What is a user survey and why is it valuable for user research?
A user survey is a research tool based on a set of structured questions aimed at gathering feedback from your users. It's one of the simplest and most direct ways to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.
Whether you're launching a new product or just a new feature, survey data helps you make product development decisions based on real user input.
The value in user experience surveys lies in their ability to capture qualitative insights that might not be immediately visible through other analytics or metrics.
Tools like click heatmaps or session replays tell you what users are doing (quantitative data), but surveys tell you why they're doing it. They allow users to voice their opinions, express frustrations, or even suggest features you and your stakeholders hadn’t considered.
Plus, with Sprig’s survey tools and AI Analysis (which alleviates hours of manually sifting through survey responses), they’re easy to scale. So whether you're dealing with 100 users or 10,000, surveys give you the data you need to improve customer satisfaction at every level.
Survey results page in Sprig — Sprig AI analyzes all responses to generate a study summary and key takeaways.13 User survey best practices to get more valuable data
1. Align surveys with the end goal of a better user experience
Even if your project improves a single feature of an app, most users don’t actually care about one feature and how it works. Users want a better, more useful experience. That’s it.
That’s why it’s not only important to carefully consider how you frame your questions, but also the type of survey you choose to run for your project.
Let’s say you’re working to improve a chat function in your project management software, for example.
That means a great chat tool is not your end goal. Instead, your end goal is to make a project management platform that enables teams to collaborate on projects faster and with more transparency.
That goal of a more collaborative platform should be front and center as you design your survey and optimize your questions. Instead of only asking questions about what people like about chat tools, you could ask open-ended questions that help you understand the barriers to collaboration in your current software.
In UX research, it’s important to start with the big picture — then, you’ll be on track to write a survey that provides deeper and more useful insights. Chances are, this will also improve your response rates as well.
2. Plan the decisions you will make based on survey results
This may seem obvious, but... you need to define the decisions you plan to make after you get survey results.
When you get the UX survey results on what’s wrong with your chat tool, you’re going to add features to the chat tool to make it more valuable. Sometimes it might be that simple. Too often, however, vague goals for survey results lead to biased or useless questions.
For example, if you’re trying to decide whether to prioritize improvements or features for your chat tool, don’t just leap into your survey to ask, “What’s wrong with our chat tool?” That’s a vague and open-ended goal—it doesn’t lead to clear decision-making at the end of the survey period.
Instead, decide ahead of time that you’re going to use survey feedback to prioritize an existing list of improvements you know you need to make (hopefully sourced via other user research). This will help you stay on target and write questions that give you actionable insights.
3. Segment users based on attributes
Not all users are the same, so why treat their feedback as if it is? Segmenting users based on attributes—like demographics, user behavior, or how long they've been using your product—helps you get more meaningful insights from your customer surveys.
Think of it this way: A brand-new user will have a different perspective than a seasoned power user. Their experiences, needs, and challenges vary, so lumping their feedback together can muddy your user insights.
Tailor questions to different target audiences to make the feedback more actionable. For example, ask new users about their onboarding experience, while seasoned users might provide deeper insights into product design.
This ensures you’re not just getting generic answers but rather specific feedback that speaks to where respondents are in their journey.
With Sprig Surveys, you can easily segment users based on demographics or triggers based on their actions, as well as make sure that your surveys are contextually relevant by defining the delivery platform (be it mobile or desktop based).
4. Make questions easy to understand
You’re already working with a thin attention margin—if you make it a chore for participants to understand your questions, you’ll lose them. Avoid this by revising all your questions for simplicity after you write them.
- Write simply. If you can’t ask your question in an easy-to-understand way, you probably don’t know what you’re asking well enough yet and should rethink. (Use the Hemingway app to analyze the simplicity of your questions.)
- Avoid jargon. If your questions rely on technical terms, industry acronyms, or vague corporate-speak, try again. Good UX design is simple and accessible; your questions should be, too.
- Keep it human. If your questions sound like an AI wrote them, engagement will suffer. By all means, take precautions to avoid bias, but don’t let that stop you from inserting a little warmth into your writing.
Additionally, it doesn’t matter how simple your questions are if there are too many of them. As you write and revise your questions, cut any questions that may be redundant or tangential to your goal (more on this below).
5. Don't leave anything open to interpretation
To get usable data from your survey, you need to get very specific. In our article 3 Rules for Writing Effective Survey Questions, we outlined four common pitfalls you should watch for when revising survey questions.
- Reduce ambiguity. Make your question as specific as possible so you can get the answer you need—and then consider how a user could still misinterpret it. Analyze from all angles, then revise. (Consider the difference in clarity between “How likely are you to recommend our marketplace to friends or family members?” vs. “How likely are you to recommend our marketplace to friends or family members as a place to sell products?”)
- Look out for double-barreled questions. Don’t try to ask two questions at once, or you won’t have a clear idea of which question the user is answering. Start by looking for the words “and” or “or” in your questions.
- Avoid overlapping answer choices. With multiple-choice questions, make it very clear how each possible answer is different. You don’t want a user waffling between two equally relevant answers (such as a 35-year-old trying to decide whether to check “18-35” or “35-50” for their age group).
- Avoid incomplete answer choices. Multiple-choice answers should provide as many specific options for the question as possible, or offer an “other” or “none of the above” category. Use these kinds of questions judiciously, though—in some cases, it’s better to give an open-ended question. If nothing else, at least prompt users who answer “none of the above” to give an optional explanation.
- Avoid leading questions. Leading questions are survey questions that are worded in a way that subtly (or sometimes not-so-subtly) prompts or influences the respondent to answer in a particular direction. Instead of allowing users to provide their honest opinions, leading questions can bias responses by suggesting what the "right" or expected answer might be. For example, a leading question might be: "How much do you love our new feature?" This phrasing assumes the user loves the feature and may pressure them to respond positively, even if that’s not how they really feel. In contrast, a neutral question like, "How do you feel about our new feature?" allows the user to express their opinion without bias.
It’s better to revise your questions before the survey than to look at survey results and realize you can’t understand user answers to your own questions.
6. Keep your surveys short and concise
People are busy, and a long, drawn-out questionnaire can quickly feel like a chore, leading to incomplete responses or even survey abandonment. That's why it's crucial to keep your surveys focused and to the point.
Ideally, stick to 5-10 questions max. Any more than that, and you risk overwhelming your respondents.
Also—a survey can be effective even if it’s only a single, closed-ended question. For example, A Customer Effort Score (CES) is a metric used to measure how much effort a customer has to put in to interact with your product or service. The idea is simple: The easier you make it for customers to accomplish their goals, the happier they’ll be.
CES surveys usually ask a single question, like "How easy was it to solve your problem?" or "How much effort did you have to put in to complete your task?" Responses typically range from "Very easy" to "Very difficult” (this is known as a Likert scale).
The CES is valuable because it focuses on the friction points in your user experience. While metrics like Net Promoter Score (NPS) gauge overall satisfaction or loyalty, CES zeroes in on the pain points customers encounter during specific interactions. Reducing effort often leads to higher customer satisfaction, greater loyalty, and reduced churn.
For longer surveys, each question should have a clear purpose—remember to frame it appropriately as you’re crafting your questions. That means you need to keep in mind: "How will this help us improve the product?"
If the answer is vague or the question feels redundant, cut it. The more streamlined your survey, the better the response rate and the more accurate the data you’ll collect.
Focused surveys also help maintain user engagement and retention. A concise survey shows that you respect their time, which makes users more likely to respond thoughtfully. Plus, shorter surveys are easier to analyze, allowing you to act on insights faster.
So, aim for a balance: gather the information you need, but make sure it’s done in a way that’s quick and easy for your users to provide.
7. Order survey questions strategically
Let’s face it—aren’t always going to make it to the end of a survey (no matter how good it is!).
Whether they get distracted, lose interest, or simply don’t have the time, drop-offs happen. That’s why the order of your questions matters. If there are key insights you absolutely need for your qualitative research, make sure those questions come first. By front-loading the most critical questions, you increase the chances of gathering essential survey responses, even if users don’t finish the entire thing.
Think of it like a funnel: start with broader, more general questions that are easy to answer, and gradually work your way down to more specific or detailed ones. This approach helps ease respondents into the survey and keeps them engaged longer. But if there’s a make-or-break question for your product design or customer experience, don’t bury it halfway down the list.
The goal is to gather as much valuable qualitative data as possible, even if someone only answers a few questions. By placing the most important ones at the top, you maximize the usefulness of partial responses while reducing the impact of survey drop-offs.
8. Allow users to opt out of questions
Ideally, you’ll only include questions (and types of questions) in your surveys that are directly relevant to respondents, but that’s not always possible—and that’s okay. The key is to give users the option to skip or opt out of questions that don’t apply to them. Forcing people to answer every question, even if it’s not relevant, can lead to skewed or inaccurate data, and may frustrate your respondents, causing them to abandon the survey altogether.
By including an “opt out” option—like “Not applicable,” “I don’t know,” or “Prefer not to answer”—you ensure the integrity of your data. This way, users can skip questions they can’t meaningfully answer, rather than picking a random option just to move on.
This practice not only improves the quality of your survey data but again shows respect for your users’ time and experience. It keeps them engaged without feeling pressured to provide answers they aren't sure about, ultimately leading to more accurate and meaningful feedback.
9. Tell your participants how this benefits them
Help participants understand why this survey is important and what it’s trying to accomplish. When writing the email or pop-up message to recruit users, make sure the benefit to them is clear.We’re not even talking incentives (yet). A $50 gift card will get you responses, but for results, you need people who care about the problem you’re trying to solve, or who use your software and want to see it improve. When introducing your survey, give context about how the survey responses will be used—and how the participant’s honest feedback will ultimately benefit their experience.
Be honest about the time commitment involved, too. Nothing is more annoying than agreeing to take a “short survey” only to face dozens of open-ended or agree/disagree questions. Get as specific as you can about the time involved; “short” is relative and easy to distrust. Ask a couple of coworkers to go through the survey with a stopwatch to give you an estimate.
“You can’t promise to ‘value my opinion’ and ‘take my time seriously’ if you’re asking me 29 questions that don’t intuitively go together.”
10. Tie your surveys to user interactions
For more accurate, thoughtful results, don’t hit people with surveys out of the blue. You’ll have better luck if you connect surveys to specific user experiences or actions. The fresher the interaction with you, the more likely a user is to respond. Recency will also improve the data you gather since the experience will be top of mind.
Want to know how you can improve customer onboarding? Send new users a survey a week after they sign up for your app.
Want to understand where your product falls short of expectations? Send a survey to users whose free trial just expired.
Struggling with writing survey questions? Sprig has you covered with a library of survey templates to get you started.
In-product surveys are the ideal way to capture user feedback based on interactions and experiences since they are embedded within your website or software. This captures more immediate and accurate feedback and provides you and your participants with valuable context.
11. Consider offering incentives
The when, why, and how of offering survey incentives could be its own article, but the gist of it comes back to empathy for your user.
If you’re asking someone to give you a quick NPS score, an incentive isn’t really necessary. If your survey is long and in-depth, however, an incentive like a gift card is a good way to make it worth the participant’s investment of time.
Just remember—at the end of the day, an incentive is the cherry on top, not a tactic that will guarantee high-quality survey engagement.
12. Incorporate passive user feedback
Surveys are a great way to gather direct feedback, but they don't always tell the whole story. That’s why, when doing market research, passive user feedback is so important
Tools like heatmaps and feedback buttons can help reinforce or even uncover new insights that surveys or other qualitative research methods might miss. These tools track real-time user behavior and interactions with your product, giving you a deeper understanding of what’s working and what’s not.
For example, Sprig’s heatmaps show you where users are clicking, scrolling, or getting stuck on a page. If you notice users consistently skipping over a key feature, but your survey results don’t reflect any confusion, the heatmap data might point to a usability issue. Meanwhile, Sprig’s feedback tools allow users to provide in-the-moment insights with a quick click or comment, giving you valuable context for understanding pain points for a certain persona as they happen and making follow-up faster and easier.
“One of the best parts about Heatmaps and Replays is that you can get a deeper understanding of what frame of mind the user was in when they left their feedback. Did they just see a bug? Is there something broken or is a feature not working how they’d expected? Are they a new sign up?”
“All of these can give much needed context and paint a holistic picture of their experience that one element alone cannot.” —Tanner Pierce, Sr. Product Manager, Sprig
Combining passive data like heatmaps and session replays with active survey responses lets you cross-check findings and get a more holistic view of your users' experience. This not only strengthens your overall analysis but also helps you identify and prioritize areas for improvement with greater accuracy.
13. Always close the feedback loop
Surveying your users is just the beginning. What really makes a difference is what happens after the survey is done—this is where closing the feedback loop comes in. When users take the time to share their insights, it’s crucial to acknowledge their effort and show them their feedback matters. This can be as simple as thanking them for their participation, but it doesn’t stop there.
Closing the loop also means using the information you’ve learned to inform new prototypes, conduct usability tests, experiment with A/B tests, and optimize UX/UI designs.
If a common issue or request surfaces in the survey results, work to implement those changes, and be transparent about it. Let your users know what improvements are coming and how their feedback played a role in those decisions. For example, sending a follow-up email or making an announcement about new features or updates shows users that their voices are heard.
Even if you’ve had some negative feedback, you can turn it into a positive moment for your product by building trust and fostering a stronger connection with your audience. Users are more likely to continue giving feedback if they know their input leads to meaningful action.
Keep your user surveys people-focused
The goal of running surveys is to make your software better for users, and the survey experience itself should reflect that. The good news is that a people-focused survey isn’t just good for participants.
By focusing on who you’re talking to and the unique insights they have to share, you will write better survey questions that will guide you to a better user experience.
Get started for free with Sprig today to take advantage of our advanced survey tools, leveraging AI to both build better questions and analyze your results at scale.