Close ended questions are a fundamental part of surveys, research studies, and customer feedback forms. It provides clear, quantifiable data that collects measurable and goal-oriented responses. These measurable metrics help businesses make informed decisions. Whether you’re designing a market research survey, customer satisfaction form, or employee feedback survey, knowing when and how to use close-ended questions can determine the quality of your insights.

In this blog, we’ll cover:

• What are close ended questions?
• Benefits 
• Types and close-ended question examples
• When to use closed-ended questions
• Difference between close-ended vs. open-ended questions
• Limitations 
• Best practices for responsive close ended survey questions
• Merren features for close ended survey questions

What are Close-Ended Questions?

Close ended questions are also known as quantitative questions. It has structured queries that offer respondents a fixed set of options to choose from. Close-ended questions limit responses to specific choices like a numerical rating scale, yes or no dichotomous questions, emoji rating scale or multiple choice selections.

Close-ended questions are easy to quantify, measure and analyze customer data.

Example: Are you satisfied with our service today? 

• Yes
• No

Why are Close-Ended Questions Important for Surveys?

Let us discuss the benefits of using close-ended survey questions:

1. Standardized responses

Standard questions give clear responses. Participants can choose from a set of pre-defined answer options. These questions are goal-oriented and save time for both respondents and the market research team. Close-ended responses are easy to assess since there will be a sub-set of people choosing the same options. The answers can be summarized, tabulated, and presented in numerical or graphical formats. This simplifies statistical analysis so that researchers can make conclusions, detect correlations, or conduct more quantitative research.

2. Higher survey response rate

Close-ended questions come with a set of responses: it can be numerical, multiple choice or a simple emoji rating scale. Respondents can promptly choose the most applicable answer. This quick selection reduces the cognitive effort for a customer. Hence there will be more participants and greater survey response rate. 

3. Identify market trends

Close-ended questions help researchers compare different response segments across industries. It is easier to benchmark and compare across demographics, time periods, or other factors. This approach reveals market patterns, trends, and differences for more insightful conclusions.

4. Minimal survey bias

Limited options can minimize survey response bias by restricting the range of possible answers. Respondents are less likely to inject personal biases. This approach can result in more dependable and impartial information.

5. Insights for benchmarking

Close-ended questions can collect uniform responses from any number of customers. Companies can compare this data across demographics and achieve standardized responses. Companies can compare these numerical metrics at different time periods and identify gaps or decrease in ratings. They can use this data to continuously improve the standards of customer experience.   

Close-Ended Questions: Types with Examples 

Close-ended survey questions are an effective way to collect quantifiable data in market research surveys, questionnaires, and interviews. Here are some examples:

1. Dichotomous question

Dichotomous questions (binary questions) offer only two option possibilities : yes or no. Dichotomous yes or no questions are easy to analyze with a statistical significance. These questions are easier to answer for most people. A simple yes or no question can give a high response rate.
For example:
“Do you own a car?”

• Yes
• No 

2. Multiple choice questions:

Multiple-choice questions enable people to choose options that are applicable to them. Multiple choice question surveys can collect more information than a dichotomous survey question. For example, in a product development survey, there may be multiple features that a user can find useful.

1. “Choose the features that best suit your needs”

• Wireless charging,
• Security functions,
• Touchscreen,
• Portability,
• Dolby sound

3. Likert scale questions

Likert scale is a type of rating scale that comes with varied scale lengths: 3-point rating scale, 5–point rating scale, 7-point rating scale and 10-point rating scale. Commonly used Likert rating scales are 5-point rating and 10-point rating scales.  

Likert rating scale survey questions can measure a respondents’ perceptions, attitudes, beliefs towards different products, concepts or experience. A simple 1-5 rating scale will ask users to rate the quality of a product on a scale of 1(poor) to 5(excellent).  

Example: How satisfied are you with our support?

• 1 Very Dissatisfied
• 2 Dissatisfied
• 3 Neutral
• 4 Satisfied
• 5 Very Satisfied

Read more about 1 to 5 rating scale here. Measure customer satisfaction with the 1 to 5 rating scale survey.

4. Customer satisfaction survey

Customer satisfaction surveys are a market standard way to gauge the experiences of a customer across touchpoints. These surveys are a great example of a close-ended question scale. These are- Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction Score(CSAT) and Customer Effort Score (CES). 

The metrics are standardized and extensively used to gauge customer loyalty, satisfaction and identify unhappy users. It is accompanied by an open-ended follow-up question for respondents to their reason for the rating.   

Example of Net Promoter Score survey: On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this brand to your friends and family?

On the scale, 0 indicates ‘not likely’ and 10 indicates ‘highly likely’. 

5. Ranking survey question

Ranking survey questions will ask respondents to rank every option in order of preference. The goal is to rank an answer in accordance with their priority levels and preferences. To avoid confusion, keep the number of answer choices manageable.

Example:

Rank the following features based on importance.

• Price
• Quality
• Customer Support
• Brand Reputation

6. Checklist-style survey question:

Checklist style format will ask customers to choose options that will fit the criteria. This close-ended survey question can identify their preferences, behaviours or experiences with a product or service.

For example a product (washing machine) will have certain features. They would require customers to choose the features relevant for them. 

Example: ‘Which of the following features do you find most useful in a washing machine? (Select all that apply)’ . 

• Quick wash cycle
• Separate fabric settings
• Adjustable water temperature
• Smart programming
• Automated drying function

When to Use Close-Ended Questions in Surveys?

Here are some of the use cases when marketers can use a close-ended question in a survey.

To gauge customer experiences at touchpoints:

A customer’s shopping journey generates multiple touchpoints. Common touchpoints include customer onboarding, abandoning a full cart, interaction with the customer support team, purchasing and post-purchase experience.These experiences are in-the-moment and often short lived. Closed-ended survey questions can instantly collect feedback without the loss of information and context. 

Here are the types of closed-ended surveys that are popularly used for this occasion: transnational Net Promoter Score, customer satisfaction score, emoji rating scale and customer effort score.  

To compare experiences across customer base:

Customers face a variety of experiences that can be different offline and online. Even within the ecosystem, people can have different expectations from the same brand. Survey results can be anywhere from an extreme dislike to a highly delightful experience. Quantitative closed-ended insights help marketers compare various experiences of customers within a certain time frame. Customers can rate their experiences on a rating scale. 

To capture response from a greater sample size:

When sharing a survey to a larger group of people, it is ideal to restrict the question to a quantitative method. This allows marketers to pinpoint on experiences and get results that are easy to measure. Larger very specific data can help gather reasonable statistical significance. This can help marketing professionals come to a reasonable conclusion based on numerical data.

Difference Between Close-Ended Questions and Open-Ended Questions

Limitations of Close Ended Survey Questions 

Closed-ended questions are popularly used across multiple industries and touchpoints. However, people’s thought process, behaviour, attitudes and preferences are complex. To probe deeper into why people act in a certain manner, close-ended questions may not be able to do justice. Here are some limitations: 

1. Limited options for customers have other responses in mind. 

In a customer feedback survey, a simple yes or no question may not suffice. 

Example: “The customer support team resolved your problem: Yes/ No”.  

Here the customer may want to complain about the support staff’s attitude and offer recommendations to change the time taken to resolve an issue. A simple yes or no question will not be able to gauge their experience. We recommend pairing close ended survey questions with an open ended question for people to express their experiences. 

2. Get biased results over lack of options

People may have the tendency to choose an option due to the lack of the right option. This means biased responses. Some options can be irrelevant for the user. If there is no qualitative question for self-expression, people may choose numbers to finish a survey faster.

3. Cannot uncover unexpected insights

Close-ended questions are designed around what you think you need to know. This restricts the respondent from introducing new ideas or highlighting issues you may not have anticipated.

Example: If you’re only asking which app feature they use most, you might miss out on hearing about a bug, a desired feature, or an alternate workaround they’ve found. Discussing these issues are valuable but were not asked about in a survey.

4. Lacks emotional depth or reasoning

Close-ended questions capture what people did or think, but not why they feel that way. This limits your understanding of customer emotions, motivations, or frustrations.

Example: A customer may rate a support call 3 out of 5, but unless you follow up with “Tell us why you gave this rating,” you won’t understand the root cause. It could be the tone, delay, or misinformation. 

Best Practices to Create Responsive Close-Ended Questions 

1. Ask one question at a time

Double-baralled sentences ask two questions at a time: How was your experience with our product and service? Divide the question into two parts for product and service separately. People have different experiences on a product but its post-sales service. 

2. Avoid complex words

Avoid using complex words in general and especially for Likert scale questions. Longer scales can be confusing. Simple words that convey the meaning without any jargon will bring a high response rate. 

Tip: while translating close-ended survey questions, ensure that the questions in that language have simple words that people can understand and respond to. . 

3. Limit the number of answer options

Avoid loading a single question with too many options. If needed, divide the question into two parts. This might overwhelm the respondents such that they will opt for an option to do away with the survey. 

Alternatively, if you have multiple questions about a product, you can run product usage specific surveys at different time intervals gradually. 

4. Demo test survey campaigns

There are two types of survey tests you can conduct: as follows:

#1. Test across survey channels: Emails, WhatsApp surveys, Facebook messenger and chat bot surveys and SMS. Most companies are active across multiple channels. To probe customers, all of their surveys need to be compatible and responsive across every channel. Survey channel testing should be conducted to determine which touchpoints are most active. 

Certain survey channels may not run media based surveys. Example: audio surveys may not run on SMS but will run on WhatsApp and Facebook messenger. 

#2. Test across devices and operating systems: Determine if your surveys will run seamlessly on mobile devices, tablets and desktops. This will help you identify errors, typos, and technical issues prior. Make sure that the translated surveys show up on devices and not as an HTML error. Surveys run with Merren are compatible across devices and platforms of android and iOS. 

5. Mix with open-ended question

Use a mix of question types to capture both quantitative and qualitative data.
For example:”How satisfied are you with our service? (Close-ended)
What can we do to improve? (Open-ended) 

Create Close-Ended Surveys with Merren

Merren leverages WhatsApp surveys to drive higher engagement and response rates for close-ended questions. By integrating surveys into a familiar messaging platform, it simplifies the user experience, ensuring better data quality.

Features of Merren’s close-ended surveys

• Interactive design: Use of buttons and dropdowns for seamless interaction.
• Real-time responses: Immediate feedback aids quick decision-making.
• Quantitative insights: Automated analytics streamline reporting.

Omnichannel close-ended surveys for CX professionals

CX professionals can seamlessly publish closed-ended customer feedback surveys via  multi-channel platforms. These are WhatsApp surveys, website chatbots, Facebook messenger surveys.