Use different question formats in the follow-up survey

From open-ended questions through rating scales, multiple choice to Net Promoter Score

Whether for benchmarking, to convince stakeholders or to compare two designs - sometimes the qualitative results of usability tests have to be made quantifiable.

We, therefore, offer you different question formats in the post-survey, which help you to interpret your qualitative tests even better.

Here we explain how you can use the different question formats and for which questions which option is best suited.

Which question formats are possible?

Open questions

Participants enter their answers in their own words in a free text field.

When suitable? Used when the participant is asked to explain something in his or her own words or when you want to approach a topic in an exploratory way, e.g. What did you like on the page and what did you like less?

Rating scale

A two-pole scale where the labels can be customized. For example, it can be used like a Likert scale with labels do not agree at all to agree completely. We offer the rating scale in 5-level (indecision is possible) and 6-level (forces participants to have a tendency).

When suitable? Can be used to collect participants' agreement or disagreement with a statement, e.g., on a scale from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree". For example: the process was unnecessarily complex. Agree fully ... do not agree at all

Single choice

You can give the participant up to 10 answer choices, but they can only select one.

When suitable? Facilitates clustering of answers compared to open-ended questions and forces testers to answer. E.g. Which of the two designs do you prefer? a) The first b) The second

Multiple selection

The participant can select multiple answers from a maximum of 10 answer choices.

When suitable? Should be chosen when multiple answers may apply, e.g. What words would you use to describe the tested site? a) trustworthy, b) unique, c) useful, d) favorable, etc.

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a widely used metric related to business success that expresses customer satisfaction. This is how you interpret the NPS results. With our expert features, you can activate the NPS survey for as few as 2 testers.

When suitable? To query customer satisfaction and loyalty: On a scale of 0-10, the question "How likely are you to recommend the site [customizable depending on test item] to friends or colleagues?" is answered. 

When is a quantitative follow-up survey useful?

  • Benchmarking: For example, to determine whether your optimizations were successful during retests or if you regularly conduct tests and want to know how your product is developing.
  • Version comparisons: If you want to know which design or concept is better taken by your users in a direct comparison.
  • Convince stakeholders: If your stakeholders are more likely to be convinced by graphically presented quantitative data than by qualitative insights.
  • First impression: If you want to know whether something is immediately understood or how something appears at first glance (e.g. in comparison to the tested website). To do this, simply add an image or link to the post-survey.
  • Compare with other surveys: If you want to compare the results of the RapidUsertests with other (standardized) surveys you are already conducting.

How to use the different question formats in your test

To attach the different post-survey formats to your test, select the Expert Features at the beginning of the test creation and then you can change the question format for each question.

This is how you evaluate the results of the post-survey

The results of all questions are clearly presented in your dashboard. It also lists how each tester responded to the question, so you can make conclusions about their tests. You can also export the post-survey results as an Excel spreadsheet for further analysis.

External Survey

You can also link an external survey in the post-survey. However, this should not take longer than 5 minutes. If you would like support from our UX experts, you can request "External survey as post-survey" as an additional service in the booking.