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Likert Scale Questions likert scale question

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Likert Scale Questions

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When you are asked after shopping how satisfied/dissatisfied you are with your experience, the question is an instance of Likert scale questions. 

These question types help to measure attitudes and opinions in more detail statistically. Let’s explore its structure, uses, and how you can write one for your survey.

What is a Likert scale question?

Likert questions can help you gauge respondents’ feedback and opinions using a psychometric scale. 

While the respondents don’t get answer options like ‘yes/no,’ or ‘true/false,’ the Likert scale questions provide them with a range of options starting from “completely disagree” to “completely agree.” Giving respondents a wide variety of options empowers researchers with specific feedback about a product/service. 

These questions usually come up with a 5, 7, or 9-point scale for seamlessly measuring respondents’ opinions or agreements with respect to a particular scenario.

Likert Scale Questions likert scale question

Why use a Likert scale question in your survey?

While answering a survey, customers prefer to express their views fully instead of being restricted to a binary question. Likert scale questions help offer this opportunity as the scale offers a range of answer options attributing to customers’ attitudes or opinions. 

  • You can use it as a stand-alone survey or ask it with other questions. 
  • The gathered data is easy to analyze and interpret. 
  • It takes less time for respondents to answer due to its closed-ended nature. 
  • It can help you uncover the degree of variance in opinions and understand the constructive feedback you get.

For example, with Voxco, you can create interactive surveys with the simple drag-and-drop interface. Voxco gives you access to various question types to help you capture variations in the audience’s attitude.

Voxco helped Frost & Sullivan conduct 100K surveys across 300 industries.

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Where is a Likert scale question used?

Likert scale survey questions are a great way to measure satisfaction, agreement, likelihood, and importance. While such a question can be used in any survey, it is popularly used for customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and market surveys. 

Customer satisfaction – 

A Likert scale survey question is most used in a satisfaction survey. It helps organizations understand what patients, customers, and prospects think about the products and services. 

Likert scale question on customer satisfaction examples: 

  1. How well did {product name} meet your needs?
    1. It met all my needs.
    2. It met most of my needs. 
    3. It met very few of my needs. 
    4. It didn’t meet any of my needs. 

Employee engagement – 

Employee surveys can help you understand how to boost morale, productivity, and communication within the organization. 

Likert scale question examples: 

  1. What was your level of satisfaction with the onboarding training?
    1. Extremely satisfied
    2. Satisfied 
    3. Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
    4. Dissatisfied
    5. Extremely dissatisfied

Marketing surveys- 

For marketing surveys, such as concept testing, price assessment, brand awareness, etc., Likert scale survey questions can help you identify and resolve pitfalls. By learning directly from customers about their preferences and expectations, you can better position your brand against the competition. 

Likert scale question examples:

  1. On a scale of 0-10, how unique do you think {product name} is compared to {competitors’ product}? (1: least unique and 10: extremely unique)
  2. How attractive do you think the design of {product name} is?
    1. Extremely attractive.
    2. Very attractive.
    3. Moderately attractive. 
    4. Slightly attractive.
    5. Not at all attractive.

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How to write a Likert scale question for your survey?

Now that we have explained when you should use this question type let’s also take a look at how you can craft one to get reliable results. 

1. Determine your survey goal

A clear goal will help you follow the next step. You should have a definite understanding of what you want to quantify. 

Let’s say you have noticed cart abandonments on your online shopping website in the last month. So you can use Likert questions to evaluate customers’ attitudes regarding the shopping experience.

With Voxco, you can deploy a standalone Likert scale survey as a website pop-up and gather real-time data. 

2. Identify the variables you want to measure

Now that you have established a goal, you should identify indicators that can help you understand what’s causing cart abandonment. These indicators will help you write Likert scale questions. 

For example, 

  1. How satisfied are you with the checking out process in the app? (Extremely satisfied – Extremely dissatisfied) 
  2. There are many payment options available. (Strong agree – Strongly disagree)
  3. I like the various discounts & coupons available. (Extremely satisfied – Extremely dissatisfied)

Several variables can influence customer experience and decisions. Create a list of these variables and build questions focusing on these variables. 

3. Determine the scale that best suits the purpose

When using a Likert scale for your survey, you have to make two decisions 

  1. Semantic scale. 
  2. Odd or Even scale.

For the semantic scale, you need to use response options that are unambiguous and easy to understand. For example, when you use the scale “Always – Often – Rarely – Seldom – Never,” how would the audience differentiate between “rarely” & “seldom.” How would you quantify between the two? 

For clearer understanding, use terms that relay specific meanings. Instead of “Rarely,” you can use “Twice a week/month.”

When it comes to using odd or even Likert scale questions, it depends on what kind of data you want to collect & how to evaluate the result. 

Odd-numbered questions, such as a 5-point or 7-point scale, give respondents a neutral option. However, using an even-numbered scale compels respondents to choose either the positive or negative side. This helps you in evaluating responses in these two categories. 

4. Do a soft launch

Test of your survey by sharing it with your friends and colleagues. A soft launch can help you discover problem areas in your survey and allow you to sort out the mistakes. 

A soft launch will help you revise and improvise your survey & help you ensure that you collect reliable data.

What are the 4 types of Likert scale questions?

There are four basic types of questions you can use for a Likert scale survey. These questions are based on the types of responses/answer options. A researcher should ensure that when they use the Likert question type, they do so with online survey tools that offer them a diverse range of answer options.

1. Agreement question

 Strongly agree – agree – neither agree nor disagree – disagree – strongly disagree

The questions help you gauge the varying levels of agreement among your customers to a particular question. 

Likert scale agreement questions:

  1. How likely are you to agree or disagree: It was easy to navigate through the hotel. 
  2. On a scale of 1 to 5, how strongly would you agree or disagree: The customer service agents were helpful. 
  3. Please select the answer that reflects your opinion: The product is worth the money. 

2. Satisfaction question 

Very satisfied – satisfied – neither satisfied nor dissatisfied – dissatisfied – very dissatisfied

This type of Likert scale question helps you understand how satisfied your respondents are with your organization and its products/services. 

Likert scale satisfaction questions:

  1. How satisfied are you with our hotel spa?
  2. How would you describe your experience with our {product name{?
  3. How satisfied are you with the products’ design?

3. Likelihood question

Very likely – likely – neither likely nor unlikely – unlikely – Not likely at all

This type of question helps you discover the possibility of your customers adopting a behavior. For example, the “likelihood to recommend” measures the possibility of your audiences recommending your brand to others. 

Likert scale likelihood questions:

  1. How likely are you to upgrade your membership if we offer you 20% off on the first 2 months?
  2. How likely are you to purchase {product name} again?
  3. How likely are you to book our Vacation house again?

4. Importance question

Very important – somewhat important – neutral – somewhat unimportant – not important at all

This type of Likert scale questions helps you evaluate what aspects of experience is important for the audience.  

Likert scale importance questions:

  1. How important is it that the company provides cab services for you to get to work?
  2. How important is it to have 24X7 customer support via phone and chat?

Now that we have explored the four types of Likert questions, let’s check out how you can write them for your surveys.

6 Tips on writing Likert scale surveys

The survey questions need to be simple and easy to understand for the audience for you to gather accurate data. So, here are some tips on writing Likert scale questions.

Likert Scale Questions likert scale question

1. Use positive & negative variables on the scale for balance

The responses to the Likert questions should be in perfect balance with an equal amount of negative and positive variables. This allows respondents to express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your question. 

2. Use unipolar indicators

Following the previous point, when you want your question to evaluate positive and negative attitudes, your scale should range from ‘none’ to ‘maximum.’ 

For example, instead of using “useful” to “useless,” it’s better to use “very helpful” to “not at all helpful.” Unipolar scales are easy to understand and offer clear indicators. 

3. Use consistent scales

Keep the scale consistent in its order of displaying the variables. If your question options range in ascending order (1 is extremely dissatisfied, and 5 is extremely satisfied), follow the same order for all the other Likert scale questions in the survey. 

Using consistent scales will also help you in the data analysis. The analysis involves finding the average in all responses. So, with inconsistent scales, you can’t achieve accurate measurements.

4. Get more specific with the questions

Apart from the response variables in your questions, you also need to make sure the question itself is specific to the survey goal. 

Write your Likert scale questions to gather specific data on specific aspects. If the survey is to gauge customer experience with the product, specify which aspect of the product. Is it the quality of the product, the ease of use, the price, or the design? 

Leverage an online survey tool that offers you diverse question types allowing you to write focused questions.

5. Ask questions; don’t use statements

Questions allow respondents to ponder over their responses. Whereas a statement is most likely to evoke acquiescence bias. Acquiescence bias results when respondents select positive or agreeable answer options. 

So, instead of saying, “I am satisfied with the price range”, ask, “How satisfied are you with the price range?”

6. Get creative 

Customers get thousands of surveys across social media and email. You can’t assume they respond to you only because they are your customers. 

Design your surveys creatively, so the customers look forward to responding to your surveys. Write your questions to give them a personality. Instead of “Satisfied – Neutral – Dissatisfied,” try “Loved It – Meh – Big Nope.” 

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Conclusion

Likert questions are simple to create and easier to respond to. This question type allows you to gauge and quantify customers’ attitudes and opinions and provides actionable insights. 

Listening to customers and understanding their sentiments towards your products and services helps improve your business. Go beyond Likert scales with the best market research software to gather experience insights and take strategic actions.

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