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Collect Feedback using Surveys with Likert Scale

Effectively gather and measure customer feedback in minutes on the website, app, product, kiosk, offline, and more. Get real-time insights, close the feedback loop, and do more with feedback. 

CSAT Likert Scale Question

Likert Scale Surveys: Use Cases, Questions, Best Practices [+Template]

Likert scale surveys are a quick and easy way to gather quantitative feedback from your customers. They help you measure the levels of their satisfaction with the experiences with your product, services, and the entire business.

Likert scale questions are commonly used in surveys where the surveyor wants the audience to rank a product or service or any aspect of the business.

In this article, we will explore what Likert scale surveys are, how Likert scale questions are different from other multiple choice questions, their benefits, when and how to use Likert scale questions, and some cool tips to create Likert scale surveys more effectively. Let's get started!

TL;DR

  • Likert scale surveys are an effective way to measure customer satisfaction, possibility, agreement, likelihood, importance, quality, frequency, and more. 

  • In the Likert scale survey questions, a rating scale in the form of a matrix is given to the respondents to let them rate their experience. You can use number-rating Likert scale questions, heart-rating Likert scale questions, star-rating Likert scale questions, and emoticon or smiley-rating questions.

  • You can use a Likert scale questionnaire in various industries to measure customer satisfactionproduct feedbackpatient satisfaction, retail feedback, employee performance, website feedback, apps, and more. Owing to their simplified design and matrix structure, they help gauge customer feedback in the form of quantitative data for easy analysis. 

  • Zonka Feedback is one such survey software that can serve the purpose. It is loaded with powerful features that help you create and share effective surveys. You can sign up for a free trial or book a demo with Zonka Feedback.

Create & Send Likert Scale Surveys 

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What are Likert Scale Surveys?

A Likert scale survey is a structured questionnaire that businesses use to measure customers' opinions, attitudes, and perceptions. It asks respondents to share their insights based on their degree of agreement with a particular statement, satisfaction with a particular aspect, or the likelihood of action, etc.

For responding, they are given a scale of options to choose from. The scale can be a five-point rating scale, a seven-point, or even a ten-point rating scale so that the respondents can easily choose the accurate option based on their feelings and perceptions about the aspect.

💡The name ‘Likert scale' originated from Rensis Likert, a prominent social psychologist who greatly impacted the business realm during the mid-20th century. He left a substantial mark on organizational psychology through his noteworthy contributions.

Some characteristics of Likert scale survey questions are:

  • They are multiple-choice questions.

  • They are closed-ended questions.

  • They have more options than those in binary questions.

  • The rating scale ranges usually from a five-point Likert scale to an eleven-point Likert scale.

  • They are easy to respond to.

  • They can be unipolar or bipolar scale.

Sample Likert Scale Questionnaire [Template]

To understand the usage of Likert scales better, you can go through the template shared below. It is a general survey using the scale used in customer satisfaction surveys. It asks users to rate their satisfaction on a five-point scale for different aspects like service, quality, value for money, and overall experience. 

This Likert scale questionnaire template can be easily edited to collect feedback in different scenarios like restaurants, retail stores, healthcare institutions, terminals, and more.

Use this Template

 Use Cases of Likert Scale Questions and Surveys

Likert scale questions and surveys can be used by organizations in various industries to collect valuable feedback and measure satisfaction, experience, and performance. Here are some use cases of Likert scales. 

1. Customer Feedback in Retail

Retailers use these surveys as a valuable tool to gather customer feedback and improve their overall business operations. These surveys, combined with the right retail survey questions allow retailers to measure customer sentiments and visitor satisfaction levels in various aspects such as store ambiance, product availability, staff helpfulness, and the overall shopping experience. 

For example, in a retail store, you can ask your buyers: Please rate our store based on your recent shopping experience with us:  

  • How was the overall quality of the products you purchased?

  • How did you like the quality of the packaging for the products you purchased?

  • How was the quality of the store's presentation and organization?

  • How did you like the quality of the customer service you received during your visit?

Likert Scale Survey in retail

2. In Restaurant

A Likert survey is a powerful tool for restaurants to gather valuable customer feedback and enhance their offerings. By utilizing the Likert scale survey method, restaurants can systematically measure customer sentiments and satisfaction levels across various aspects of their business. Whether it's evaluating the quality of food, cleanliness, ambiance, staff professionalism, or overall customer experience, Likert survey questions provide a comprehensive view of their satisfaction.

Here is one of the most commonly seen Likert scale examples in a restaurant setting to help improve the dining experience: Please rate your satisfaction with our restaurant based on your visit here.

  • The food quality exceeded my expectations.

  • The cleanliness of the restaurant was satisfactory.

  • The ambiance of the restaurant was inviting.

  • The staff demonstrated professionalism and courtesy.

  • Overall, I had a positive dining experience.

Likert Scale Survey in restaurant

3. Employee Engagement and Feedback

One of the most popular Likert scale examples is companies use these survey scales to assess various aspects of their organization, including employee engagement, job satisfaction, work-life balance, and perceptions of company culture. These Likert surveys provide valuable data that can guide HR policies and initiatives aimed at improving the workplace environment.

For example, you can use the satisfaction scale in Likert-type surveys to gauge employee happiness: Please share your experience of working with us on the following satisfaction scale:

  • How satisfied are you with your current role at [Company Name]?

  • Please rate your satisfaction with the opportunities for professional growth and development provided by the company.

  • How satisfied are you with the work-life balance offered

  • Please rate your satisfaction with the clarity of communication from your immediate supervisor.

  • How satisfied are you with the level of recognition and appreciation you receive for your contributions?

Likert Scale Survey in employee engagement

4. For Guest Experience at Hotels

If you are in the Hotel and Hospitality industry, you can use a Likert-type survey to measure guest experiences at various touchpoints like hotel room booking, check-in, room service, meals, check-out, and more. You can ask a variety of hotel survey questions to your guests and customers to capture their insights and offer a better experience.  

Here is a good Likert scale question followed by the parameters you can use to gauge the guest feedback for your hotels: Please share your feedback about our hotel based on your recent stay:

  • How satisfied were you with the overall quality of your stay?

  • How satisfied are you with the efficiency of the check-in and check-out process?

  • How satisfied were you with the cleanliness & hygiene?

  • How satisfied are you with the quality of facilities at the hotel?

  • How satisfied were you with the behavior of the staff and their promptness to help?

Likert Scale Survey for guest at hotel

5. For Hospitals & Patient Satisfaction

Measuring patient satisfaction with your healthcare services and care provided is crucial to enhance the experience. In your patient satisfaction survey, you can ask them to rate their experience or how satisfied they are with various aspects and touchpoints at your hospital.

For example, you can ask them: Please rate your satisfaction with the hospital and services offered on the following statements:

  • The overall quality of care received.

  • Communication and clarity of information provided by hospital staff.

  • Cleanliness and maintenance of the hospital facilities.

  • Information was provided regarding your diagnosis and treatment plan.

  • The efficiency of the admission and discharge processes.

Likert Scale Survey for patient satisfaction

6. Passenger Feedback at Airports

If you are a part of the Travel industry, use can leverage these surveys with radio buttons to collect passengers' feedback and measure their satisfaction with their journey. You can measure satisfaction with various touchpoints like flight check-in, food on the flight, staff's hospitality and friendliness, and the overall air journey.

For example, you can gauge the satisfaction level of passengers using the question and the following parameters: Please rate your level of satisfaction with your experience at the airport:

  • Overall experience at the airport.

  • Cleanliness and maintenance of airport facilities.

  • Efficiency of the check-in and security screening processes

  • Clarity of signage and wayfinding throughout the airport

  • Comfort and cleanliness of waiting areas and lounges  

Likert Scale Survey for airport

7. Measuring Website or App Feedback

Utilizing Likert Surveys, you can collect data from customers and measure their opinions on your website or app functionality, design, and user-friendliness. You can use website feedback or product feedback data to enhance digital experiences and delight your customers.

For example, you can ask website users: Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements:

  • Navigating through the website was easy.

  • I found it simple to locate the information I was looking for.

  • The layout and design of the website made it easy to understand. 

  • The website's interface was intuitive and user-friendly

  • The website's loading speed was satisfactory

Likert Scale Survey for website feedback

Likert Scale Survey Questions you can use

Right questions are the basis of any successful survey. The same is with Likert Surveys. Here are the types of Likert scale questions that you can use in your surveys to make them more effective, powerful, and able to collect valuable customer feedback.

1. Likert Scale for Agreement

This Likert-type question helps you measure the extent of customers' agreement or disagreement with an aspect, a fact, or a statement (can be both positive and negative statements on a symmetric agree-disagree scale. 

Customer Effort Score or CES survey is the best Likert scale example of an Agreement-related Likert scale question. Here is the scale you can use:

  • Strongly Agree

  • Agree

  • Neutral (Neither Agree Nor Disagree)

  • Disagree

  • Strongly Disagree

You can use a three-point scale, five-point scale, and seven options for scale points to measure the level of agreement on different scales. Using different scales, give the users more options for responses. It can or cannot include the neutral option based on the scale you want to use.

2. Likert Scale for Likelihood

This Likert scale question focuses on asking the likelihood of the customers for a certain action in the future like buying the product again, resubscribing to the services, recommending the brand to other people, and more.

Here is the commonly used Likert scale for likelihood questions:

  • Not Likely at All

  • Unlikely

  • Neutral

  • Likely

  • Very Likely

Net Promoter Score or NPS Survey is the best example of such a Likert scale questionnaire.

While we have shared a 5-point Likert scale, you can always use the likelihood scale in three-point scale, four-point rating (without the neutral response), and seven-point rating scale for Likert surveys. 

3. Likert Scale for Satisfaction

You can also measure user, customer, or visitor satisfaction with any aspect of your business through Likert Scales. Customer Satisfaction or CSAT survey is the best example of a Likert survey question that is used to measure satisfaction.

Here is the CSAT survey scale that you can include in your Likert questionnaire.

  • Extremely Satisfied

  • Satisfied

  • Neutral

  • Dissatisfied

  • Extremely Dissatisfied

This Likert's satisfaction scale can be easily used in a matrix that has four radio buttons, three options, and a seven-point scale.  

4. Likert Scale for Quality

You can also use Likert questions to ask for feedback about the quality of your products or services. Here is the question that you can include in your Likert survey questionnaire. 

  • Excellent

  • Above Average

  • Average

  • Below Average

  • Poor

This is usually used in a five-point rating scale. However, you can always cut down certain response options and make it a three-point rating for your Likert scale questionnaire.    

5. Likert Scale for Frequency

Likert scaling is also good when you want to ask questions about the frequency of something like the frequency of your customers to use your product or service, the frequency of a bug appearing in your product, and more. Here is the frequency-related survey question that you can include in your Likert survey. Here is the frequency Likert scale:

  • Very often

  • Often

  • Sometimes

  • Rarely

  • Never

6. Likert Scale for Importance

Through a Likert scale survey, you can also ask your customers about how a particular product, product feature, service, or any aspect is important to them. Here is the survey question that you can add to your Likert questionnaire for this purpose.

  • Not at all Important

  • Of Little Importance

  • Of Average Importance

  • Very Important

  • Essential

7. Numeric Likert Scale

Another type of Likert scale that you can see being used in several industries is the basic numeric rating scale. It simply asks the respondents to share their feedback on a 1-10 rating scale, a 0-10 point Likert scale, or a 1-5 rating scale. It has a very simple scale. You just ask the respondents to rate your product, service, or brand experience on a numeric scale. Simply mention that the lowest number means the least value and the highest number on the Likert scale means the highest value. 

Apart from these, you can also use heart rating questions, smiley face survey questions, star rating questions, and more to capture customer feedback on a Likert scale with radio buttons. 

In the end, you can also use an open-ended question in the survey to let your customers share their feelings, suggestions, or any special experiences they may want to share in their own words.

Now, let's learn the difference between questions used in the Likert scale and other multiple-choice questions.

Benefits of Likert Scale Surveys

Let's review how you fetch these benefits by using surveys that use the Likert-type scale.

  • Helpful to measure Customer Experience: Likert scales are a great way to quantitatively measure customer experience. Unlike simple yes/no questions, they help you to know the degree of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction, whether they want to neither agree nor disagree with a statement or have strong agreement opinions, and more. Through Likert scale questions, you give your customers an opportunity to rate their experiences. 

  • Helpful to track the progress of your business: When you get quantitative measurements of the customers' perceptions, it becomes easy for you to track the progress of your business by making comparisons of the rating scores shared by the customers. Using metrics like NPS, CSAT, and CES methodologies in your Likert surveys further helps you see the position of your business in the marketplace.

  • Easy for the Customers to Respond: Likert scale surveys are super-easy for the customers to respond to, the reason being, that they include mostly closed-ended questions. So your customers don't have to think too much to answer open-ended questions in their own words.

  • Broader perspective than Binary-Question Surveys: Likert scale survey questions also overcome the limitations of binary closed-ended questions because they are not limited to two answer options like Yes/No or Satisfied/Dissatisfied. So Likert-type questions don't force the customers while also getting accurate answers from their responses. Rather, they can choose from a variety of response options and rate their experience on a rating scale. 

  • You can measure Customer Satisfaction with Every Aspect: Another benefit of these surveys is that you can measure satisfaction and even perform market research with every aspect of your business, be it product, service, support, website, purchasing process, or any other aspect. You can craft a common question in your questionnaire with a Likert scale to ask for feedback about any aspect of the whole questionnaire. 

Likert Scale Example

How to Create Likert Scale Surveys?

Creating effective Likert scale surveys involves several key steps to ensure that your questions are clear, unbiased, and capable of capturing meaningful and quantitative data. By following these steps, you can create surveys that provide valuable insights to help delight customers.

To understand this better, let's consider you are in the retail industry and own a high-end designer outlet. So, here's how you would approach it: 

1. Define the Objective or What you Want to Measure

Do you want to measure satisfaction, loyalty, general feedback about the store, or any other aspect of the outlet?

Before creating your Likert scale survey, it's important to know what you want to measure using the Likert scale.

In this case, let's say, you want to understand more about the products offered at the store and what's the customers' response towards them. This will help you create targeted and relevant survey questions.

2.  Choose the Aspects or Parameters

These would be the major areas around which you would be collecting the feedback. Here, you have to be careful about what aspects of your product, service, or brand you want to get feedback on.

For instance, for the high-end store capturing feedback level about products, the indicators or parameters could be variety, quality, pricing, range, options, presentation, and more. For the statement, you could use:

  1. The variety of products available met my expectations.

  2. The quality of the products I purchased was satisfactory.

  3. The products were displayed in an organized and accessible manner.

  4. The pricing of the products was reasonable for the value offered.

  5. The products were well-stocked, and I didn't encounter any out-of-stock issues.

  6. The packaging of the products was appropriate and protected them from damage.

  7. The product labels provided accurate and helpful information.

3. Choose the right Likert Scale

When choosing the right Likert scaling for your survey, it's important to consider the specific aspect you want to measure. Depending on your objectives, you can use various scales such as agreement, satisfaction, quality, frequency, importance, and more.

For example, in the retail industry, if you want to capture customer satisfaction in terms of the product, using a scale, ranging from highly satisfied to highly dissatisfied, would be appropriate. 

On the other hand, if you simply want to assess the quality of the product, you can use a quality response scale, which typically ranges from excellent to poor. 

4. Test and refine your survey

Before distributing your Likert scale survey, it's important to test it with a small group of respondents. This will help you identify any potential issues or areas for improvement. Collect feedback on the clarity of the questions, the ease of response, and the overall survey experience. 

By following these steps, you can create Likert scale surveys that provide valuable, deeper insights from your target audiences. These surveys can help you make data-driven decisions and improve the overall experience for your customers and employees.

How to Analyze Likert Scale Data?

One of the advantages of Likert scales is that they are quantitative in nature, which means the Likert scale data can be analyzed easily. To analyze the response received on your Likert scale questions, here's what you have to do:

  • Find a quantitative score of the Likert scale survey responses.

  • Find out the average of your responses. This can be done by simply adding all the response ratings and dividing it by the number of responses received.

Let's walk through a simple example of how to analyze data from Likert survey types using hypothetical data from a survey about a retail store's products. In this example, we'll use a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree."

Likert Scale Survey Question: "Please rate your satisfaction with the quality of products at our retail store."

Statement: I am happy with the quality of the products at the store.

Response Options:

  • Strongly Disagree

  • Disagree

  • Neutral (Neither Agree nor Disagree)

  • Agree

  • Strongly Agree

Likert Scale Survey for retail, analyze survey data

Hypothetical Survey Data: Let's say you collected responses from 100 participants, and the distribution of responses was as follows:

  • Strongly Disagree: 5

  • Disagree: 10

  • Neither Agree nor Disagree: 20

  • Agree: 40

  • Strongly Agree: 25

Step-by-Step Data Analysis:

1. Calculate Mean (Average): Calculate the mean score to get an overall sense of respondents' average level of satisfaction.

Mean = (5 * 1 + 10 * 2 + 20 * 3 + 40 * 4 + 25 * 5) / 100 = 3.85

2. Calculate Percentages: Calculate the percentage of respondents who chose each response option to understand the distribution of opinions.

  • Strongly Disagree: 5%

  • Disagree: 10%

  • Neutral: 20%

  • Agree: 40%

  • Strongly Agree: 25%

3. Visualize the Data: Create a bar chart or other appropriate visual representation to display the distribution of responses. This can provide a clear visual summary of the Likert scale survey data.

4. Consider Median and Mode: Calculate the median (middle value) and mode (most frequent value) to gain additional insights about the central tendency of the data. In this example, let's assume the median is 4 (Agree) and the mode is also 4 (Agree).

5. Interpret the Results: Interpret the Likert scale analysis in the context of your survey's goals. In this Likert scale example:

  • The mean score of 3.85 indicates a generally positive sentiment toward the product quality.

  • The mode and median both being 4 (Agree) suggest that "Agree" is the most common response and reflects the central tendency of the data.

  • The distribution shows that the majority of respondents chose either "Agree" or "Strongly Agree," indicating a favorable perception of product quality.

6. Additional Analysis (If Applicable): If you have demographic data, you can analyze how different groups (age, gender, etc.) perceive the product quality. This might involve calculating means and distributions for each subgroup and comparing them.

Best Practices to Create & Conduct Effective Likert Scale Questionnaires 

Here are some of the quick tips, tricks, and strategies that will help you create effective Likert scale questionnaires and conduct even more successful surveys. 

1. Be Specific About Aspects

Ask about specific aspects of your businesses separately instead of overly broad questions. Although you can use a common Likert scale question in your survey in the beginning, in order to get accurate Likert scale responses, you must give options to the customers for rating each aspect separately. Where binary options surveys like Yes/No or Satisfied/Dissatisfied surveys can't work, Likert scales can help you out by providing broader options on specific aspects to the customers to help them express their sentiments better.

2. Keep the scale Continuous

Provide the response options in the right order so that they make a rating or psychometric scale rather than just options in a multiple-choice question. For example, if you want your customers to express their agreement with a statement, you will provide options in the right order like Strongly Agree to Agree, Somewhat Agree, then Neutral, then Somewhat Disagree to Strongly Disagree. 

3. Keep the Surveys Logical

Always make your data collection forms logical and conversational by making them dynamic with respect to customers' responses to the previous question. Use features like Skip Logic and Question Branching for this purpose.

4. Use Unipolar & Bipolar Scales Smartly

Likert scales can have both the bipolar and the unipolar scale. Unipolar scales are used when the response options go from low to high, such as "Not at all likely" to "Extremely likely". On the other hand, surveys with bipolar options are used when the response offers extreme options, spanning from one extreme to another, such as "Strongly agree" to "Strongly disagree". Unipolar scales are often preferred to measure attitudes or opinions that are expected to be positive, while bipolar question scales are useful for sentiment analysis, capturing both positive and negative sentiments.

For instance, if you are asking - How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague? The response could be unipolar, scaling from "Not at all likely" to "Extremely likely". 

4. Use an Effective Survey Software

Always use effective survey software to create and share Likert scale surveys with your customers. A good tool is loaded with the required features to create powerful and logical surveys and share them through various channels. An effective tool will help you with ready-to-use survey templates and will enable you to customize the surveys and survey questions.

Let's learn some other tips to write better Likert scale questions for your surveys.

Some Tips to Write Better Likert Scale Questions

When you are crafting questions for your Likert scale questionnaire, you need to follow some more tips to make your surveys effective.

  • Avoid Double-Barreled Questions - Double-barreled questions ask about two aspects in one question which makes it hard for the customers to respond as they may have different feedback for different aspects. This confuses the customers and leads to either survey abandonment or inaccurate responses. So avoid double-barreled questions in your surveys.

  • Use Simple and Easy Language in Questions - Make your surveys simple and easy for your customers to understand and respond to. Avoid industry jargons which may be hard for the audience to understand.

  • Keep the Options Easy to Understand - The response options you provide must be clear and simple to understand for the customers. You should not use adjectives that are not common and are hard to understand as nobody is going to search in the dictionary and respond to your survey. If you are using emoticon rating questions, make sure the emoticons are self-explanatory and not confusing for the customers.

  • Keep the Response Options Unbiased - Avoid leading questions or biased response options that lead towards a certain answer. For example, you are asking about customers' experience with your product and providing a 5-point rating scale to answer. Now, Suppose the options you provide are Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, and Neutral. These are biased options as there are no options for negative feedback. Instead, the right and unbiased options would be Excellent, Good, Neutral, Bad, and Poor.

  • Make sure you're adding neutral only where required - Mostly, the Likert scale provides response options in odd numbers in order to provide a Neutral option for the customers to choose from. However, sometimes you have to avoid any diplomatic responses as per your survey requirements and therefore not include neutral as an option. So, provide neutral only when they are helpful to get useful responses. Otherwise, you can always use the even-point scale.

To create and conduct effective Likert surveys, the best trick is to use an effective survey tool

Zonka Feedback is one such software that offers in-depth survey reports to analyze your data from Likert surveys. It is a powerful customer feedback software that not only helps you create surveys and collect customer feedback but also helps to analyze the survey results and take action to close the feedback loop effectively.

Its powerful Analytics and Reporting capabilities enable you to get real-time reports of your survey responses. With Zonka Feedback, you can view an in-depth analysis of the Likert scale responses to all questions and make informed business decisions to boost business growth.

It also offers a free trial. You can try Zonka Feedback for free for 14 days and harness the power of Likert scales to collect and take action on customer feedback and thus grow your business.



Nikhil Dawer

Written by Nikhil Dawer

Feb 09, 2024

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