Advanced conditional logic for surveys: Getting the right insights

Everyone loves a good ol’ survey, right? Yes, they are certainly invaluable tools for gathering myriad insights, whether it’s feedback, research data, or simply gauging opinions. Yet, what if you need to gather information that’s more complicated, contextual, or reliant on certain dependencies?

Sure, you can painstakingly craft a survey, eagerly anticipating a flood of responses. However, when the submissions pour in, you’ll likely be faced with a mountain of data, each response as diverse as the individuals behind them.

So how do you navigate this maze and ensure that your survey not only captures information but does so with precision, tailoring questions to the unique needs and features of each respondent?

It’s a sure thing that as survey complexity grows, it becomes more challenging to structure questions in a way that will help you gather precise and relevant information. If you’ve ever tried creating an intricate survey, you’ll know how hair-raising it can be to design a comprehensive survey that adapts to specific conditions or dependencies.

This juncture of intricacy and efficiency is where conditional logic shines.

Why use conditional logic?

Conditional logic empowers you, the surveyor, with the ability to create dynamic surveys that respond intelligently to respondents’ answers. By utilizing automation and logic-based structures, conditional logic allows for personalized and targeted survey experiences. It enables surveyors to ask pertinent questions and derive deeper insights from respondents, achieving precision in every question:

Surveys can be grueling, especially if you fatigue survey respondents. Conditional logic can prevent this. Here are some ways it helps you and your respondents out:

1. Keeps customers more engaged as they are being asked questions that are more personalized to them and their previous responses.
2. Enhances survey accuracy and precision in data collection by ensuring that respondents don’t answer questions that don’t apply to them. By presenting only relevant questions, you gather more accurate, relevant, and meaningful data.
3. Helps to gather contextual insights. You can set conditions to show specific questions based on earlier responses, providing context to the information gathered. Responses become more nuanced and detailed because they are framed within the context of the respondent’s earlier feedback.
4. Saves time for the respondents, making the process quicker and much more seamless for them.
5. Improves survey completion rate. You are able to skip irrelevant questions for certain respondents, streamlining the survey process and reducing survey fatigue.
6. Allows you the possibility of adapting one survey to varied audiences. For instance, you are able to deploy one survey to different segments of customers or respondents by setting conditions to display questions to certain demographics or user segments.
7. Enhances user experience by creating a smoother flow for respondents. This encourages respondents to provide thoughtful and accurate responses, contributing to data quality.
8. Facilitates longitudinal studies because it can be used to capture changes in attitudes or behaviors over time and multiple survey iterations.
9. Useful for scenario-based analysis where conditional logic is used to create scenario-based paths, guiding respondents through a survey tailored to their unique situations.

Understanding advanced conditional logic

When we say surveys, I bet Google Forms immediately comes to mind, right? While it’s a great tool for creating simple surveys, Google Forms only offers basic conditional logic through sectioning.

On the other hand, advanced conditional logic in survey design typically includes one or more of the following functions:

• Branching and skip logic
• Piping
• Display logic
• Answer-based logic
• Quota control
• Randomization
• Dynamic survey content
• Scoring and grading
• Panel management
• Time-based conditions
• Complex rule sets
• Feedback loops
• Integration with external data
• Custom variables

See the infographics below for details on how these functions can be applied in your surveys:

Top survey tools with conditional logic functions

If you want to upgrade from Google Forms, I recommend these tools to give you advanced conditional logic:

1. Typeform
2. SurveyMonkey
3. Qualtrics

I have a personal preference for Typeform for its insightful survey metrics, providing data on views, starts, submissions, completion rate, and completion time. These metrics are crucial for iteratively enhancing your surveys and tracking the impact of these improvements in your survey design over time:

How to get started with conditional logic in your surveys and forms

Here’s an example of an”‘Employee Training Feedback Survey” that incorporates a few elements of advanced conditional logic. You can tailor this to whatever you need, but it should give you the gist of how conditional logic works in action:

Introduction Section

1. What is your full name?
2. Use Piping: Hello (@what is your full name), in which department do you work?
3. What is your job title?

Training Evaluation Section

1. Did you attend the recent training program?
   • Use skip logic: If No, skip to the “Additional Comments” section.
2. How would you rate the overall structure and organization of the training sessions?
3. Were the training objectives clearly communicated and achieved?
4. Please rate the relevance of the training content to your job responsibilities.
5. Did the training enhance your understanding of the subject matter?

Skill Assessment

Use Display Logic: Show different sets of questions based on the department. For instance:

• For respondents in the Sales department:
  1. How has the training improved your sales techniques?
  2. Did you find the training beneficial for client interactions?
• For respondents in the IT department:
  1. In what ways has the training enhanced your technical skills?
  2. Do you feel more confident in implementing the learned skills in your projects?

Training Materials Evaluation

Use Page Logic: Divide the evaluation based on the type of training materials used (videos, documents, presentations)

• Video Content:
  1. Rate the effectiveness of the video content in delivering key concepts.
  2. Were the video demonstrations clear and helpful?
• Documented Materials:
  1. Evaluate the clarity and usefulness of the provided documents.
  2. Were the materials easy to follow and understand?
• Presentations:
  1. Provide feedback on the effectiveness of the presentations.
  2. Did the presentations enhance your learning experience?

Trainer Assessment

Use Advanced Branching: Direct respondents who rate the trainer poorly to provide specific feedback

1. How would you rate the overall effectiveness of the trainer?
2. Please share specific areas where the trainer excelled.
3. If you have any concerns, please specify areas for improvement.

Additional Comments

Use Custom Variables: Automatically capture and categorize comments based on the respondent’s department

1. Do you have any additional comments or suggestions regarding the training program?

Demographic Information

Use Piping: Personalize demographic questions based on the respondent’s department and role

1. How many years have you been with the company?
2. What is your preferred method of learning?

Designing tree diagrams to map survey logic

Tree diagrams are a fantastic tool to help you visually map out the logic flow of your survey. Picture a tree diagram as a decision tree that helps you visualize and organize questions and answers based on different scenarios. It is an essential first step to simplifying the process by breaking down the survey into logical branches, reflecting various paths respondents might take based on their answers.

Creating a “complex” survey without first visualising the questions with a tree diagram can be a recipe for disaster. If you’d like to save yourself time and headaches, I’d suggest using a tool like FigJam, Canva, Whimsical, or Miro for this.

As an illustration, take a look below at this tree diagram for the “Employee Training Feedback Survey,” that I’ve quite effortlessly generated within seconds using FigJam’s AI tool 🤯:

Conclusion and bonus tips

As you go forth to create your survey, I trust this article has provided valuable insights to make the process stress-free! But before you go out into the wild, here are some final tips to enhance the effectiveness of your survey:

Document your survey questions

Begin by writing down your survey questions, ensuring thorough consideration of each question’s purpose, clarity, and question type (e.g., multiple choice, likert scale, matrix, etc.). This step helps in refining language and anticipating respondent experiences.

Clearly define areas for advanced conditional logic

Explicitly state the areas where advanced conditional logic will be applied. Clearly articulate the conditions and branching scenarios to align the logic with your survey objectives.

Seek feedback from stakeholders

Share the first draft of your survey questions with relevant stakeholders to identify any high-level issues. Gather feedback from them to refine the questions and ensure alignment with broader goals.

Iterate and refine

Iterate on your survey questions based on stakeholder feedback. While doing this, consider the implications of any changes to ensure that modifications do not inadvertently disrupt the logic flow in other sections of the survey.

Create a visual tree diagram

Develop a visual tree diagram to map out the logic flow of your survey. This tool aids in visualizing the conditional paths and ensuring that the survey structure is intuitive and free of redundancies.

Share with stakeholders again or get a test subject!

Share the updated survey, including the visual representation, with stakeholders for a second review. Confirm that any required changes are made, taking care not to introduce issues that could impact other sections of the survey.

Create the survey using your preferred platform

Implement your survey using the chosen platform, leveraging its features to seamlessly incorporate advanced conditional logic. Ensure that the platform supports the complexity of your survey design.

Conduct thorough testing

Before launching the survey, conduct thorough testing to ensure that all logic functions work appropriately. Test various scenarios to guarantee that respondents are directed appropriately based on their responses.

Make final improvements!

Make any final improvements based on the results of testing. Address any lingering issues, refine the user experience, and ensure that the survey is optimized for valuable insights.

These steps will help ensure a seamless and optimised survey, ultimately yielding valuable and actionable insights.

With these final words I’m certain you’re well equipped to go forth and create meaningful surveys for more nuanced insights! 🚀 Your audience is waiting to be heard, one intelligently designed question at a time.