Customers & Research

How do I write survey questions that surface the job instead of just confirming what I already believe?

A starting point

Surveys are terrible at discovering jobs and decent at sizing ones you've already found through conversation, so don't lead with them. When you do use them, ask about past behavior ("what did you do the last time this happened") rather than intentions or hypotheticals, which people answer aspirationally. As a starting point, run interviews to find the job, then survey to measure how widespread the struggle is.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked Read Use

Read

📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Beginner

Why we picked it The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past behaviour, not your idea, so you can't be lied to. If a founder reads one thing before talking to a single customer, it's this.

The Mom Test

From momtestbook.com by Rob Fitzpatrick ~130 pages

  • Talk about their life, not your idea.
  • Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future.
  • 'That's so cool, I'd totally buy it' is a compliment, not data, dig for commitment and evidence.
Open momtestbook.com →
📄 Article
✓ Link checked Free Beginner

Why we picked it Once you know you should ask about real behavior, this guide gives you the concrete phrasing rules to keep your wording from leaking the answer you want. It comes from Kantar, one of the largest research firms, and pairs each rule with a before and after example so you can spot the leading version in your own draft. Practical and specific, not theory.

Writing unbiased survey questions: complete guide with best practices and examples

From kantar.com by Kantar

  • Use neutral language and balanced response scales so the question does not imply a "right" answer or tilt toward the positive.
  • Split double-barreled questions (quality and price in one) into separate questions so a single answer is not forced.
  • Pilot the survey with a few people first, since a leading phrasing is usually obvious to a fresh reader before it skews your data.
Open kantar.com →

Use

🛠️ Tool
✓ Link checked Freemium Beginner

Why we picked it Once you have found the job and written behavior-based questions, Typeform is a fast, accessible way to field them. Its one-question-at-a-time format lifts completion rates, which matters when you are asking founders and customers to actually finish. There is a free plan, so you can run a real survey before spending anything.

Typeform Survey Maker

From typeform.com by Typeform

  • Free plan covers unlimited forms and templates, enough to run an early behavior-based survey at no cost.
  • The conversational, one-question-at-a-time layout tends to improve completion, so you get more honest, finished responses.
  • Built-in analytics and integrations (Google Sheets, Slack, Notion) let you route and read answers without extra tooling.
Open typeform.com →

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