Use Skip Logic in Surveys

Use the skip logic in surveys with radio button and dropdown question types.

Gayathri Rajendiran avatar
Written by Gayathri Rajendiran
Updated over a week ago

Skip logic lets you create different routes through your survey. Using skip logic, you can ensure that your participants see the most relevant questions based on their choices.

You can use Question skip logic or Page skip logic, but before you start, you need to know:

  • Skip logic is applied when a survey page is completed. Because of this, the logic only works on surveys with multiple pages and you can only apply one logic per page. Additionally, Page skip logic overrules Question skip logic; if you have both applied on one page, the Page skip logic will take effect when the user completes the page.

  • Always use skip logic to move to a future point in the survey to prevent your participants from getting stuck in a loop. We recommend planning and creating all questions first before applying any logic.

  • If you move questions, the logic and question number will update itself.

  • If you use Question skip logic to go to a question halfway down the page, any questions before that will not display on the survey.

  • If you duplicate a question, the logic won’t copy across, so you’ll have to add it separately if necessary. However, if you clone the complete survey, the question will retain the logic.

  • You can only skip to the parent of a conditional question, not the child question, but you can still skip from either the parent or child question.

You should always preview and test your surveys before publishing them, and this is especially true for surveys with logic. With skip logic, you must test all possible routes through your survey.

Question Skip Logic

Question skip logic is used with closed questions to route participants when they give a specific answer to a question. You can add question skip logic to Dropdown and Radio button questions. Creating logic is like reading a sentence.

For example, in a survey, you ask “Are you a resident or business owner?” with an answer choice including Resident, Business owner, and Neither. If a participant chooses:

  • Resident: they skip to follow-up questions for residents

  • Business owner: they skip to follow-up questions for business owners

  • Neither: they skip to the end of the survey

To add question skip logic:

  1. Configure your Dropdown or Radio button question and options, then select Add Skip Logic.

  2. Use the Then Skip To, dropdown menu to select a question to skip to for each answer option.

  3. You can apply skip logic to all options, or only the necessary answers, and you can skip to the end of the survey. The logic in the example above would look like:

    If Answer Is... Resident Then Skip To... Further questions for residents
    If Answer Is... Business owner Then Skip to... Further questions for business owners
    If Answer Is... None Then Skip To... End of survey

  4. Select Done when you’re finished, and you’ll see the logic applied in green to each option.

  5. To edit the logic, select Add Skip Logic again, and either select a different question from the dropdown menu or use the X button to remove it.

  6. Select Update to save the logic.

Page Skip Logic

Page skip logic is based on the page the user completes and applies to all users on that page. For example:

  1. Page 1: Are you a Resident or Business owner?
    — Resident (when selected, question skip logic takes the user to Page 2)
    — Business owner (when selected, question skip logic takes the user to Page 3)

  2. Page 2: questions about being a resident (once complete, use page logic to skip to Page 4)

  3. Page 3: questions about being a business owner

  4. Page 4: additional demographic questions

In this scenario, you don’t want your residents to see questions related to owning a business, so you can use page skip logic to take them to Page 4 after they complete Page 2.

To add page skip logic:

  1. On your survey, go to the page to which you want to apply the logic. In the example above, this is Page 2.

  2. Use the Add Page Skip Logic dropdown menu to select the page you want to skip to. You can also select Skip to end of survey to ensure the participant can submit their response at the end of this page.

  3. To edit it, use the same dropdown menu to select a different page, or use the x button to remove it.

  4. Save your settings.

Page skip logic will now apply once the participant selects Next on Page 2, taking them directly to Page 4. Once page skip logic is applied, you should not rearrange any pages; doing so can create a loop for respondents.

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