86 Market Research Survey Questions: Your Guide to Getting Actionable Insights

To deliver the right product and experience to your customers, you need to understand what they want, and one of the best ways to do that is by conducting a market research survey. 

Whether you're rolling out a new product, enhancing the customer experience, or fine-tuning your marketing strategy, asking the right questions can reveal valuable details about your audience – their challenges, preferences, and what truly matters to them.

And, with 73% of customers expecting companies to understand their unique needs and expectations, this customer data is hugely valuable to any business.

This guide will walk you through creating market research survey questions that deliver actionable insights and help your business grow, with 86 examples to use in your own market research surveys.

What are market research survey questions used for?

Businesses use market research survey questions to gather both quantitative and qualitative insights from large audiences.

Unlike general market research methods such as focus groups or customer interviews, survey questions provide a scalable way to get insights that can then serve as the foundation of your marketing research efforts.

You can ask specific questions to gather information that aligns with your business goals and generate the insights needed to make informed decisions – plus, the data can be anonymized, making it a perfect solution for businesses with data-sensitive customers.

6 types of market research survey questions

Demographic questions

Demographic questions – like age, gender, occupation, education level and income – can be used to better understand who actually exists in your market. They can also help you segment your potential customer base into different demographic groups to understand how you can serve each better.

Sample demographic questions

• "What is your age range?" (18–24, 25–34, 35–44, 45–54, 55–64, 65+)
• "What is your household income?" (Under $30k, $30k–$50k, $50k–$75k, $75–$100k, Over $100k)
• "What is your current employment status?" (Full-time, Part-time, Self-employed, Student, Retired, Unemployed)
• "In which region do you primarily live?" (Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, Southwest, West Coast)

Include demographic questions at either the start or the end of your survey and explain how you're going to use the data. The answers to demographic questions are the most likely to contain sensitive information about your respondents, so it's important to let them know how it will be used and secured.

Psychographic questions

Psychographic questions go beyond the surface, uncovering what truly drives your customers by exploring their values, interests, lifestyles, personality traits, and attitudes. These questions help you understand the "why" behind customer decisions and behaviors.

While demographic data tells you who your customers are, psychographic insights reveal what inspires and motivates them. Gaining a deeper understanding of your customers is a game-changer when you need to connect with your audience on a more personal, value-driven level.

According to PwC data, 73% point to experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions, behind price and product quality. If you understand your customer's motivations, you'll be better equipped to give them the experience they want with your product.

Sample psychographic questions

• "What are your main goals for 2024?" (Career advancement, Health improvement, Financial security, Personal relationships)
• "How do you prefer to spend your free time?" (Outdoor activities, Reading, Social gatherings, Creative pursuits, Watching TV)
• "Which values are most important to you when choosing products?" (Quality, Price, Sustainability, Innovation, Brand reputation)
• "What motivates your purchasing decisions most?" (Recommendations, Reviews, Price comparisons, Brand loyalty)

Behavioral questions

Sample behavioral questions:

• "How often do you purchase products in this category?" (Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annually, Rarely)
• "Where do you typically shop for these products?" (Online stores, Physical stores, Mobile apps, Social media platforms)
• "What factors influence your purchasing decisions most?" (Price, Quality, Reviews, Brand reputation, Convenience)
• "How do you typically research products before buying?" (Search engines, Social media, Reviews, Friends and family, AI search platforms)

Combined with the product-focused questions below, insights into your audience's behavior can be a powerful indicator of what decisions go into a customer choosing, using and remaining loyal to your product and brand.

Product-focused questions

Product-focused questions help you understand how your customers perceive and engage with your product.

They can also give you valuable feedback on what to improve and develop to give the most customers the solution they want, ensuring you drive the most revenue possible.

Sample product-focused questions

• "Which features do you use most frequently in our product?" (Select all that apply)
• "What problems does our product solve for you?" (Open-ended)
• "How would you rate the ease of use of our product?" (1–10 scale)
• "What additional features would make our product more valuable to you?" (Open-ended)
• "How does our product compare to alternatives you've used?" (Much better, Somewhat better, About the same, Somewhat worse, Much worse)

A quick product-focused market research survey in your go-to-market materials, potentially in an email to beta testers or early adopters, can provide you with opportunities to pivot and improve before your product hits the market fully.

Brand perception questions

As well as understanding what people think and feel about your products, you want to know what reaction your brand elicits.

A study from Sprout Social has revealed that 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them, while 70% of consumers feel more connected to brands with CEOs who are active on social.

Understanding first what connection your audience feels to your brand, and second, how you can build a stronger connection, starts with the right brand perception survey questions.

Sample brand perception questions

• "How likely are you to recommend our company to friends and family?" (0–10 scale for NPS)
• "What words would you use to describe our brand?" (Open-ended)
• "How does our brand compare to competitors in terms of quality?" (Much better, Somewhat better, About the same, Somewhat worse, Much worse)
• "What initially attracted you to our brand?" (Quality, Price, Reputation, Recommendations, Advertising)

Firmographic questions

Although any business could use them, depending on the situation, B2B businesses are most likely to benefit from including firmographic questions in market research surveys.

Firmographic questions ask respondents for details on their businesses, such as team size, company size, industry, market and revenue.

Sample firmographic questions

• "What industry is your company in?" (Select one)
• "How large is your department?" (1, 2–5, 6–10, 11–50, 51–100, 100+)
• "Did your company hit its revenue targets last financial year? (Yes/No, follow-up questions)
• "Who at your company makes the purchasing decisions when it comes to our products?"(Select one – roles suitable to your customer base)

Achieve your business objectives with these market research questions

Before creating your market research survey, it's important to decide what you want to achieve. The most effective market research surveys align questions with specific business goals. Do you want to improve customer retention, attract new customers, launch products, or analyze the competition?

Each business scenario requires a different approach to question creation. For example, a customer satisfaction survey will look very different to a survey aimed at competitive analysis.

Questions for existing customers

Use these questions to better understand your users and customers, so you can provide them with a better, more compelling service.

Measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty 

• "Overall, how satisfied are you with your experience with our company?" (Very unsatisfied, Unsatisfied, Neither Satisfied nor unsatisfied, Satisfied, Very satisfied)
• "How likely are you to continue using our products/services?" (Very likely, Somewhat likely, Neutral, Somewhat unlikely, Very unlikely)
• "What keeps you coming back to our brand?" (Quality, Price, Service, Convenience, Habit)

Understanding product usage and customer preferences

• "Which of our products/services do you use most frequently?" (List options)
• "How often do you use our product/service?" (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annually)
• "What features do you find most valuable?" (Rank the top 5)

Identifying ways to improve

• "What improvements would enhance your experience with us?" (Open-ended)
• "What challenges do you face when using our product/service?" (Open-ended)
• "If you could change one thing about our offering, what would it be?" (Open-ended)

Questions for Potential Customers

Use these questions to understand how to attract more customers and create a product that appeals to them.

Evaluating factors that affect purchase decisions

• "How familiar are you with our brand?" (Very familiar, Somewhat familiar, Heard of it, Never heard of it)
• "What factors are most important when choosing a [product/service category]?" (Rank the top 5)
• "What would motivate you to try a new [product/service] in this category?" (Better price, Better features, Recommendations, Guarantees)

Assessing pain points and needs

• "What challenges do you currently face with [relevant area]?" (Open-ended)
• "What solutions have you tried for these challenges?" (Open-ended)
• "How satisfied are you with your current solution?" (Very unsatisfied, Unsatisfied, Neither Satisfied nor unsatisfied, Satisfied, Very satisfied)

Gaining awareness of the competition

• "Which brands do you currently use for [product/service category]?" (Select all that apply)
• "What would convince you to switch from your current provider?" (Open-ended)

Questions to support a new product launch

Use these questions to perfect your go-to-market strategy when launching your new product. With 95% of new products failing at launch, according to Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen, it's vital you do your research before committing to a release.

Testing and validating your concept

• "How interested would you be in a product that [describe key benefits]?" (Very interested, Somewhat interested, Neutral, Not very interested, Not at all interested)
• "What appeals to you most about this product concept?" (Open-ended)
• "What concerns do you have about this product?" (Open-ended)

Identifying a target market

• "Who in your organization would use this product?" (Job titles/roles)
• "What problems would this product solve for you?" (Open-ended)
• "How would you use this product in your daily routine?" (Open-ended)

Researching pricing strategy

• "What would you expect to pay for a product like this?" (Open-ended)
• "At what price would this product be too expensive?" (Price points)
• "At what price would you question the quality?" (Price points)

Questions to conduct a competitive analysis

Use these questions to understand your company's position in the market, especially when compared to your competitors.

Brand comparison and preferences

• "Which brands do you consider when shopping for [product category]?" (Select all that apply)
• "How would you rank these brands in terms of quality?" (Drag-and-drop ranking)
• "What makes [competitor name] appealing to you?" (Open-ended)

Switching behavior and loyalty

• "Have you ever switched from one brand to another in this category?" (Yes/No, follow-up questions)
• "What motivated your brand switch?" (Price, Quality, Features, Service, Other)
• "What would prevent you from switching brands?" (Open-ended)

Competitive strengths and weaknesses

• "What does [your company] do better than competitors?" (Open-ended)
• "Where do competitors have advantages over [your company]?" (Open-ended)
• "What features or services do you wish [your company] offered?" (Open-ended)

How to write effective market research questions: 11 tips

As well as the market research question examples in this guide, it's important for us to provide you with some tips so you can create your own.

Checkbox's market research survey question writing guidelines

1. Use clear, simple language

Write questions in language your target audience easily understands. Avoid industry jargon, technical terms, or complex vocabulary that might confuse respondents.

For example, instead of asking "How do you perceive our value proposition?", ask "What benefits do you get from our product?"

2. Avoid leading questions

Leading questions suggest a preferred answer and can lead to bias in your responses. Instead of "Don't you think our customer service is excellent?", ask "How would you rate our customer service?" with appropriate scale options.

3. Keep questions focused

Each question should address only one issue. Avoid double-barreled questions like "How satisfied are you with our product quality and customer service?" Instead, ask separate questions about each aspect: one for product quality and another for customer service.

4. Make questions specific

Vague questions produce vague answers. Instead of "How do you feel about our pricing?", ask "Do you feel our products offer good value for the price?" or "How does our pricing compare to competitors?"

5. Provide balanced response options

When offering multiple-choice answers, ensure options are comprehensive and balanced. For example, very positive, somewhat positive, neither positive nor negative, somewhat negative, very negative.

Include neutral options when appropriate and always provide an "Other" option respondents can fill out for responses you might not have anticipated.

6. Consider how questions can work together

Questions don't exist in siloes. Once you have your response data, you'll be able to start filtering by multiple questions in order to reveal insights. For example, are respondents who are somewhat satisfied with your product more likely to switch if a competitor offers better pricing?

Survey structure and flow

7. Start with general questions

Begin your market research questionnaire with broad, easy-to-answer questions that engage respondents and build momentum. Save more specific or sensitive questions for later in the survey.

8. Use logical grouping

Create sections that organize related questions together and add clear transitions between topics. A structure will help respondents stay engaged and provide context for their answers.

9. Progress from broad to specific

Within each topic area, start from general questions and then move to more detailed follow-ups. Using this approach will feel natural to respondents and allow you to gather both overview insights and specific details.

10. Place sensitive questions strategically

Put potentially sensitive questions (like income or personal opinions) toward the end of your survey when respondents are already invested in completing it.

11. Limit survey length

Research shows response rates drop significantly for surveys longer than 10-15 minutes. Prioritize your most important research questions and consider splitting lengthy surveys into multiple shorter ones.

Question format options

Survey tools like Checkbox, which is free to try for 30 days, provide users with multiple question types to build the perfect survey for their needs. Here are some of the most common.

• Multiple choice questions: Ideal for quantitative analysis and comparing data points across respondents, use multiple choice questions when you need standardized responses or want to measure frequency, preferences, or demographics.
• Rating scales and Likert scales: Perfect for measuring attitudes, satisfaction levels, or agreement with statements. Five-point and seven-point scales are most common, with five-point scales often preferred for mobile surveys.
• Open-ended questions: Essential for gathering qualitative insights, understanding motivations, and discovering unexpected perspectives. Use sparingly, as they require more effort from respondents and more time for you to analyze.
• Matrix questions: Efficient for rating multiple items using the same scale, such as evaluating different product features or comparing multiple brands. Be careful not to make matrices too large, as they can be difficult to complete on some devices.
• Ranking questions: Useful when you need to understand priorities or preferences in order. Limit ranking lists to 5-7 items maximum to avoid respondent fatigue.

Learn more about the benefits of using Checkbox as your market research platform.

53 ready-to-use market research questions

In case you're not ready to build your own market research survey from scratch, here are over 50 market research questions you can use to craft a questionnaire and get the insights you need.

Customer satisfaction questions

Measuring overall satisfaction

• "Overall, how satisfied are you with your recent purchase?" (1–10 scale)
• "How well did our product/service meet your expectations?" (Exceeded, Met, Somewhat met, Did not meet)
• "How likely are you to purchase from us again?" (Very likely, Likely, Neutral, Unlikely, Very unlikely)

Assessing net promoter score (NPS) and loyalty

• "How likely are you to recommend us to friends and family?" (0–10 scale)
• "What is the primary reason for your score?" (Open-ended follow-up)
• "How long have you been a customer?" (Less than 6 months, 6–12 months, 1–2 years, 2+ years)

Evaluating experience

• "What initially attracted you to choose our brand?" (Quality, Price, Recommendations, Advertising, Reviews)
• "How would you describe your experience with our customer service?" (Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor, Not applicable)
• "What improvements would you suggest for our product/service?" (Open-ended)

Understanding value perception

• "Do you feel our products offer good value for the price?" (Definitely yes, Probably yes, Might or might not, Probably no, Definitely no)
• "How does our pricing compare to similar products you've used?" (Much less expensive, Somewhat less expensive, About the same, Somewhat more expensive, Much more expensive)
• "Do you feel this product offers good value for the price?" (Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly disagree)
• "How important is price compared to other factors in your decision?" (Extremely important, Very important, Moderately important, Slightly important, Not at all important)

Product development questions

How important and frequently used are certain features?

• "Which features are most important to you when choosing this type of product?" (Rank the top 5)
• "Which features do you use most frequently?" (Select all that apply)
• "Which features do you find most valuable?" (Select the top 3)

How to solve problems and provide benefits

• "What problems does this product solve for you?" (Open-ended)
• "What benefits do you get from using our product?" (Open-ended)
• "What tasks do you primarily use our product for?" (Select all that apply)

How to beat competitors

• "How does our product compare to alternatives you've used?" (Much better, Somewhat better, About the same, Somewhat worse, Much worse)
• "What makes our product different from competitors?" (Open-ended)
• "What do competitors offer that we don't?" (Open-ended)

How to develop for the future

• "What additional features would make this product more valuable?" (Open-ended)
• "If you could improve one thing about our product, what would it be?" (Open-ended)
• "What new products would you like to see us develop?" (Open-ended)

Pricing Research Questions

Testing price sensitivity

• "What price would you consider too expensive for this product?" (Open-ended)
• "At what price would you question the quality of this product?" (Open-ended)
• "What is the maximum you would pay for a product like this?" (Price ranges)
• "What's the most you've paid for a product like this?" (Price ranges)

Purchase motivation:

• "What would motivate you to pay more for this type of product?" (Better quality, More features, Better service, Brand reputation, Warranty)
• "How do you typically make price comparisons?" (Online research, Store visits, Reviews, Recommendations)
• "How important is price as a factor in your purchasing decision?" (Very Important, Important, Unimportant, Very unimportant)

Brand awareness and perception questions

Read our blog for more guidance on creating a brand awareness survey.

Brand recognition

• "Which brands come to mind when you think of [product category]?" (Open-ended)
• "How did you first hear about our brand?" (Advertising, Recommendations, Search engines, Social media, Other)
• "How familiar are you with our brand?" (Very familiar, Somewhat familiar, Not very familiar, Never heard of it)

Brand personality and image

• "What three words would you use to describe our brand?" (Open-ended)
• "How would you describe our brand personality?" (Professional, Friendly, Innovative, Reliable, Other)
• "What do you think our brand stands for?" (Open-ended)

Brand comparison

• "Which brands do you consider to be our main competitors?" (Select all that apply)
• "How does our brand compare to [competitor] in terms of [attribute]?" (Much better, Somewhat better, About the same, Somewhat worse, Much worse)

Customer demographics, psychographics and firmographics

Basic demographics

• "What is your age range?" (18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65+)
• "What is your gender?" (Male, Female, Non-binary, Prefer not to answer)
• "What is your household income?" (Income ranges appropriate to your market)
• "What is your education level?" (High school, Some college, Bachelor's degree, Master's degree, Doctoral degree)

Lifestyle and interests

• "How do you prefer to spend your free time?" (Multiple choice with relevant options)
• "What are your main interests?" (Select all that apply)
• "How would you describe your lifestyle?" (Active, Busy, Relaxed, Social, Other)

Shopping behavior

• "How do you typically shop for products in this category?" (Online only, In-store only, Both online and in-store)
• "What influences your purchasing decisions most?" (Reviews, Recommendations, Price, Brand, Features)
• "How often do you research products before buying?" (Always, Usually, Sometimes, Rarely, Never)

B2B firmographics

• "How long have you worked at your company?" (Less than 6 months, 6–12 months, 1–2 years, 3–5 years, 5–10 years, 10+ years)
• "How often does your company review market options in this product category?" (Quarterly, Yearly, Every three years, Every five years?)
• "What are the main factors that influence your purchase decision?" (Quality, Price, Service, Convenience, Security, Ease-of-use)

Conclusion

The questions in this article will provide you with a framework, but before you start building your market research survey, you need to know exactly what you want to achieve from it.

Are you trying to better understand your customers? Do you want to gather insights for your upcoming product launch? Is it time for your business to grow into a new region?

By knowing your goal, you can start to narrow down on the right 15–20 questions for your market research survey.

Market research survey FAQs

How many questions should be in a market research survey?

Try to make sure your market research survey takes no longer than 10–15 minutes to complete. Depending on the type of questions in your survey, this will mean somewhere between 15–20 questions.

What's the difference between open-ended and closed-ended market research questions?

Open-ended questions don't give respondents any options to choose from – they usually ask them to fill in a box in the survey. Closed-ended questions, meanwhile, ask respondents to select one or a number of options in response to the question, usually in the form of a Likert scale or multiple-choice list.

Open-ended questions are great if you want qualitative data, while quantitative data is easier to gather from closed-ended questions.

How often should businesses conduct market research surveys?

Businesses can conduct as many research surveys as they believe are necessary to gather the data needed to make actionable, beneficial business decisions. What's important is that you don't survey the same group of people more than you should.

For example, in the same quarter, you could conduct a customer survey, a survey of prospects in your funnel and a survey of people who aren't customers. However, you probably shouldn't survey your customers three times in the same quarter, or you run the risk of survey fatigue, poor data, or, even worse, antagonizing customers.

What sample size is needed for reliable market research survey results?

When estimating what sample size you need to achieve statistical significance, you should consider how small the sample will become as it's broken down by all possible responses.

Statistical significance is an indicator that your data is illustrative of something you can be certain about, versus data that's just coincidental

Put simply, if you are surveying 100 people and one of your questions has 20 possible answers, some of these answers are likely to have only a handful of respondents, meaning you can't be certain that your data reflects anything based in fact.

For a 15–20 question survey, with no more than eight possible answers per question, it's best to aim for at least 1,000 respondents.

How can I improve response rates for market research surveys?

There are many ways to improve response rates. Firstly, make sure your questions are clear and easy to understand, as well as being structured in a way that's easy to follow.

Being certain of your respondents also helps – there are services like Prolific that give users access to a panel of relevant respondents for a price.

Alternatively, you can incentivize your surveys, potentially with a gift voucher for everyone who responds to all the questions in the survey or, if it's a customer survey, with a product-related reward.