Do you use Typeform?
I got a good chuckle from an ad that Typeform is running. Their tagline was “Build forms that show off your brand and get quality data at the same time.”
Admittedly, I don’t use Typeform. I think it is really pretty but not very functional — it can’t do all the things, I want my surveys to do. After seeing this ad, I have a hunch why. Candidly, I wonder if they have survey designers working over there. Maybe they swung too far in the direction of aesthetics and forgot that there is a science to survey design?
Now, some people will say this is hypercritical of me. To them, I say: I would expect any company that’s literally in the business of surveying to ONLY showcase good survey questions.
Here is a screen grab of their ad - notice anything funny?
Survey Design 101: you cannot have overlapping answer categories. No debate necessary, it is a hard no.
Aside from the overlapping answer categories, which is a huge “no, no,” the question lacks specificity — what is my budget for… Clothes? Shoes? A party dress? My groceries? My monthly life? We have no idea.
Depending on what kind of budget you are asking about, you’d likely expand and revise the answer choices accordingly.
Good survey questions are designed to get you information that you can actually use. In this case, we don’t know what Typeform or their pseudo-client wants to know or use this information for, but we do know that no matter what it is… this question is not getting them good information. It’s too ambiguous AND it has overlapping answer categories further muddying up the data.
“Oh, but Kirsten, it’s an ad - not an actual survey. Who cares?”
Typeform is a leader in the survey industry. They should be modeling good survey design practices at all times, everywhere. Heaven forbid someone see that ad and use that question in real life. And think, “Well, if Typeform promoted it, it must be good.”
Whether it’s in an ad, on social media, or in a formal research initiative, good survey design is critical. There is no good reason to showcase a bad question UNLESS you are pointing out why it’s bad, so others can learn to be better :)
