Online survey maker: create a survey people actually finish

A survey is a form with a purpose: you need answers you can act on, not just responses. This guide covers how to build one — choosing the right questions, sharing it, and reading the results — with examples for feedback, events, and research.

How to make a survey in 5 steps

1. Decide the one decision the survey must inform. "Should we change the onboarding flow?" beats "tell us what you think" — a survey with a purpose writes itself.
2. Write 5–10 questions, max. Aim for under 5 minutes to complete. Every extra question costs completions, so cut anything that doesn't serve the decision.
3. Build it in the editor. Type each question, pick its type (see below), and mark only the essentials as required.
4. Test it yourself. Fill it in once as a respondent. If any question feels confusing or slow, rewrite it before anyone else sees it.
5. Publish and share the link — by email, chat, social post, or QR code — and watch responses arrive in your inbox.

Question types and rating scales

The type you choose decides what you can do with the answers:

• Rating scales (stars or 1–5 / 1–10) — the workhorse of surveys. A number you can average, compare across groups, and track over time. Best for satisfaction, likelihood to recommend, and agreement ("How satisfied are you with…?").
• Multiple choice — one answer from a short list. Best for preferences, demographics, and "which one" questions. Keep the list short; long lists belong in a dropdown.
• Checkboxes — several answers allowed. Best for "which of these apply" and feature requests.
• Long text — one open question at the end ("Anything else you'd like to add?") catches what your closed questions missed. One open question is usually enough; more than two and completion rates fall.
• Net Promoter-style 0–10 scale — use a 0–10 rating for "How likely are you to recommend us?" so you can split responses into promoters (9–10), passives (7–8), and detractors (0–6).

A good pattern for most surveys: two or three rating questions, two or three multiple-choice questions, and one open text question at the end.

Survey examples: feedback, event, research

Customer feedback survey

Goal: find out whether customers are happy and what to fix. Ask: a 1–5 satisfaction rating, a 0–10 likelihood-to-recommend rating, one multiple-choice question on what they used you for, and one open question ("What could we do better?"). Start from the feedback template and adjust the wording.

Event survey

Goal: plan the next event. Ask: a rating for the event overall, a multiple-choice question on the best session, checkboxes for preferred topics next time, and a date question for availability. Send it within 24 hours of the event, while memories are fresh.

Research survey

Goal: gather data you can analyze. Keep questions closed and consistent — the same scale everywhere, the same wording for repeated items — so answers can be grouped and averaged. Use conditional logic to skip irrelevant sections (for example, only ask follow-ups of people who answered "yes"). Download the CSV from your inbox for analysis.

Sharing your survey and reading results

Share the link wherever your audience already is: email for customers, chat groups for teams, social posts and QR codes for events. A short, honest line about why you're asking ("2 minutes, helps us plan the next workshop") beats any incentive for most audiences.

As responses arrive, read them in your inbox — rating averages tell you the headline, and the open-text answers tell you why. Export a CSV when you want charts or averages in a spreadsheet. If you're building surveys regularly, the free form builder guide covers the full feature set, and if you're moving from another tool, see the Google Forms alternative comparison.

Questions & answers