![\"\u2192](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/e24dc302-9dc2-466f-a5ca-ab4e08633c0f.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn my opinion, no matter how strong your customer retention rate is, it\u2019s also important to know how satisfied customers are<\/a> with your business. Using surveys to collect customer feedback ensures you\u2019re up to date on the needs of your target audience, and a Likert scale is an effective type of question scale to use.<\/p>\n In this post, I\u2019ll discuss what a Likert scale is and how you can use it to optimize your surveys. Then, I\u2019ll provide some examples and templates you can use for your feedback collection process.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n The scale is named after Rensis Likert, who developed the method in 1932 to gauge people\u2019s opinions on or attitudes toward a topic.<\/p>\n The two responses on either extreme are the anchor responses and go from negative to positive, with the middle term being neutral. This is the case whether you choose to have 5, 7, or 9 response choices.<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n When might you use a Likert scale? If you want to do any of the following:<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n \n For example, if you wanted to know how much customers like your logo, you could say, \u201cOn a scale of 1 to 5, please rate how much you like our logo.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n You could label 1 as \u201cI don\u2019t like it\u201d and 5 as \u201cI love it,\u201d and respondents select their feelings from the scale.<\/p>\n Here are some examples of common use cases for Likert scale questions.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re asking customers if they\u2019d be willing to try another one of your products, you could say, \u201cHow likely are you to try our [product name, service name]?\u201d and create a corresponding scale.<\/p>\n \u201cHow likely are you to purchase [product name, service name, etc.] again?\u201d or to make it more general, \u201cHow likely are you to make another purchase from [insert business name]?\u201d and create a corresponding scale.<\/p>\n \u201cHow likely are you to enroll in our loyalty program?\u201d with a corresponding scale. Or, \u201cOn a scale of [metric numbers], how loyal do you consider yourself to be to [business name]?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow likely are you to purchase [product or service name] again if the price increases?\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019ve discovered that there are several benefits to using this question type:<\/p>\n At the same time, there are a few drawbacks I think you should be aware of when reviewing your results.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Now let\u2019s review the major types<\/em> of Likert scale questions. While there are many types of questions, the following seven are commonly used in surveys.<\/p>\n This is the most common type of Likert scale question. Survey creators can list a series of statements about a topic and gauge how much participants agree with them. This example is from a survey used to assess how Boston College students felt about the Allbirds footwear brand.<\/p>\n Frequency questions are great for companies who want to judge how often consumers use their products. It can also reveal insights into the everyday routines of each participant.<\/p>\n Importance questions reveal some of the values and beliefs of your customers. They share how important certain aspects of your brand, services, and products are and what areas need to be improved.<\/p>\n Likelihood questions determine how true a statement is for a participant. This can also be used to judge the values and beliefs of your audience.<\/p>\n Quality questions test how your products, services, and brand are perceived by customers. This is a good question to use to judge consumer perception after releasing a new product.<\/p>\n Awareness questions reveal how well your customers know about your brand, products, or offerings. It can be revealing to see if the message you think you\u2019re putting out there is actually being picked up.<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Satisfaction questions let you know how happy your customers are with your products, brand, or service. You can also survey your employees to see how satisfied they are with their job and workplace environment.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve collected your survey responses, it\u2019s time to read the results and see what your customers have to say.<\/p>\n Since Likert scales are ordinal, when analyzing your survey results<\/a>, I think it\u2019s best to use the mode or median of each question to determine the overall sentiment of the respondents.<\/p>\n You can analyze the overall response<\/strong> of the surveys or distill it by question.<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at an example survey. Let\u2019s say I gave my customers this brief satisfaction survey to see how they felt about their software purchase from my company.<\/p>\n With 1,000 participants, I can organize their responses into the following table and calculate the mode and median.<\/p>\n These stats reveal overall positive satisfaction ratings from my customers. I find visualizing the results as a bar graph is super helpful.<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The \u201cOverall\u201d rating at the top uses the mean from all the questions to display overall sentiment. For instance, to calculate how many \u201cStrongly agree\u201d responses I received from the whole survey, I would perform the following calculation:<\/p>\n (270 + 500 + 420) \/ (1,000 + 1,000 + 787) = <\/strong><\/p>\n 1,190 \/ 2,787 = 0.426 = 43%<\/strong><\/p>\n This average, along with 19% of customers who responded \u201cAgree,\u201d means that the majority of my customers are satisfied with their experience of my company and product.<\/p>\n However, I can see that the weakest area is the checkout process. I received the fewest 5s and the most 1s, so I should focus on improving the checkout experience for my clients.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>For more advanced analytics, you can use cross-tabulation, t-tests, or ANOVA. Check out this article<\/a> for more details.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n When crafting your Likert scale survey, be sure to write clearly<\/a>. Your questions should be unbiased, not loaded, and phrased neutrally. You can skew your results if you don\u2019t write clear, concise, and neutral questions.<\/p>\n For each survey question, make sure you are asking for respondents to share their opinion or feelings on one thing only. If you load the statement with multiple ideas, they will not be able to give a clear response by simply choosing one number on the scale.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to use both negative and positive framing questions in a survey (but avoid double negatives) in order to capture participants\u2019 full perspectives. This is especially helpful if your survey employs multiple statements surrounding a similar idea or topic.<\/p>\n Mix up how you present the information you want participants to respond to. Phrasing different questions as a statement or question might elicit different responses, and you can see if the participants are consistent in their views or not.<\/p>\n When associating response options with each number, be sure the options are on the same continuum, always ensuring the middle option is neutral. Also, make sure that two of your options don\u2019t amount to the same meaning, even if phrased differently. It will confuse participants and muddle your data.<\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n Now that you understand how Likert scales work, I\u2019ll share some templates<\/a> with you to get started on your next survey.<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n On SurveyMonkey<\/a>, you can easily create a Likert scale using the template above. Simply type in your question, select \u201cMatrix \/ Rating Scale,\u201d and check the box next to \u201cMake this a single-row rating scale (remove row choices).\u201d<\/p>\n The template will automatically give you five response options, but you can always add or delete them depending on how many options you’d like to have. Then, fill in a label for each column, such as \u201cnever,\u201d \u201crarely,\u201d \u201coccasionally,\u201d \u201cfrequently,\u201d and \u201calways.\u201d When you hit \u201cSave,\u201d it will show you a preview of how the question will look.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Since it is a software devoted to creating surveys, Survey Monkey is a great option for businesses that survey customers often or that have a large customer base.<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Google Forms<\/a> is another simple tool you can use to build questionnaires, including Likert scale questions. First, fill in a question or overarching statement, such as \u201cEvaluate our brand in terms of the following statements.\u201d Then, select \u201cMultiple choice grid\u201d as the type of question. I think multiple choice grids are perfect if you’d like to ask several questions or list statements that all fall under one type of Likert scale question.<\/p>\n Clicking this will lead you to an option to create \u201cRows and Columns.\u201d Each row should be filled in with a statement or question you’d like to ask participants, such as \u201cI would recommend this brand to others.\u201d Each column label should be filled with a point on your scale, like \u201cstrongly agree.\u201d<\/p>\n Once you’ve finished, your question will look something like this:<\/p>\n Image Source<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n
![\"what](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-2-20241031-5284609.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nWhen to Use a Likert Scale<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n
1. Product Use Likert Scale Question<\/h4>\n
2. Repeat Purchase Likert Scale Question<\/h4>\n
3. Customer Loyalty Likert Scale Question<\/h4>\n
4. Price Increase Likert Scale Question<\/h4>\n
Benefits and Challenges of Likert Scale Questions<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
Likert Scale Example Question Types<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Agreement Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-3-20241031-8401767.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n2. Frequency Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-4-20241031-7268020.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n3. Importance Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-5-20241031-764813.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n4. Likelihood Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-6-20241031-2899055.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n5. Quality Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-7-20241031-9596216.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n6. Awareness Questions <\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-8-20241031-9416243.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n7. Satisfaction Questions<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"example](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-9-20241031-6520284.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nHow to Read Likert Scale Results<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\n
Survey Results Example<\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-10-20241031-8707453.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"How](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-11-20241031-1445998.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"Likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-12-20241031-264904.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\nTips for Writing<\/strong> Likert Scale Survey <\/strong>Questions<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. Write clear questions or statements.<\/h3>\n
2. Only ask one thing at a time.<\/h3>\n
3. Use both negative and positive framing.<\/h3>\n
\n
4. Use both statements and questions.<\/h3>\n
\n
5. Be sure the response scale is a continuum.<\/h3>\n
Likert Scale Templates<\/strong><\/h2>\n
1. SurveyMonkey<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-13-20241031-1759045.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n2. Google Forms<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-14-20241031-890504.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"likert](\"http:\/\/nurseagence.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/likert-scale-15-20241031-6195235.webp\" "\\"\\"")
<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/track.hubspot.com\/__ptq.gif?a=53&k=14&r=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.hubspot.com%2Fservice%2Flikert-scale&bu=https%253A%252F%252Fblog.hubspot.com%252Fservice&bvt=rss\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"