How to Create an Online Survey in 7 Steps

Before you start writing questions, define your goal

Before you start creating questions, it's important to clarify why you're creating the survey in the first place. A clearly defined goal will help you decide what questions to ask respondents, who to send the survey to, and how you'll evaluate the results. If the goal isn't clear, you often end up with a survey full of unrelated questions that won't give you the data you actually need.

Examples of goals by area of use

• You need to find out why customers are leaving for competitors.
• You want to know how satisfied employees are with their work environment.
• You want to verify whether a new idea meets market needs.

Determine who you'll be asking

The next important step in creating a survey is determining who your respondent will be. In other words, who will be answering the questions. A well-chosen target audience has a fundamental impact on the quality of the data you collect. If you're asking the wrong people, your results may be misleading and unusable for your decisions. Understanding your customers is the foundation of a quality customer experience.

Most common survey target groups

• New customers who just made their first purchase.
• Customers who abandoned their cart.
• People who subscribed to the newsletter but haven't purchased yet.
• New employees before the end of their probation period.
• Long-term employees with low engagement.

There's a simple rule for surveys: if you ask everyone, you learn nothing. The better you define your target audience, the more relevant your results will be. To make it easier, people often create a persona — a fictional character representing the typical person from your target group, complete with name, age, job, motivations, and problems.

Instead of the abstract label "customers aged 30–40," you have Petra, 35, who's furnishing a new modern home and looking for decorations. She works in an office, has little time for shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, so she shops online. She values quality and uniqueness and wants fast delivery and easy returns. If you're collecting feedback from employees, check out our solution for employee experience.

Think about the structure and length of your survey

The quality of your survey's structure has a major impact on whether respondents complete it. If the survey is too long, confusing, or starts with complex questions, many people will close it without mercy. Keep in mind that completing the entire survey should ideally take no more than 3–5 minutes.

The overall impression is completed by a clear introduction that motivates the respondent and explains the purpose of data collection, and a polite conclusion with thanks that leaves the respondent with a positive feeling about the time spent.

How long should a survey be?

The ideal length depends on the target audience and context, but generally shorter is better. A survey with 5–10 questions has a significantly higher completion rate than one with 20+ questions. Each question should also directly relate to your goal — if you're not sure why a question is there, it probably doesn't belong.

In what order should questions be arranged?

Start with simple and impersonal questions that draw the respondent in. Place more complex or sensitive questions in the middle, when the respondent is already engaged. End with demographic data or open-ended questions.

Choose how you'll create the survey

Modern feedback collection platforms like SentiSnap now offer new possibilities for creating surveys thanks to advanced technologies. You can design the survey in several ways depending on your preferences. If you're interested in all the options, check out our online surveys page.

Create a survey manually from scratch

This path is ideal if you already have a clear plan. You click through the questions in exactly the order that makes sense to you. You have complete freedom in whether you ask for star ratings or let the customer write their answer in their own words. It's entirely up to you.

Create a survey with AI

Sometimes you simply don't know where to start, or you're pressed for time. That's when artificial intelligence steps in. Just tell it in a few words what you want to find out (e.g., "Customer satisfaction with purchase"), and it will instantly suggest a set of well-structured questions. You then just review the result, make minor adjustments if needed, and you're ready to send. This is the fastest path to your first response.

Using a survey template

Templates are an ideal solution if you don't want to waste time designing a structure from scratch and want to be sure your survey will be professionally built. In SentiSnap, you'll find an extensive library of pre-made templates covering the most common needs.

Choose the right question types

If you've chosen to create the survey yourself, it's time to formulate specific questions. Keep in mind that not only the format but also the wording of the question fundamentally affects the quality of data you'll get. Carefully consider exactly what you want to ask so the question isn't misleading and the respondent understands it easily.

Note: If you're creating a survey using AI or a template, you can safely skip this step.

Closed-ended questions

These offer ready-made answers — multiple choice, star ratings, or scales. They're ideal for quickly obtaining data that can be immediately statistically evaluated. Respondents complete them quickly and you get easily comparable results across the entire sample.

Open-ended questions

These give space for personal opinions and detailed suggestions. They're key to understanding deeper motivations and getting specific feedback that you wouldn't capture with a closed question. Their analysis is more demanding, but SentiSnap helps you with automatic evaluation.

Semi-open questions

These combine the advantages of both approaches. You get clear data from predefined options, but don't limit the respondent from adding their own solution via the "Other" option. This is often the best choice when you're not entirely sure of all possible answers.

Publish and collect responses where your respondents are

Once your survey is ready, the last and most important step remains — getting it to the right people. SentiSnap offers several ways to launch data collection within seconds.

Sharing options

• Universal link — the simplest method. You can paste the generated link into an email, on social media, or in a private message.
• QR code — ideal for collecting feedback directly in the field, at a store, or at the end of a presentation. Just scan it with your phone.
• Website embed — you can elegantly integrate the survey directly into your pages as an interactive element without distracting from your content.

Collecting feedback at a physical location? Check out our kiosks for venues — a touch-screen station that collects responses right on-site.

Before going live, click through the survey yourself in preview to make sure everything works exactly as intended.

Analyze responses and turn data into informed decisions

Now comes the most important part — the moment you created the entire survey for. In this step, we'll look at what your collected data actually tells you. Analyzing open-ended responses allows you to understand not only what is happening (e.g., 40% of people are dissatisfied), but through in-depth analysis, also why it's happening.

Modern analytics in SentiSnap automatically transforms raw data into clear charts. This saves you hours of manual processing and lets you immediately see trends such as seasonal fluctuations or changes in customer sentiment.

Tracking over time (Benchmarking)

The greatest power of analytics lies in repetition. By comparing results from this year and last year, you can determine whether your strategic changes are truly bearing fruit.

Data segmentation

Data filtering lets you look at results from different angles — for example, how men vs. women answered, or how opinions of loyal clients differ from new ones.

The data you collect is a universal tool for improving products, identifying market trends, and fine-tuning marketing. Complete your brand picture with media monitoring and social media listening, which capture mentions even outside surveys.

In the HR area, surveys serve to evaluate company culture, employee satisfaction, and measure the impact of internal programs. Proper analysis reveals the strengths and weaknesses of your organization and guides you toward better strategic decisions.

Create your professional survey with SentiSnap

In this article, we've shown you how to create an online survey that delivers quality, usable responses. We've walked through the entire process, from defining the goal and choosing the right questions to sharing and analyzing results.

It's important to remember that a successful survey isn't just about questions. Equally important are its structure, length, sharing method, and how you work with the collected data. A well-prepared survey can help you better understand customers, employees, or users of your services.

With SentiSnap, you can create online surveys quickly and easily. The tool helps you design questions, share the survey in various ways, and clearly analyze collected responses. Sign up for free and start collecting responses today. Want to compare options first? Check out our pricing. Need advice? Contact our sales team.