5 essential survey question types explained: Pros, cons, and when to use them

Key takeaways

• Survey questionnaires are essential tools for gathering audience insights, enabling businesses to collect both quantitative and qualitative data that inform strategic decisions and improve customer understanding.
• Choosing the right survey question types is critical—from open-ended and dichotomous to multiple choice, scale, and matrix questions—each format serves a unique purpose and impacts the quality of data collected.
• Well-designed surveys drive business value by helping companies identify customer needs, evaluate marketing effectiveness, monitor trends, and test new products or services before launch.
• Effective use of survey data leads to tangible benefits, including increased profitability, enhanced customer experiences, and more efficient product development.

Surveys are an effective tool for understanding the opinions and attitudes of those that matter the most: your target audience. However, to get the most insight for your buck, you must design an effective survey that asks the right questions in the right way. We provide tips on just that below.

What is a survey?

A survey encompasses the entire research process, from crafting questions and selecting data collection methods to compiling responses and analysing results to extract meaningful trends and insights. While a questionnaire is a vital element of this process, the term "survey" refers to the broader framework that supports the systematic gathering and interpretation of data.

You can learn more about the difference between surveys and questionnaires in our article: Survey vs. Questionnaire: What is the difference?

Quantitative vs. qualitative data

By using the right survey question types, companies can collect both quantitative and qualitative data to inform strategic decisions.

Typically, surveys yield quantitative data, which enables C-suite executives to make data-driven decisions. For example, a survey may reveal that customers in a specific geographic area are 40 percent less likely to purchase a product. Based on this information, company leadership can adjust advertising and pricing accordingly.

However, surveys may also yield qualitative data. This is achieved through the use of open-ended questions that require participants to provide written responses. Market researchers can then analyse these responses manually or leverage text analysis tools for further examination.

Regardless of question type, surveys serve as a reliable instrument for gaining insight into your target audience. This insight can give your brand the edge it needs to outperform competitors and gain market share.

Why use survey questions?

Survey questions can provide highly reliable, accurate, and relevant first-party data that is tailored specifically to your company’s unique objectives. This data can be used to:

Identify customer needs and preferences

Survey questions provide a peek into the consumer psyche, enabling market researchers to gain a deeper understanding of preferences and pain points. This information empowers companies to create products and offer services that cater to consumer needs.

Evaluate marketing campaigns

It can be frustrating to launch a marketing campaign that falls flat. Fortunately, market researchers can use survey question types like likert scales or multiple choice to assess the effectiveness of advertising before revealing messaging to the world at large. Based on participant feedback, the messaging can be adjusted and refined, ensuring that the big reveal is effective.

Monitor industry trends

Staying up-to-date on the trends that shape consumer opinions and behaviours can be challenging. However, survey questions can help by providing insight into current market preferences.

Test new products and services

Is there a demand for a specific product or service? The best way to answer this question is by asking consumers directly through targeted survey questions. This can help companies determine a) how a new offering will be received and b) any adjustments that need to be made before the product or service is released.

The benefits of surveys

Surveys are a cost-effective means of gathering data about your target market. Whether your company is a small business or a Fortune 500, this data can be leveraged to inform all aspects of business—from pricing strategies to brand messaging.

Three other benefits of surveys include:

1. Boosted profits

Surveys provide a comprehensive understanding of consumer wants and needs. For example, a survey may reveal that customers are willing to pay more for a product. Or, a survey may reveal that millennial consumers are not responding to brand messaging.

This understanding through the right survey question types helps your company make smart, data-driven decisions that safeguard your company from financial losses. Ergo, businesses that utilise data and analytics to make decisions are more likely to achieve higher profitability compared to those that do not.

2. Improved customer experience

Surveys help businesses gain valuable insights into customers' needs and preferences. This information allows them to customise their products and services to better meet customer expectations.

For example, let’s say a company conducts customer satisfaction surveys at various points in the customer journey. In doing so, the company identifies issues with its e-commerce website. By addressing these problems and improving the customer experience, the business can build stronger relationships and foster greater customer loyalty.

3. Refined product development

Conducting a survey before launching a new product is an effective avenue for understanding consumer preferences. Surveys can uncover possibilities for improvement and innovation, helping companies offer goods that consumers actually want.

Insights garnered from surveys can also guide the product development process in a way that saves companies valuable time and financial resources.

Essential survey question types (and when to use them)

When writing survey questions, market researchers often overlook the importance of selecting the right type of question. Choosing the appropriate question type can help you collect reliable and accurate information that supports your research goal.

Five common survey question types to be aware of include:

1. Open-ended questions

Open-ended survey questions are prompts that require detailed, free-form text responses rather than simple 'yes' or 'no' answers. These questions generate qualitative data that can provide valuable insights. The qualitative information obtained can be used as is or converted into quantitative data using techniques like word clouds.

However, there are some drawbacks to using open-ended survey questions. They can be time-consuming for respondents to answer, which can result in a lower response rate. Additionally, open-ended questions may yield unusable responses, such as emoji or gibberish. 

Pros:

• Allow for rich responses
• Offer three-dimensional data
• Provide insight into the customer journey

Cons:

• Tedious for respondents to answer
• May yield unusable responses
• Time-consuming to analyse

Learn how you can exploit open-ended questions for deep insights here.

2. Dichotomous questions

Dichotomous survey questions are close-ended prompts that only offer two possible answers. Examples include ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ ‘true’ or ‘false, ‘fair’ or ‘unfair.’ These questions yield quantitative data that is easy to analyse. Many respondents also prefer these questions because they can be answered quickly.

While dichotomous survey questions are straightforward, they are not always appropriate. Many times, a participant’s thoughts and opinions cannot be encapsulated in two answer choices. Dichotomous questions may also prompt participants to straight-line (i.e., select answers at random) or otherwise offer disingenuous answers.

Pros:

• Generate easy-to-analyse data
• Short and simple
• Can be used to screen qualified respondents

Cons:

• Overly simplistic for some situations
• Encourage straight-lining
• Yield one-dimensional data

3. Single and multiple choice questions

Single and multiple choice survey questions are types of close-ended questions where respondents choose from a predetermined set of options. With single choice questions, participants can select only one option, while multiple choice questions offer multiple options to choose from.

These question types are popular because they are straightforward and can be answered quickly. They are also mobile-friendly and easy to analyse. However, data yielded by single and multiple choice survey questions typically lacks the depth afforded by open-ended questions.

Pros:

• Easy to answer
• Screen-agnostic
• Simple to analyse

Cons:

• Time-consuming to create
• Limited options
• No qualitative data

4. Scale questions

There are two key types of scale questions: rating scale and Likert Scale. Rating scale questions give participants a spectrum of answer choices related to a single topic. For instance, a question may assess customer satisfaction, with 1 indicating ‘very dissatisfied’ and 5 indicating ‘very satisfied.’

Likert Scale survey questions are very similar to rating scale survey questions. The key difference is that rating scale questions can have any number of options, while Likert Scale questions are typically limited to five to seven options.

Scale questions are advantageous because they quantify subjective sentiments. However, since the questions aren't always mobile-friendly, answer choices can be truncated on small smartphone screens. These survey questions are also prone to the error of central tendency, which essentially means that participants tend to select the midpoints of the scale.

Pros:

• Engaging
• Participants are familiar with scale questions
• Effective means of quantifying emotions

Cons:

• Susceptible to the error of central tendency
• Subjective answer choices
• Not mobile-friendly

5. Matrix/grid questions

Matrix/grid survey questions organise multiple choice questions into a grid format, where the questions are presented in the first row and the answer choices are listed as column headers.

By grouping multiple questions, matrix/grid questions create the perception of a single question. This has the advantage of saving space and reducing survey dropout rates.

However, it is important to understand when and how to properly incorporate matrix/grid survey questions. Since these questions aren’t always compatible with smart devices, misuse could lead to survey dropout.

Pros:

• Offers perception of a single question
• Highly engaging
• Can be answered quickly

Cons:

• Not screen-agnostic
• Can be overwhelming
• Encourage straight-lining
• Not mobile-friendly and line errors (respondent may confuse columns and rows)

Understanding and using the right survey question types is essential for writing questions that are engaging and don’t confuse respondents. Whether you're gathering feedback on a new product or measuring customer satisfaction, the structure of your questions can make or break the quality of your data.

By mastering these question types, you’ll be better equipped to design surveys that not only engage your audience but also deliver the insights your business needs to grow.

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