What Is the Maximum Number of Questions to Ask in a Survey?

The recommended maximum number of questions in a survey is 60 questions for a maximum duration of 10 minutes. Beyond this, the abandonment rate increases dramatically and the quality of responses significantly decreases due to declining respondent attention.

Key factors to consider include the average response time per question, which ranges between seven and ten seconds, the average user attention span estimated at just eight seconds, the abandonment rate that grows exponentially after ten minutes of participation, and the type of questions asked, as open-ended questions considerably extend the total duration.

You’ll discover how to precisely calculate the optimal number of questions for your survey, proven techniques to maintain participant engagement, and how to structure your survey to maximize both completion rate and the quality of data collected.

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The Decreasing Attention Span That Can Be Losing You Responses

Research has found that the human attention span has fallen. In 2000, it used to be about 12 seconds. Now it is estimated that the average attention span is eight seconds.

However, this doesn’t tell the entire story. The research for the average attention span is often questioned by journalists. In addition, other researchers have found that people’s attention spans are often dependent on the person, situation and the task.

For instance, those watching online videos tend to switch off around four minutes and twenty seconds into the video. On the other hand, the average time spent for reading one piece of content online is seven minutes.

Those who are taking a poll can sometimes last up to 20 minutes, but most research says that 10 minutes worth of questions is the maximum amount of time you really want to aim for. This allows your respondents to answer all the questions you want responses for without them getting bored. But you might want a smaller questionnaire to get more responses as the longer the survey the less people that will complete it.

How Many Questions Can You Get In A Survey?

The average time to answer a question in a survey is 7.5 seconds. Therefore, if you want to maximize participation in your survey by offering an adequate number of questions, simply perform the following calculation:

• Maximum participation time divided by the average time to answer a question (10 minutes / 7.5 seconds), for a total of 80.

However, 80 questions is still too high a number for a survey. If you want to reduce the abandonment rate, it’s recommended to estimate the participation time per question at 10 seconds. This makes a total of 60 questions (10 minutes / 10 seconds = 60). This is the maximum number of questions to avoid losing participants’ attention.

However, you can use certain techniques and tricks to reduce the duration of participation in a survey.

Survey Type	Recommended Duration	Number of Questions	Average Completion Rate	Recommended Use
Express Survey	2-3 minutes	10-20 questions	85-95%	Post-purchase survey, NPS, quick feedback
Standard Survey	5-7 minutes	30-45 questions	70-80%	Customer satisfaction survey, product study
In-depth Survey	8-10 minutes	50-60 questions	60-70%	Market research, behavioral analysis
Long Survey	15-20 minutes	80+ questions	30-50%	Academic research, paid panel

How To Get More Respondents To Answer Your Survey?

There are many ways to improve the response rate of your poll. The first thing that you should look at is simplifying the wording of your questions. If the respondents have to continue to re-read questions to understand what you want from them, it will increase the length of time it takes to answer one question and the number of queries you can ask.

There are several things you can do to make the wording on your surveys easier to understand. For instance, you can use simple words, keep to the point and avoid leading questions and double negatives.

Also, if you have several queries that are the same format, you can group them together to shorten individual questions and make it quicker for your audience to answer. For instance, if you are asking about a particular product and are asking questions like “do you like the design of the packaging?” and “do you like the taste of the product?” you can shorten these.

You should first ask the respondents to rate your product based on certain factors and then list those factors. You can use specific labels such as “satisfied”,”not-satisfied”, “good”, “not good”. This allows you to collect lots of data without seeming like you’re asking too much from the audience.

Another way to maximise the response rate is to limit the scope of your poll. You’re better off having several surveys than one big survey that aims to collect information on a wide range of subjects. This also gives you the added benefit of tailoring your questionnaire to specific audiences.

You can also try to restrict the number of open-ended questions where the audience has to type an answer. You’ll find that audiences will tend to write very short responses if they’re not bothered and it can be time consuming that can result in higher disengagement rates for your questionnaire.

How To Keep Your Audience Answering Surveys

Keeping your audience engaged with your survey is important. If they’re engaged then they are more likely to complete your questionnaire and give you meaningful results that you can actually use in decision making for the business. One of the key aspects of this is to time the delivery of the poll correctly.

If you ask questions too long after the event, audiences can sometimes become frustrated that the questions don’t seem relevant. Therefore, ensure that you are delivering your questionnaire at the right time. This could be after a promotion, purchase or in relation to a holiday.

With these points in mind, you should be able to design and deliver a poll that can help you get the maximum number of responses.

How to Maintain Participant Engagement?

Keeping your audience engaged in your survey is important. If people are engaged, they’ll be more likely to complete your survey entirely. You’ll obtain relevant data that you can use to make decisions. One key aspect is to properly schedule the survey distribution.

Indeed, if you ask questions too long after an event, respondents may be frustrated by content that doesn’t seem relevant. Therefore, make sure you distribute your survey at the right time. For example, it’s relevant to distribute a survey directly after a promotion or purchase.

By keeping these points in mind, you can design and conduct a survey from which you’ll obtain maximum relevant responses.

Adapt Your Strategy According to Your Objective

The number of questions in your survey must imperatively adapt to your context and objectives. For an immediate post-purchase satisfaction survey, favor an ultra-short format of 10 to 15 questions maximum over 2 to 3 minutes, focusing on key indicators such as NPS and overall satisfaction. For in-depth market research, you can extend up to 50 to 60 questions over 8 to 10 minutes, but only if your audience is qualified and motivated. For an internal organizational diagnosis with your employees, a standard format of 30 to 40 questions over 6 to 8 minutes represents the best compromise between comprehensiveness and participation.

The key to success lies in three fundamental principles. First, always start with the simplest and most engaging questions to create positive momentum. Second, extensively use multiple-choice closed questions that are quick to complete, and reserve open-ended questions only for essential qualitative insights. Third, systematically test your survey on a small sample before full deployment to identify friction points and adjust the actual duration. Never forget that a short, well-designed survey with an 80% completion rate will provide you with much more actionable data than a comprehensive survey with only 40% completion.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the maximum number of questions in an online survey?

The recommended maximum is 60 questions for a standard online survey, which corresponds to a maximum participation time of 10 minutes. This threshold is explained by respondents’ limited attention capacity and helps maintain an acceptable completion rate above 60%. If you calculate with an average duration of 10 seconds per question, you get exactly this maximum of 60 questions. Beyond this, the abandonment rate increases exponentially and response quality degrades considerably. For surveys requiring more information, it’s preferable to create several short targeted surveys rather than one long survey.

What is the ideal duration of a survey?

The ideal duration of a survey is between 5 and 10 minutes maximum. Research shows that the completion rate decreases drastically after 10 minutes of participation. A 5-minute survey generally achieves a completion rate of 70 to 80%, while a 10-minute survey drops to 60-70%. To optimize your results, favor short formats of 3 to 5 minutes for general public surveys, and reserve surveys of 8 to 10 minutes for targeted and motivated audiences such as your loyal customers or paid panels. The golden rule is to always indicate the estimated duration at the beginning of the survey to reassure participants.

How do I calculate the number of questions for my survey?

To calculate the optimal number of questions, use this simple formula: divide your target duration in minutes by the average response time per question in seconds, then multiply by 60. For example, for a 5-minute survey with questions taking 10 seconds each, the calculation is as follows: 5 minutes times 60 seconds equals 300 seconds, divided by 10 seconds per question, which gives 30 questions maximum. Then adjust according to the type of questions, knowing that open-ended questions require 20 to 30 seconds, multiple-choice questions take 7 to 10 seconds, and rating scales require 5 to 7 seconds. Always test your survey on a small sample to validate your calculation before large-scale launch.

Why do participants abandon a survey?

The main reasons for survey abandonment are duration that’s too long exceeding 10 minutes, poorly worded or ambiguous questions that require rereading multiple times, excessive open-ended questions requiring too much writing effort, and lack of visible progress that demotivates respondents. Other factors include overly personal questions asked too early in the journey, absence of duration indication or progress percentage, and repetitive questions that give the impression of going in circles. To reduce abandonment, structure your survey with engaging and easy questions at the beginning, clearly indicate progress with a visual bar, group questions by theme to provide meaning, and limit open-ended questions to two or three maximum. Responsive design adapted to mobile devices is also crucial as more than 50% of respondents use their smartphone.

More about surveys:
Typeform and Drag’n Survey software, click here
The multiple-choice question in a survey, click here
Discover the Net Promoter Score question, click here
14 examples of questions to ask in a customer survey, click here
Collecting non-numerical information with a qualitative study, click here

Read the article:
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German – Wie viele Fragen darf man maximal in einer Umfrage stellen? click here
Portuguese – Qual é o número máximo de perguntas a fazer em uma pesquisa? click here
French – Quel est le nombre maximum de questions à poser dans un questionnaire ? click here