Add and Configure Survey Questions

Overview

After configuring the survey’s location, audience, and trigger conditions, the next phase is to design the survey's content. This stage involves choosing and arranging the questions that users will answer. The clarity, relevance, and sequencing of these questions directly influence the quality of responses and the overall effectiveness of your feedback collection. Remember, well-designed questions ensure higher engagement and more actionable responses.

VWO offers multiple question types, including Single-line Text, Multi-line Text, Radio Button, Checkbox, Dropdown, Multi-select List, Opinion Scale, NPS, Rating, Emoji Rating, Matrix, and Intro Prompt. For more information about how each question type works, when to use it, and which publishing platforms support it, refer to Question Types in VWO Surveys.

Build the Survey

The Question Configuration tab in the survey builder is where you design the overall structure of your survey, including creating questions, defining logic flows, configuring screens, and managing translations, to ensure the survey is coherent, contextual, and aligned with your goals.

From the Question Configuration tab, you can:

• Add questions manually, use VWO Copilot to generate relevant questions based on your goals, or select from a library of proven templates.
• Choose from a diverse range of question types, including NPS, ratings, and open-ended text.
• Set up logical flows where answers determine the next question and make the survey dynamic.
• Set the emotional tone with Welcome and Thank You Screens.
• Translate your survey into multiple languages for a global audience.

This article further outlines the steps involved in building your survey from the Question Configuration page.

Step 1: Add Questions to the Survey

You can add questions to your survey using three different methods. You can start with any method and continue adding questions using the others as needed.

Method 1: Use VWO Copilot

Use this method if you want AI to generate relevant questions based on a specific goal.

1. In the Generate questions with VWO Copilot block, enter your prompt. Type a goal or scenario, such as Create a 3-question survey to understand why users are abandoning their shopping cart.
   
   Alternatively, you can select a predefined goal by clicking on it from the list available below the Goal test field.
2. Click Generate with Copilot. VWO will create a complete survey structure.
   
3. Review the questions and edit them manually if needed.

To add more questions to the list, click + and then follow the steps mentioned in Method 2: Add Questions Manually.

Method 2: Add Questions Manually

Use this method if you already know precisely what you want to ask.

1. In the Build from Scratch section, click Add New Question.
   
2. Select a question type from the dropdown menu.

3. The question field comes pre-filled with a default question. Modify it to enter your own question.

   Tip: Click the Question Type dropdown in the question block to change the question type.

4. [Optional] To personalize the question text using visitor attributes, manually enter the attribute name enclosed in double hashes. For example, add ##user_id## or ##name## within the question text. The attribute value is dynamically replaced for the visitor in the survey if the corresponding data is available.

   Note:

   • The user_id attribute is mandatory for this feature to work. It acts as a unique identifier to fetch and map other attribute values for the visitor. You must ensure that the user_id attribute is available to retrieve other details, such as name or age.
   • Other visitor attributes must be defined and configured in Data360 in VWO. For more information, see Working with Attributes in VWO.

5. [Optional] To add a description, click Add a description and enter the required text. Provide a subheading or instruction to guide the user (for example, Please select only one).

   Note: This option is available only for questions in Website surveys.

6. For choice-based questions (such as Radio Button or Checkbox), enter your answer options in the provided fields. Click Add a Choice to include more choices. Click Add Other Choice to add Other as one of the choices for the question.

   Tip: Click the icon in the question card to save the question to your Question Bank. You can reuse the saved questions from the bank in other surveys. For more information, seeUse the Question Bank.
7. Mark the question as mandatory or optional. By default, the Required switch is on for every new question. This setting indicates that the question is mandatory and the user must answer it to proceed to the next step. Toggle it off if you want to mark the question as optional.
   
8. [Optional] Configure the following settings under More options.
   • Add visual support to the question. Click Upload image to add images that provide context or enhance the question's visual appeal.
   • Configure randomization of answers. For multi-choice questions, click the Randomize options dropdown to set the order of the choices. Based on your selection, VWO shuffles up your answer choices each time they are displayed to the visitor. You can select from the following options:
     • Maintain option order
     • Randomize all options
     • Randomize all but 'Other' option
9. Click the dropdown under Flow Condition to configure the survey flow. By default, survey questions appear sequentially (Q1 > Q2 > Q3). VWO allows you to change this flow based on the visitor's answers, ensuring they only see relevant questions. Use the Continue to dropdown to specify the immediate next step after this question is answered. This configuration is the simplest level of flow control and can be set to:
   • move to the next question
   • jump to a Specific question
   • jump to a specific question based on choices
     
     For more information, see Understanding VWO Survey Logic.
     
10. To add more questions to the survey, click + that appears just below the question card and follow the same steps.

Method 3: Use Pre-Configured Templates

This method allows you to quickly generate a structured survey based on a specific research goal, without writing questions from scratch. Each template includes pre-configured questions and answer options that you can use as-is or customize as needed. This approach is highly user-focused, as it starts with common business scenarios and provides immediately usable, validated content.

To build a survey using templates:

1. Click Use Templates.
   
2. Browse categories such as Evaluate New Feature ideas, Improve Onboarding, Optimize Existing Features, and others.

3. Select a template that best fits your requirement. The right pane displays a brief summary explaining the template's purpose, questions in the survey, and the data it helps collect.

   Note: The questions often contain placeholders (for example, ###PRODUCT##) that you must edit before proceeding. This feature ensures the questions are customised to be relevant to your product.
4. Choose how you want to insert the template content into your survey. Use the options at the bottom left of the panel:
   • Add to existing questions: Inserts the template’s questions below the questions you have already created in your survey draft.
   • Replace existing questions: Removes all current questions in the survey and replaces them with the questions from the selected template.
     
5. Click Proceed to finalize your selection and move the template's questions into the main survey builder for further editing and customization.

Method 4: Use the Question Bank

The question bank allows you to insert individual, pre-written questions into your survey. This is ideal when you need to mix and match content.

1. On the Questions tab, click Add questions manually. Alternatively, if you already have questions in your survey, click + after a question card to add another question.
2. Select the question type Add from question bank.
   The Question Bank modal opens.
3. Select a tab:
   1. General: This tab contains a list of predefined, frequently asked questions provided by VWO.
   2. Custom: This tab stores questions that you have previously created and explicitly saved to the question bank from the main builder.
4. Select the desired question from the list.

The selected question is added to your survey flow, ready for customization.

Step 2: [Optional] Customize Welcome and Thank You Screens

You can add introductory and concluding screens to the survey to set context and close the feedback loop professionally. This step is optional. If you do not add a welcome message, visitors are directed straight to the survey questions.

Configure Welcome Screen

A welcome screen prevents the survey from feeling abrupt and increases participation rates by explaining the purpose of the survey.

To add a welcome message:

1. Click Add a welcome message present in the right corner of the screen.
   The field is prefilled with a default welcome message.
2. Modify the default message as needed. For example, enter a headline such as We value your feedback and a description such as Help us improve your experience. This will only take 1 minute.
3. Select the Add consent message checkbox if you want to add a consent message to the survey. Enter the consent message as required. Survey consent is an explicit agreement that your visitors are aware and have agreed to the storage and transmission of the survey data.
4. Click Save.

Configure Thank You Screen

This screen confirms submission and leaves a final brand impression.

To add a thank you message:

1. In the same widget where you added the welcome message, scroll down and click Edit thank you message.
   This action opens the section where you can customize the message shown after a visitor completes the survey.
2. Select the Show Thank you message checkbox. A text box appears where you can enter your custom message.
3. Enter your thank you message in the text box. Use this space to thank visitors, share next steps, or provide additional information.
4. To add a clickable link to your message, use the following Markdown format: [link text](URL)
   
   For example, to display: Thank you for your submission! You can visit Google for more information.
   
   Enter: Thank you for your submission! You can visit [Google](https://www.google.com) for more information.
5. [Optional] Select Ask your visitor for their e-mail address if you want to collect visitor emails for follow-up communication.
6. Click Save.

Step 3: [Optional] Add Translations

You can translate your survey into multiple languages to provide a localized experience for your global audience. VWO detects the visitor's browser language and displays the corresponding survey version.

How this works:

VWO determines the language version of the survey to display based on the following hierarchy:

• Custom Attribute Override: If you have configured a custom language attribute for your visitors using window.VWO.push(['setBrowserLanguage', 'language_code']);, VWO will use this value to display the survey.
• Browser Language: If no custom attribute is provided, VWO checks the visitor's browser locale settings.
• Fallback: If the visitor's language does not match any of your configured translations, VWO displays the survey in the Default Language.
• The primary language in which you create the survey serves as the source for all translations.

To add translations to your survey:

1. The Default Language is displayed as a primary tab above the question list. This is your source language for translations. You can uncheck it if you don’t want the survey launched in this language. Click the language dropdown menu next to the default language and select the languages you want to add, for example, Danish or Chinese Simplified. The builder creates a new tab for each selected language.
   
2. To add translations, select the new language tab, for example, Danish, and then choose from one of the two options:
   1. Manual Translation: Enter the translated text for every question, answer choice, and screen label manually.
   2. Auto-Translate (Recommended): To quickly translate all text fields using VWO's integrated translator, click Sync from English. The system displays a pop-up prompting you to confirm the sync. Click Sync Changes in pop-up. The system will instantly populate all fields with the machine translation.
3. Review the translated content for accuracy, especially if you are using the auto-translate feature, and proceed with the remaining configuration steps.

Once saved, VWO will serve the correct version based on the visitor's browser settings. If a visitor's language is not supported, they will see the default (base) language.

Next Steps

Now that your survey content and logic are ready, the next step is to fine-tune the visual appearance to ensure the widget matches your website's branding.

Click Next to proceed to survey customization. Based on the platform you selected, see Customize the Survey Appearance (Web) or Customize the Survey Appearance (Mobile App & Link) to learn how to configure themes, colors, and survey widget positions.

Need more help?

For further assistance or more information, contact VWO Support.