Unlocking Customer Insights: The Power of Closed-Ended Questions in Surveys

What are closed-ended questions?

Closed-ended questions are questions with a limited number of available responses, such as a number oran option from a list. Since they’re so straightforward, closed-ended question surveys are a breeze to create with the right software. But one other advantage of closed-ended question surveys is their tight focus. Thanks to the controlled responses, you’re guaranteed to receive brief, quantifiable answers that are easy to analyze.

Just like how closed-ended questions have a select set of answers, there are only a few types of closed-ended questions:

Dichotomous questions

These questions are answered with “yes/true” or “no/false.”

Examples of dichotomous questions:

• Was our support team able to resolve your issue?
• Were you satisfied with your shopping experience today?

Multiple choice questions

This type of question is answered by selecting an option from a list.

Examples of multiple choice questions:

• How would you prefer to receive communications from us?
• What was your main reason for shopping with us today?

Rating scale questions

These questions are answered on a scale (usually 1-5 or 1-10) represented by numbers or symbols.

Examples of rating scale questions:

• How frequently do you use our services?
• How likely are you to shop with us again?

Likert scale questions

A type of rating scale question, Likert scale questions are answered on a scale of “very positive/strongly agree” to “very negative/strongly disagree.”

Examples of Likert scale questions:

• How satisfied were you with your customer support?
• How easy was it to complete your purchase on our website?

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Closed-ended questions vs. open-ended questions

Open-ended questions are the opposite of closed-ended questions. While closed-ended questions can be answered only with a pre-selected response, open-ended questions are answered by writing responses into a text box. But that’s not to say your survey has to use just one type of question. Actually, you can build on what advantages your closed-ended question surveys already offer by including open-ended questions that ask for the reasoning behind each response.

Advantages of closed-ended questions

We already discussed how closed-ended questions are very easy to create. But another one of the advantages of closed-ended question surveys is, with how short they are, your customers are more likely to answer them. That translates to loads more data and significantly more insight.

Disadvantages of closed-ended questions

However, closed-ended questions run the risk of not including an option for a customer’s actual response. They may also inadvertently push respondents to submit inaccurate answers if they aren’t worded neutrally. Avoid these pitfalls by vetting and testing your surveys before sending them out.

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Examples of closed-ended questions used in one-question customer surveys

Since they’re answered with just a click, closed-ended questions are ideal for one-question customer surveys, such as:

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT): Determines customer satisfaction on anything from specific products or services to the company as a whole.
• Net Promoter Score (NPS): Asks how likely customers are to recommend your business to others.
• Customer Effort Score (CES): Measures how much effort customers feel they used to use a product or resolve an issue.

Using these formats lets you quickly design and issue surveys. Effective survey software like SurveySense by Marcom Robot will come loaded with templates for these types of surveys and many more.

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With how easy they are to design and answer, the advantages of closed-ended question surveys make them one of the most efficient ways to gather customer feedback. So long as you word your questions clearly and pair them with appropriate responses, these surveys can give you a detailed perspective into your customers’ thoughts, feelings, and preferences.