Demographic Survey Questions & Examples

Craft demographic surveys that improve user engagement

While responding to a survey, how many times have you come across an online survey that does not consist of a single question concerning your age, profession, gender, or location? Never. These types of questions are known as demographic questions and are an integral part of any survey. That is why almost all the brands use demographic surveys to get deeper customer insights and grow rapidly.

It is an online survey that lets businesses segment audiences based on their characteristics and better understand the targeted market, hidden market trends, and make data-driven decisions.

Typical Demographic Survey Questions Template

A basic demographic survey questionnaire usually includes these (or somewhat similar) demographic survey questions:

What gender do you identify as?
What is your age?
Please specify your ethnicity.
Where is your home located?
What is the highest degree or level of education you have completed?
Are you married?
What is your annual household income?
What is your current employment status?
How many children do you have?
What languages do you speak? (Check all that apply)
Where were you born?
If applicable, please specify your religion.
How would you describe your political view?

It is not all necessary to stick to the same set of demographic questions. They are just an example of how you can ask these types of questions delightfully. Adding all the relevant questions to your online survey is pretty important to get the relevant responses.

Common Scenarios for Demographics Survey Template

Scenario 1 - Gender-specific

One of the typical but crucial questions in a demographic survey is related to identifying the diversity of customer base as per genders. You can ask this question to segregate your customer base to understand what kind of products or services you should add or eliminate based on your customer demographics.

Scenario 2 - Age-specific

You can create many business strategies based on the customer age demographic data which you can collect by asking this survey question. Businesses that want to expand or want to target a certain age group often conduct a demographics survey with questions. It helps them identify the most suitable target audience.

Scenario 3 - Education-specific

Depending on the type of product or service you offer or plan to offer, asking education-specific demographic questions allows businesses to understand the level of simplicity the customers would appreciate in the product or service. It also helps them gauge how they interact with the product. Additionally, it reveals the type of work the customers do to make them a pitch suited for them. For instance, an audience with a doctorate degree will react positively to the logical pitch than the emotional one.

Scenario 4 - Marital status/ family-specific

This type of demographic question is used to identify with who your customers interact with and what affects their buying decisions. A married customer’s buying decisions may be more susceptible to influence than the one who isn’t.

Scenario 5 - Sexual orientation-specific

There are many scenarios in which companies ask demographic questions gauging gender identity and sexual orientation, be it for customers or employees. Businesses who want to explore the potential in the LGBTQ+ market use these carefully designed questions to ask such sensitive information. Many companies strive to become all-inclusive and diverse in terms of workforce, for which they use such survey questions to gather relevant information.

Scenario 6 - Language-specific

People who use different languages are known to have distinct needs despite living in the same location. It is crucial for businesses to identify this diversity among their customers to fulfill their needs. Another reason why businesses use language-specific demographics questions in the surveys is to better connect with their customers in their language through localization.

Scenario 7 - Health-specific

Usage of health-related demographic survey questions depends on the business type. Companies dealing in medical drugs online might want to understand what problems their customers have to advise suitable medicines. Companies dealing in consumer goods may also want to tap into the health of their audience to gauge how the products are used.

Scenario 8 - Location-specific

It is crucial for almost every business to understand where the customers are located to understand their preferences, buying choices, and capacity. It also helps gauge the business reach, i.e., whether the brand or company is popular only domestically or internationally as well.

Scenario 9 - Ethnicity-specific

Having an idea about customers’ backgrounds helps businesses gain insight into what drives their perception and decision-making. It helps them deep-dive into the customer base and understand why customers differ.

Scenario 10 - Income/Employment-specific

Household income or employment-related questions are used in the surveys to gauge your targeted audience’s buying capacity. It is the total amount of income earned by people living in a household. For such sensitive questions, try to frame options with various ranges and also an option to skip answering.

Scenario 11 - Politics-specific

Topics such as political beliefs are sensitive and personal, so they should be asked under the right context. You can ask this like how we have shown below to gauge which political parties they affiliate with without asking them directly. Many companies also ask about voting eligibility to understand their customers and their preference on a deeper level.

Scenario 12 - Lifestyle-specific

Many e-Commerce companies gain many insights into users’ lives by gauging their lifestyle preferences, such as the question mentioned above. It is most appropriate for restaurant apps/websites or online grocery websites to offer suitable products.

Now that you are nearly ready to design and launch your demographic survey to attract the maximum number of prospects. Don't forget to review all the added questions and implement the best practices while creating an online survey.

Dwell on your survey goal
Only ask the demographic questions that matter
Target the right audience at the right time
Distinguish when to get personal
Don't just focus on numbers
Make responses anonymous
Clarify the purpose of your online survey
Keep the survey short and accessible

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Case Study: Increase the Number of Registrations Using Qualaroo the Way Good Blogs Did

“Qualaroo is the single most effective third-party tool we deploy on our platform. We had no idea how much engagement there would be…”

- Peter Awad and Jason Trout - Advisor, Founders, GoodBlogs.

GoodBlogs is a platform that licenses out crowd-sourced content to clients. Their clientele belongs to a wide range of industries, from livestock trailer manufacturers to vegan food companies.

The platform needed a tool to direct their leads into the right topic funnel and convert them into leads. Using Qualaroo, GoodBlogs was able to increase engagement and segregate leads and direct them into suitable customer journeys.

For instance, the first question they would ask visitors for their livestock trailer manufacturer client is “Do you own a horse?” If the answer is affirmative, the visitors would be directed towards a funnel leading them to sign up for special offers or receive a brochure. If the answer was “No,” the visitor would be directed towards the funnel, encouraging them to write for the site.

“Qualaroo is the single most effective third-party tool we deploy on our platform. We had no idea how much engagement there would be—we're talking orders of magnitude higher than banner ads. When we were using Qualaroo on The Flaming Vegan to increase registrations, they increased by 300%...I'm not rounding that number. It was 300% for the timeframe we measured. The results speak for themselves. Qualaroo is flexible to any lead generation need, from horse trailers to vegan recipes, and equally as effective across those categories.”

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