Market Research Survey: Types, 60 Example Questions and How to Create One

What is a market research survey?

A market research survey is a set of questions you send to customers or to people in your target market to learn who they are, what they need, how they buy and what they think of your product, price or brand. Unlike a satisfaction survey, it is used before or while you make a decision: launching a product, setting a price, entering a market or repositioning a brand.

Key takeaways

• Start from one decision you need to make, not from a list of questions.
• Pick the survey type that answers that decision (profile, concept, pricing, brand, competition).
• Keep it short: 10 to 15 questions take most people under 5 minutes.
• About 400 responses give you a margin of error near ±5% for a large population.
• Mix closed questions you can count with one or two open questions that explain the numbers.

Why run a market research survey?

• Validate an idea before you spend on development or stock.
• Size and describe your market: who buys, how often and why.
• Set the right price by measuring what people consider cheap, fair or too expensive.
• Understand your competitors through the eyes of the people who choose between you.
• Find the words customers use, then reuse them in your website, ads and emails.

Types of market research surveys

60 market research survey questions

Pick the questions that match your decision, adapt the wording to your product and delete the rest. Answer formats are suggestions.

Demographics and profile (screening)

1. What is your age range? (multiple choice)
2. Where do you live? (country or region)
3. What is your job title or role?
4. How many people work at your company?
5. Which industry do you work in?
6. Who makes the final decision when your household or company buys this type of product?
7. What is your approximate annual budget for this category?
8. How did you first hear about products like ours?
9. Which of these channels do you use most to stay informed? (email, social media, search, events)
10. Would you be willing to take part in a short follow-up interview? (yes / no)

Needs and purchase behavior

1. How often do you buy this type of product or service?
2. What problem were you trying to solve the last time you bought one?
3. Where do you usually buy it? (online, in store, direct from the supplier)
4. What matters most when you choose? (rank: price, quality, support, speed, brand)
5. How long does it usually take you to decide?
6. Who else influences the decision?
7. What almost stopped you from buying last time?
8. How much did you spend on your last purchase?
9. What do you use today to solve this problem?
10. What would make you switch from your current solution?

Brand awareness and perception

1. Which of these brands have you heard of? (select all)
2. Which brand comes to mind first for this product?
3. How did you hear about our brand?
4. Which three words would you use to describe our brand?
5. How would you rate our brand on quality? (1–5)
6. How would you rate our brand on value for money? (1–5)
7. Compared with others, is our brand more expensive, about the same, or less expensive?
8. How trustworthy do you find our brand? (1–5)
9. Have you seen our advertising recently? Where?
10. What could make you trust our brand more? (open)

Product or concept testing

1. After reading the description, how clear is the idea to you? (1–5)
2. How useful would this product be for you? (1–5)
3. How likely would you be to buy it? (definitely / probably / not sure / probably not / definitely not)
4. What do you like most about it? (open)
5. What would you change or add? (open)
6. Which of these names do you prefer?
7. Which of these designs do you prefer?
8. How does it compare with what you use today? (much better … much worse)
9. Which feature would you remove first?
10. What would stop you from buying it? (open)

Pricing

1. At what price would you consider this product so cheap that you would doubt its quality?
2. At what price would it be a bargain?
3. At what price would it start to feel expensive, but still worth considering?
4. At what price would it be too expensive to consider?
5. Would you prefer a one-time payment or a subscription?
6. Which of these plans would you choose? (show 2–3 options)
7. How much do you currently pay for a similar solution?
8. Would a free trial make you more likely to buy?
9. Which payment methods do you prefer?
10. How important is price compared with quality for you? (1–5)

Competition

1. Which other products or suppliers did you consider?
2. Which one do you use today?
3. Why did you choose it?
4. What do you like most about your current supplier?
5. What frustrates you most about it?
6. How satisfied are you with your current supplier? (1–5)
7. How likely are you to switch in the next 12 months?
8. What would a new supplier need to offer to make you switch?
9. Where do you look for alternatives? (search, reviews, colleagues, social media)
10. Which competitor do you think offers the best value for money?

Each block of ten is a starting point; most surveys use two blocks plus two or three screening questions.

Market research works best when the questions reach the right people. With Mailpro you build the survey, send it to a segment of your list and follow the answers live — create your survey

How to create a market research survey in 7 steps

1. Write down the decision. For example: should we launch a premium plan at $49 a month?
2. Define who must answer. Current customers, prospects or a specific segment; add one or two screening questions to filter out the wrong people.
3. Choose the question types. Multiple choice and rating scales for numbers you can compare; one or two open questions for the reasons behind them; ranking when priorities matter.
4. Keep it short and neutral. 10 to 15 questions, one idea per question, no leading wording such as “How much do you love…”.
5. Add logic. Skip questions that do not apply with branching logic, so each person only sees relevant questions.
6. Test it on five people. Time it, fix confusing questions and check that the answers really help your decision.
7. Send it and follow up. Share it by email, link or QR code, and send one reminder to people who have not answered.

You can build and send it in the same place with an online survey tool, and see more ways to share a survey.

How many responses do you need?

For a large population, the margin of error at a 95% confidence level depends mainly on the number of responses, not on the size of the market:

If you plan to compare segments (for example small and large companies), you need enough responses in each segment, not just in total. For early concept tests, 50 to 100 well-targeted answers are often enough to spot a clear signal.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Leading questions that push towards an answer.
• Double questions such as “Is our product fast and easy to use?”: split them.
• Too many open questions, which tire respondents and are hard to analyze.
• Surveying only your fans: your happiest customers do not represent your market.
• No screening, so answers from people outside your target skew the results.
• Collecting data you will not use, which makes the survey longer and lowers completion.

How to analyze the results

1. Check completion: remove empty or rushed answers.
2. Look at the totals for each closed question.
3. Cross-tabulate by segment (role, company size, region) to see where answers differ.
4. Read the open answers and group them into themes.
5. Write three to five findings, each linked to the decision you started with.

Mailpro shows results live as they arrive, with charts for each question, and you can export the answers for deeper analysis.

Market research survey templates

Start from a ready-made structure instead of a blank page: browse the market research survey templates, use the concept testing survey for a new idea, or the NPS survey for existing customers. The market research survey page shows how to build, share and analyze one in Mailpro.

Market research survey FAQ

How many questions should a market research survey have?

Most work best with 10 to 15 questions, which takes respondents under 5 minutes. Longer surveys lose people before the end.

Are market research surveys anonymous?

They can be. If you do not need to follow up, do not ask for names or emails. If you collect personal data, tell people why and how you will use it, as privacy laws such as the GDPR require.

How do I get more people to answer?

Send it to a relevant audience, explain how long it takes, keep it short, offer a small incentive if it fits your brand and send one reminder a few days later.

What is the difference between a market research survey and a customer satisfaction survey?

A market research survey helps you make a decision about a market, product or price and can include non-customers. A satisfaction survey measures how existing customers feel about what you already deliver.

Measuring how customers feel? See our guide to the customer satisfaction survey, with 50 example questions and a template.