Top Survey Types to Understand Your Users

Get customer insights with these powerful on-site survey questions. Learn when and where to ask open-ended, Likert scale, and NPS questions to improve user experience (UX) and drive more conversions.

How well do you know the people using your website? Who are they, what’s keeping them up at night, and why did they come to you looking for answers? The truth is, no one understands your users better than they do themselves. Therefore, the simplest way to uncover what they want is to ask them directly.

Getting feedback straight from the source through on-site surveys can unlock the insights you need to improve their experience and increase conversions. In addition, surveys help you identify friction points, understand motivations, and uncover opportunities for improvement.

However, the challenge lies in asking the right questions at the right time. If surveys are irrelevant, too long, or poorly timed, users may ignore them—or worse, feel annoyed. On the other hand, well-placed and thoughtful surveys encourage meaningful responses that guide your decisions.

6 Best Questions for Surveys: Examples

Asking your users survey questions is the easiest way to figure out what’s bothering them, what they need, and what drives them. The trick is knowing which questions to ask and when to ask them to get the answers that’ll help you.

Let’s jump into our list of survey question examples, along with a rundown of the six key types your questions will fit into:

1. Open-ended  
2. Closed-ended  
3. Nominal  
4. Likert scale  
5. Rating scale  
6. Yes/No

1.  Open-ended questions
   
   Open-ended survey questions let your respondents share their thoughts freely and in detail, using their own words, rather than picking from a list of ready-made options like multiple-choice, rating scales, or simple yes/no answers.
   
   To get responses packed with useful insights, you’ll want to craft questions that are both captivating and clear, encouraging people to pour meaningful feedback into that blank text box.
   
   Here are some examples of open-ended questions: 
   
   – What other [product/service] would you love for us to offer?
   – How could we have improved your experience?
   – What convinced you to go ahead with this purchase?
   – What else would you like to know about on this page?
   – Was there something particular that prompted you to [cancel/downgrade]?
   
   When should you use open-ended questions? 
   
   Reach for them early on when you’re just starting to gather feedback and survey your customers. If you’re still piecing together the bigger picture, the responses to open-ended questions can reveal a lot about who your customers are and what they want.
   
   They’re also a great way to dig deeper after a simple yes-or-no question. Following up by asking for more details lets you tap into how your users truly feel, giving you richer insights.

Use Feedal’s AI to create survey questions and analyze answers in seconds

Need help crafting the right questions for your survey? If you have a general goal in mind but aren’t sure where to start, we’ve got you covered.  

Pick from our ready-made survey templates or let our AI assistant create one for you in seconds, customized to fit your specific needs.  

Once your survey is complete, our AI-powered analysis provides clear summaries, tracks user sentiment, highlights key insights, and even suggests next steps to help you make the most of your results

2. Closed-ended questions
   
   Closed-ended survey questions give people a handful of set answers to choose from. For example, these can be multiple-choice options, rating scales, or yes/no responses. Unlike open-ended questions, they focus on structured data that’s easier to measure.
   
   These types of questions usually fall into four main categories:
   
   Nominal – Categories with no order (e.g., industry type)
   
   Likert scale – Ranges such as “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”
   
   Rating scale – Scores like 1 to 5 stars
   
   Yes/No – Straightforward binary answers
   
   We’ll dive into each type in more detail soon. However, before doing that, let’s take a step back and explore why closed-ended questions matter, along with some examples.
   
   Using closed-ended questions makes it a breeze to crunch the numbers and make sense of the feedback when you’re analyzing the results.
   
   Here are some examples of closed-ended questions:

• What’s the biggest reason you decided to [downgrade/cancel]? (Pick from options like cost, features, etc.)  
• Did you find what you were looking for? (Yes or No)
• How would you score our customer support, from 0 to 10? (0 = awful, 10 = amazing) 
• Would you tell a friend or coworker to check us out—how likely, on a scale? (NPS-style question)  
• If we got rid of this feature, how would you feel about it? (Rate it with emojis)

When should you use closed-ended questions?

Closed-ended questions are incredibly versatile and can be used in almost any situation, but they shine in two specific cases. 

• First, they’re perfect for kicking things off with a simple, engaging question that pulls people in. Since they’re quick and easy to answer, they don’t demand much effort, making them a great way to get folks comfortable responding. It’s like a friendly nudge, often called the foot-in-the-door trick: once someone answers that first easy question, they’re more likely to stick around and tackle a bigger, open-ended one next

• Second, they’re a dream when you want to crunch numbers and spot patterns. Answers to closed-ended questions are straightforward to tally up and measure, giving you solid benchmarks to work with. Especially with rating scale questions, you can tap into how customers feel and track how things are shifting over time

3.  Nominal questions
   
   A nominal question is a straightforward survey question that gives people a set of answer choices to pick from. These options are words or phrases—not numbers—and they don’t overlap (unless you throw in something like “all of the above”). You can set it up so people pick just one answer or let them choose a few, depending on what you’re after.
   
   Here are some examples of nominal questions: 

1. What do you use our [product/service] for?  

• Business  
• Personal use  
• Other  

2. Where did you first hear about us?  

• Social media  
• Word of mouth  
• Newspaper article  
• Advertisement  
• Other  

3. If you couldn’t use our [product/service] anymore, what would you miss most? (List different features as options)  

4. What’s the next feature or functionality we should work on? (List ideas from your product roadmap)  

5. What other content would you like us to create? (List new content ideas you haven’t tried yet)  

So, when should you use nominal questions? They’re great for market research or figuring out who your audience is, like demographic stuff. They help you get a sense of your respondents and split them into groups later on. The answers you get are easy to count and turn into charts or trends, giving you a clear picture of what different types of users think and do.

When should you use nominal questions?  

Nominal questions are great for market research and work well as demographic survey questions. They’re ideal when you want to get a better understanding of your respondents and target audience, so you can group them into categories later on. Since nominal data is quantitative, it’s simple to turn into graphs and trends, giving you a clear snapshot of the behaviors and attitudes across your various user groups.

4. Questions Using a Likert Scale  

Likert scale questions are one of the most popular ways to measure how strongly someone feels about a statement. Typically, they use a 5- or 7-point rating system. Because the response options follow a logical sequence, these scales are also known as ordinal scales.

The scale is designed to be balanced. For example, the middle number (such as 3 on a 5-point scale) represents a neutral stance. Meanwhile, the lowest number (always 1) reflects one extreme opinion, and the highest number (like a 7 on a 7-point scale) reflects the opposite extreme.

In other words, Likert scale questions make it possible to turn subjective opinions—such as customer feelings—into measurable, numerical data. As a result, businesses can compare results over time and identify meaningful trends.

Here are a few customer-friendly examples of how Likert scale questions can be written in practice:

1. “How happy would you be if we added this [feature]? Rate it from 1 to 7, where 1 means ‘not satisfied at all’ and 7 means ‘very satisfied.'”  

• Not satisfied at all  
• Not satisfied  
• Somewhat not satisfied  
• Neutral 
• Somewhat satisfied  
• Satisfied  
• Very satisfied  

2. “Do you think our [product/service] makes [X job to be done] easier? Tell us how much you agree on a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is ‘strongly disagree’ and 5 is ‘strongly agree.'”  

• Strongly disagree  
• Disagree  
• Neutral 
• Agree  
• Strongly agree  

3. “How would you rate the support you got from us? Pick an option from ‘not helpful at all’ to ‘very helpful.'”  

• Not helpful at all  
• Not helpful  
• Neutral  
• Helpful  
• Very helpful

When should you use Likert scale questions? 

They’re really useful when you’ve already got a rough idea of what’s on your customers’ minds. For instance, if people start grumbling about a recent tweak to your ordering system through open-ended feedback, you could follow up with a Likert scale question to figure out how most users actually feel about it.

5. Rating scale questions

 Rating scale questions let people pick a number to show how they feel about something. For instance, you might ask customers to rate your customer service from 1 to 5, or ask how likely they are to recommend your product on a scale from 0 to 10 (that’s what’s called a Net Promoter Score).

When you’re putting one of these questions in a survey, make sure it’s super clear what the numbers stand for—like, 1 could mean “awful” and 5 could mean “awesome.” It’s also a good idea to toss in an open-ended question afterward so they can explain why they picked that number.

Here are some examples of rating scale questions: 

• “How much do you like our product lineup, on a scale from 1 to 10?”  
• “How useful do you find the info on this page, from 1 to 5?”  
• “How simple was it to use our service?” (Customer effort score)

When should you use rating scale questions? 

Rating scale questions are one of the most versatile tools in surveys. Essentially, you should use them anytime you want to put a number to something or compare patterns across respondents.

For example, if you want to measure how happy your customers are, a rating scale gives you a quick snapshot of overall satisfaction. In addition, it helps you track changes over time—so you can see whether your product improvements are making an impact.

Moreover, rating scales are particularly useful when you want to evaluate:

Product feedback: How valuable or easy-to-use do customers find specific features?
Customer satisfaction (CSAT): How happy are customers with your product or service?
Customer effort (CES): How much effort did it take to complete a task or resolve an issue?

Why it matters: By turning subjective experiences into measurable data, rating scale questions allow you to identify trends and compare results across segments. Consequently, this makes it easier to prioritize improvements and demonstrate progress to stakeholders.

In other words, use rating scales whenever you need clear, comparable insights that go beyond open-ended feedback. They provide both simplicity for respondents and actionable data for your team.
Want to know what your customers really think? 

Add an NPS® survey to your website using Feedal! It’s easy to set up and can pop up at key moments, like after someone makes a purchase or checks out your support page. 

A low score lets you know where things need a little work, while a high score shows you what’s keeping your customers happy and coming back for more. Plus, with the way responses are tracked, you can look back over time to see if you’re on the right track or need to step up your game.

6. Yes/No questions

Yes-or-no questions are as simple as they get—just a quick “yes” or “no” is all you need to answer. They might not give you a ton of wiggle room with responses, but they’re perfect for getting a fast read on how people feel or whether a specific product feature is hitting the mark.

Want to spice them up a bit? Swap out the plain old yes/no with something like 👍 and 👎 or 🙂 and 🙁 to keep things fun and engaging.

Here are some examples:  

• Was this article helpful? (Yes/No)  
• Did you find what you needed today? (👍/👎)  
• Were you worried about anything before buying [product name]? (Yes/No)  

So, when should you use these? 

Yes/no questions are great for sorting people into groups fast. Let’s say you’re trying to figure out what’s holding folks back from trying your product. You could pop a survey on your pricing page asking if anything’s stopping them. Then, for the ones who say “yes,” follow up and ask them to spill the details.

Plus, these questions are an easy way to grab someone’s attention since they take almost no effort to answer. Once they’ve taken that first step, they’re usually more likely to keep going with more questions—or even share their contact info with you!