Survey Logic and Display Conditions - Quick Start

Overview

Display conditions make your surveys smarter by showing questions only when they're relevant. Instead of every participant seeing every question, your survey adapts based on their responses - creating a more personalized, efficient experience.

Key benefit: Shorter, more relevant surveys lead to higher completion rates and better quality data.

When to Use Display Conditions

Use display conditions when you want to:

✅ Ask follow-up questions only for negative ratings

• Example: "Rate your satisfaction" → If dissatisfied → "What would improve it?"

✅ Show role-specific questions

• Example: Managers see leadership questions, individual contributors don't

✅ Tailor questions by department or location

• Example: Engineering sees tech-specific questions, Sales sees sales-specific questions

✅ Avoid overwhelming participants with irrelevant questions

• Example: Skip onboarding questions for tenured employees

Don't use display conditions when:

❌ Every participant needs to see the question

• Core engagement items, critical demographics, required data points

❌ The question is at the start of your survey

• Nothing to condition on yet

❌ Creating unnecessary complexity

• Simple surveys often don't need conditions at all

Quick Setup Guide

Step 1: Decide What to Show/Hide

Identify which questions should be conditional:

• Follow-up questions asking "Why?" or "What would improve...?"

• Questions only relevant to managers, specific departments, or certain roles

• Deep-dive questions for specific response patterns

Example decision:

Q10: How satisfied are you with professional development?
Q11: What improvements would you suggest? 
     → Only show Q11 if Q10 is "Dissatisfied" or "Very Dissatisfied"

Step 2: Build Your Condition

In the Survey Designer:

1. Select the question you want to show/hide (Q11 in example above)

2. Find the Conditions panel in the right sidebar (orange icon)

3. Click "Make the question visible if" (pencil icon)

4. Configure the condition:

   • If: Select the source question (Q10)

   • Condition type: Choose "Equals" or "Any of"

   • Value: Select the answer(s) that trigger showing the question

5. Click "Apply"

Step 3: Test Your Condition

Critical step - always test in Preview mode:

1. Click Preview tab

2. Complete the survey with the answer that SHOULD show the question

3. Verify the conditional question appears

4. Go back and complete with answer that should NOT show it

5. Verify the question is hidden

⚠️ Testing is not optional - broken conditions mean participants miss important questions or see irrelevant ones.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Follow-up on Negative Ratings

Most common use case for display conditions

Q5: How satisfied are you with internal communication?
Options: Very Satisfied / Satisfied / Neutral / Dissatisfied / Very Dissatisfied

Q6: What would improve communication at our organization?
Condition: Show if Q5 any of ["Dissatisfied", "Very Dissatisfied"]

Why this works:

• Satisfied employees don't waste time on improvement questions

• You capture specific feedback from those who need to provide it

• Survey is shorter for satisfied respondents (better completion rate)

Scenario 2: Manager vs. Individual Contributor Split

Show different questions based on role

Q3: Do you manage other employees?
Options: Yes / No

Q10-Q15: [Manager questions about leadership, team development, etc.]
Condition on each: Show if Q3 equals "Yes"

Q16-Q20: [IC questions about career growth, skill development, etc.]
Condition on each: Show if Q3 equals "No"

Why this works:

• Each audience sees only relevant questions

• More focused survey experience

• Better quality responses

Pro Tip: Use page-level conditions instead of conditioning each question individually - cleaner and easier to manage.

Scenario 3: Department-Specific Questions

Tailor sections to different departments

Q8: Which department do you work in?
Options: Engineering / Sales / Marketing / Operations / HR

Q25-Q30: Engineering collaboration questions
Condition: Show if Q8 equals "Engineering"

Q31-Q35: Sales quota and territory questions  
Condition: Show if Q8 equals "Sales"

[Continue for each department...]

Why this works:

• Highly relevant questions for each department

• Prevents confusion from irrelevant departmental questions

• Demonstrates survey is tailored to their experience

Scenario 4: Experience-Based Questions

Questions relevant to tenure or lifecycle stage

Q7: How long have you worked here?
Options: Less than 1 year / 1-2 years / 3-5 years / 5+ years

Q12: How was your onboarding experience?
Condition: Show if Q7 equals "Less than 1 year"

Q15: How satisfied are you with long-term career growth opportunities?
Condition: Show if Q7 any of ["3-5 years", "5+ years"]

Why this works:

• Questions match where employees are in their journey

• Avoids asking about distant experiences

• More actionable feedback

Understanding Condition Types

Equals (Most Common)

Use when: Question should show for ONE specific answer

Show if Q5 equals "Dissatisfied"
Show if Q3 equals "Manager"
Show if Q10 equals "Yes"

Any Of (Also Very Common)

Use when: Question should show for MULTIPLE specific answers

Show if Q5 any of ["Dissatisfied", "Very Dissatisfied"]
(Shows for either negative rating)

Show if Q8 any of ["Engineering", "Product", "IT"]
(Shows for any tech department)

Does Not Equal

Use when: Question should show for everything EXCEPT one answer

Show if Q5 does not equal "Very Satisfied"
(Shows for all other ratings: Satisfied, Neutral, Dissatisfied, Very Dissatisfied)

Other Types

Empty / Not empty: Rarely used - for optional questions Greater than / Less than: For numeric comparisons (e.g., years of service)

💡 Start with "Equals" and "Any of" - these cover 90% of use cases

Page-Level vs. Question-Level Conditions

Question-Level Conditions

Best for: Individual follow-up questions, scattered conditional items

Example:

Q5: Rate satisfaction → Q6: What would improve? (conditioned)

Page-Level Conditions

Best for: Multiple related questions for a specific group (5+ questions)

Example:

Page 1 - Q3: Are you a manager? (Yes/No)

Page 4 - "Leadership Questions" (10 manager-specific questions)
Page Condition: Show if Q3 equals "Yes"

Benefits of page-level:

• ✅ One condition instead of 10 separate conditions

• ✅ Easier to manage and test

• ✅ Cleaner for participants (entire section appears/disappears)

• ✅ Page doesn't count toward page numbers if hidden

How to set page-level conditions:

1. Click the page in the left sidebar (not individual questions)

2. Find Conditions panel in right sidebar

3. Add condition the same way as questions

Quick Testing Checklist

Before launching your survey, test these scenarios:

✓ Positive path: Answer questions to trigger conditional items

• Verify conditional questions appear

✓ Negative path: Answer to avoid triggering conditions

• Verify conditional questions stay hidden

✓ Role-based paths: Test as manager AND as individual contributor

• Verify each sees their appropriate sections

✓ Department paths: Test each department's experience

• Verify department-specific questions show correctly

✓ Mixed responses: Randomly mix answers

• Verify everything still works

✓ Complete to end: Ensure all paths reach completion page

• No dead ends or required questions that can't be accessed

🎯 Testing Tip: Create a test plan document listing all scenarios before you start testing. Check off each one as you verify it works.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Hiding required questions

Problem:

Q20 is marked as Required
Q20 only shows if Q5 = "Manager"
Non-managers can't complete the survey

Solution: Don't make conditional questions required, OR show to everyone

❌ Too many layers of conditions

Problem:

Q5 shows if Q3 = "Yes"
Q10 shows if Q5 = "Satisfied"
Q15 shows if Q10 = "High"

Three levels deep - very hard to test and maintain

Solution: Keep conditions 1-2 levels maximum

❌ Conditioning on optional questions

Problem:

Q5: [Optional question] What's your department?
Q20: Shows if Q5 = "Engineering"

If participants skip Q5, Q20 never appears

Solution: Make trigger questions required OR use different logic

❌ Not testing thoroughly

Problem:

Assumes conditions work, launches survey
Participants report missing questions or seeing wrong questions

Solution: Always test every path in Preview mode before launching

When NOT to Use Conditions

Simple surveys don't need conditions:

• 10-15 questions that apply to everyone

• No role-based differences

• No follow-ups needed

Signs you're over-complicating:

• Every question has a condition

• Conditions reference other conditional questions

• You can't easily explain the logic

• Testing takes hours

Alternative: Sometimes multiple shorter surveys are better than one complex conditional survey.

Quick Reference: Building a Condition

1. Select question to show/hide
   ↓
2. Right sidebar → Conditions panel → Pencil icon
   ↓
3. If: [Select source question]
   ↓
4. Condition: [Choose: Equals, Any of, Does not equal, etc.]
   ↓
5. Value: [Select answer(s) that trigger showing the question]
   ↓
6. Click "Apply"
   ↓
7. Test in Preview mode

Need More Detail?

Ready to implement conditions?

• Survey Logic and Display Conditions - Complete Guide → - In-depth walkthrough of all condition types, troubleshooting, best practices, and advanced patterns

Need to build your survey first?

• Creating Surveys - Quick Start → - How to build questions and organize your survey

• Survey Builder - Complete Guide → - Detailed guide to all question types and features

Ready to launch?

• Scheduling Survey Emails - Quick Start → - How to send invitations and reminders to participants