number, address, etc.

SurveyJS offers several options for open-ended questions to choose from: for short answers, there is a Text Entry Field. If you want a respondent to share an opinion, you can add a Comment Field to your form. If you need a group of related open-ended questions such as legal full name with short answers that require multiple text input fields - Multiple Textboxes is the way to go.

Likert Scale Questions

This type of question asks respondents react to a particular statement on a 5 to 7-point scale, such as "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree".

They are useful for collecting data about attitudes and beliefs.

Matrix Questions

This type of question asks respondents to answer several closed-ended questions with the same choice options, or rate multiple items or statements on the same scale. They are useful for collecting data about multiple aspects of a particular issue or topic.

SurveyJS offers both Single Selection and Multi Selection Matrix Table types, allowing you to choose the one that suits you best. If you deal with complex forms, such as a medical history form, or job application form that might require adding a duplicate option as a row of your Matrix Table - we've got you covered! Select Dynamic Matrix Table and let users add or remove duplicate rows whenever they need. You can also change the cell types of your Matrix Table from a simple Text Entry Field to a Dropdown menu, Check boxes, Radio Button Group, Comment, Yes/No - you name it.

Design Engaging and Effective Surveys

Besides choosing the right question types, and the right words relevant to the target audience, you might want to consider other factors that can make your surveys more engaging and effective and increase their completion rate. Below are some of them.

Clear and Concise Questions

It is essential to ask clear and concise questions that are easy for respondents to understand. This will help to ensure that the data you collect is accurate and valuable.

Personalize the Survey

Auto-Populate form fields and address respondents by their names to add a personal touch to the survey.

Keep it Anonymous

Anonymous surveys encourage people to be more open and honest in their responses.

Keep it Short

Avoid asking too many questions in your survey, as this can lead to frustration, loss of interest in taking the survey, and low completion rates as a result. Try to keep your survey as short as possible while still collecting the data you need.

Make it Visual

Consider using images, videos, and HTML to entertain respondents and make your survey more appealing and engaging.

Provide Incentives

Consider offering some swag, discounts, or prizes to encourage respondents to complete your survey.

We hope this information is of value as you researching ways to collect customer feedback and boost your business. As always, you're welcome to share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Remember: Asking is a powerful tool, one just needs to learn how to use it right.