Guides

Practical guides on writing survey and form questions: what to ask, how to word it so people answer the question you meant, and how to get enough responses to act on.

Each guide answers one question people search for, with example wording you can copy, the mistakes that make answers hard to use, and a link to the matching template in Seagit Forms when there is one. The guides are grouped by job: writing the questions, the kind of survey you are running, and getting people to answer it.

All guides

Employee engagement survey questionsEmployee engagement survey questions grouped by theme, with example wording, response formats, and the mistakes that make results hard to act on in practice.Exit interview questionsExit interview questions for departing staff, grouped by theme, with example wording, a consistency rule, and how to spot patterns across all leavers.Event feedback questionsEvent feedback questions for attendees, speakers and volunteers, with example wording, when to ask each one, and how to keep the survey short enough to finish.Customer satisfaction survey questionsCustomer satisfaction survey questions with example wording for overall, service, product and follow-up questions, plus a rule for choosing among them.Likert scale examplesLikert scale examples for agreement, satisfaction, frequency and importance, with labels, scale lengths, example statements and common wording mistakes.Types of survey questionsThe main types of survey questions, including open, closed, rating, ranking and matrix formats, with examples and a rule for choosing one for each job.Open ended vs closed ended questionsOpen ended vs closed ended questions compared: what each format measures, the trade-offs in analysis, example questions, and how to pair the two well.Leading question examplesLeading question examples from surveys, each rewritten to a neutral form, with the wording effects that research has measured and a quick review checklist.Double barreled questionsDouble barreled questions explained with examples, the answer ambiguity they cause, and how to split each one into two questions that can be answered.How to increase survey response rateHow to increase survey response rate: invitation, length, timing and reminders, with a worked example and what the research says about response rates.

Writing the questions

Start with the question wording. The guides on types of survey questions, open ended vs closed ended questions, leading question examples and double barreled questions cover the decisions that change what a respondent is actually answering.

Choosing the survey

Surveys of people you employ, and surveys of people who bought from you, ask different things. See the guides on employee engagement survey questions, exit interview questions, customer satisfaction survey questions and event feedback questions.

Getting answers

A well-written survey still needs people to finish it. How to increase survey response rate covers the invitation, length and reminders. For scale questions, see Likert scale examples.