Survey Building
Create effective surveys with question types, logic, and AI assistance
Showing 1–15 of 28 articles
AI Follow-up Questions: What They Are and Where They Work
A vague open-ended answer usually means you needed one more question, not a bigger sample. AI Follow-up Questions ask that next question automatically, in the moment, without you having to predict every possible answer in advance.
Question Types Reference Guide
A straight reference to Opionate's eight question types - Single Choice, Multiple Choice, Ranking, Rating Scale, Open-Ended, Contact Information, Hidden Field, and Text Block - covering what each one captures, its specific settings, and exactly which capabilities (AI Follow-up, Display Logic, randomization, Screen-out Logic) it does and doesn't support, plus a capability matrix for a quick side-by-side check.
How to Test Packaging and Product Concepts: Shelf Standout, Preference, and Diagnosis
Packaging decisions need more than a preference rating - a design can win everyone's liking and still disappear on a real shelf. This guide covers three Opionate tools that each answer a different part of the question: a Shelf Test to measure which concept gets noticed first, a Pairwise Comparison to confirm preference once attention isn't the variable, and a Stimulus Section to diagnose exactly which element is driving the result before you commit to production.
When to Show Labels in a Shelf Test
Shelf Test hides image labels from respondents by default, so the reaction stays visual. Here's why that default exists, when turning labels on makes sense, and how to tell whether your comparison needs them.
How to Set Up a Shelf Test Section
A step-by-step guide to building a Shelf Test section: attaching the image pool, writing the intro message, setting how many options a respondent can pick, and deciding whether labels are visible.
Restoring a Previous Version of Your Survey
If a change to your draft didn't work out, you can go back to an earlier version from the builder's version history. Here's how to find the version you want, what the confirmation shows before anything changes, and when restoring isn't available.
How to Set Up a First-Click Test Section
A complete walkthrough of building a First-Click Test section - uploading your image, drawing target zones, choosing between a single click and multiple, writing an intro message, and the design patterns that produce a heatmap worth reading.
Choosing Between Plain Questions, Stimuli Testing, Pairwise Comparison, Sequence Flow, First-Click Test, and Shelf Test
An Advanced Survey can mix six different section types in one instrument. Here's a practical guide to which one fits which research question, so you're not forcing a square peg into the wrong section.
Referencing Your Media Library with Claude
Claude can browse your Media Library, show you visual thumbnails, and reference an existing image while building a survey section - but it deliberately can't upload a new one. Here's why, and how to work with that.
Drafting Surveys with Claude
Once Claude is connected, you can draft a Classic Survey or an image-based Advanced Survey through conversation - add questions, edit logic, reorder sections. Here's what to actually ask for.
Connect Claude or ChatGPT to Build Survey Drafts
Opionate can be connected directly to Claude, ChatGPT, or any other MCP-compatible AI assistant, so you can draft and edit your own surveys through natural conversation instead of clicking through the builder question by question.
Using "Other" and "None of the Above" Answer Options
Two special answer options are available on single-select and multi-select questions, each solving a different problem: capturing an answer you didn't anticipate, and letting a respondent rule out every other option at once.
Highlight Regions and Display Control in Stimulus Sections
A Stimulus section can do more than show one image with a list of questions underneath it. Highlight regions call out a specific part of the image per question, and Display Control decides when the stimulus itself is even shown.
Setting Up Image and Video Stimulus Testing
Ad creative, product concepts, packaging, prototypes - Stimuli Testing lets you show respondents an image or video and ask questions directly about it, in the same survey as the rest of your research.
Pairwise Comparison Testing: Setting Up a Head-to-Head Tournament
Asking someone to rate five concepts independently gives you five scores clustered near the top. Asking them to pick a winner between two at a time gives you a real preference. Here's how Pairwise Comparison testing works.