Terms

Closed Question

A closed question is a type of query that requires a respondent to choose an answer from a limited, pre-defined set of responses, such as 'yes' or 'no' or from a list of multiple-choice options. This format is primarily used to gather quantitative data in surveys and questionnaires, as the structured responses are straightforward to analyze statistically and identify trends.

Examples of Closed Questions

Closed questions come in several formats, each tailored to gather specific types of structured feedback. They range from simple binary choices to more complex scales and rankings. These formats guide the respondent toward a clear, quantifiable answer.

  • Dichotomous: Questions offering two opposing answers, such as "Yes/No" or "True/False."
  • Multiple-choice: Questions that provide a list of options from which the respondent can select one or more answers.
  • Rating scale: Questions that ask respondents to rate an item on a numerical scale, like rating satisfaction from 1 to 5.

Advantages of Using Closed Questions

Closed questions are straightforward for respondents, speeding up data collection. Their simplicity leads to higher completion rates and makes people more willing to answer sensitive questions. This format also ensures responses are consistent and relevant.

The main advantage is the ease of analysis. Quantitative responses can be easily converted into charts and graphs for clear visualization. This simplifies data comparison across groups, allowing for efficient, evidence-backed conclusions.

Closed Question vs. Open Question

The choice between closed and open questions hinges on your data collection goals and the depth of insight required.

  • Closed: These questions provide a limited set of answers, generating quantitative data that is easy to analyze. They are ideal for large-scale enterprise surveys where consistent, comparable data is needed for statistical analysis. However, they can restrict respondent expression and may miss nuanced feedback.
  • Open: These questions allow for free-form, detailed responses, providing rich qualitative insights. They help companies understand the “why” behind customer behavior but are more time-consuming to analyze. They are best used to gather in-depth feedback or explore new ideas.

Common Uses in Surveys and Interviews

Closed questions are a cornerstone of quantitative research, widely used in surveys to gather structured data efficiently. In interviews, they serve to confirm specific details or narrow down topics. Their primary function is to collect data that is easy to categorize and analyze across large groups.

  • Surveys: Ideal for large-scale data collection where statistical analysis is key.
  • Interviews: Used to gather specific facts or confirm information quickly.
  • Quantitative Data: Essential for collecting numerical insights and measurable feedback.
  • Consistency: Ensures all respondents answer from the same options, making data comparable.

Tips for Crafting Effective Closed Questions

To create effective closed questions, use clear and simple language that is easy for respondents to understand. Ensure your response options are distinct, cover all likely answers, and don't overlap. This clarity helps gather consistent, quantifiable data and reduces ambiguity, leading to more reliable insights for analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions about Closed Question

Can closed questions be biased?

Yes, they can introduce bias if options are leading or incomplete. To avoid this, ensure options are mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive, and phrased neutrally. This keeps the data objective and reliable for analysis.

When should I use closed questions over open questions?

Use closed questions for quantitative data collection, like large-scale surveys where statistical analysis is needed. They are ideal for validating hypotheses or measuring satisfaction, providing structured, comparable data efficiently.

How many options should a multiple-choice question have?

While there's no strict rule, 3 to 5 options are generally effective. This range provides enough choice without overwhelming the respondent, ensuring balanced and meaningful data collection for most survey scenarios.

Other terms

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Business to customer

Learn about business to customer, including maximizing B2C sales strategies, B2C vs. B2B: unveiling differences, & core principles of B2C success.

Business to customer

Virtual Selling

Virtual selling is the process of selling to customers remotely using technology like video calls, rather than meeting them in person.

Virtual Selling

Buyer’s Remorse

Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret or anxiety that can arise after making a purchase, often questioning if it was the right decision.

Buyer’s Remorse

CDP

A Customer Data Platform (CDP) is software that gathers and organizes customer data from various touchpoints into a single, unified profile.

CDP

Tire-Kicker

A tire-kicker is a prospect who shows interest in a product but has no intention of buying, wasting a salesperson's time and resources.

Tire-Kicker

Value Gap

A value gap is the difference between the value a customer expects from a product and the actual value they receive, often leading to churn.

Value Gap

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is dividing customers into groups based on shared traits. This allows for more targeted and effective marketing efforts.

Customer Segmentation

Customer Buying Signals

Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.

Customer Buying Signals

Customer Centricity

Customer centricity is a business approach that puts the customer at the heart of every decision, aiming to build loyalty and long-term value.

Customer Centricity

Load Balancing

Load balancing is the practice of distributing incoming network traffic across a group of backend servers, ensuring no single server is overworked.

Load Balancing

Gated Content

Gated content is premium online material, like an ebook or webinar, that users can only access after providing their contact information.

Gated Content

Conversion Path

A conversion path is the journey a visitor takes to complete a desired goal, such as making a purchase, filling out a form, or subscribing.

Conversion Path

Omnichannel Marketing

Omnichannel marketing creates a seamless, unified customer experience by integrating a company's various communication and sales channels.

Omnichannel Marketing

Regression Analysis

Regression analysis is a statistical method for estimating the relationships between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables.

Regression Analysis

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Single Sign-On (SSO) is an authentication method allowing users to access multiple applications with one set of login credentials.

Single Sign-On (SSO)

Data Appending

Data appending is the process of adding new data fields to your existing database records to enrich and complete your information.

Data Appending

Content Delivery Network

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of distributed servers that deliver web content to users based on their geographic location.

Content Delivery Network

Target Account Selling

Target Account Selling is a focused sales strategy where teams identify and pursue a specific list of high-value accounts.

Target Account Selling

Audience Targeting

Audience targeting is the process of segmenting consumers into specific groups to deliver more personalized and relevant marketing messages.

Audience Targeting

Churn

Churn, also known as customer attrition, is the rate at which customers stop doing business with a company over a given period.

Churn

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Data-driven lead generation is the process of using data insights to identify, attract, and convert high-quality leads into customers.

Data-Driven Lead Generation

Trigger Marketing

Trigger marketing uses customer actions or events to automatically send highly relevant, personalized messages at the perfect moment.

Trigger Marketing

Channel Partners

Channel partners are third-party firms that help market and sell a company's products or services, acting as an indirect sales force.

Channel Partners

Sales Development

Sales development is the process of identifying and qualifying potential customers to create a pipeline of sales-ready leads for closers.

Sales Development

Inside Sales Metrics

Inside sales metrics are quantifiable measures used to track the performance, activities, and effectiveness of an internal sales team.

Inside Sales Metrics

Sales Rep Training

Sales rep training is the process of equipping your sales team with the skills, knowledge, and tools to effectively sell and hit their targets.

Sales Rep Training

B2B Sales Channels

Learn about B2B sales channels, including types of B2B sales channels, strategies for effective channel selection, & integrating technology in B2B sales.

B2B Sales Channels

Lead Enrichment Software

Lead enrichment software adds crucial data to your leads, like contact info and firmographics, to help you better understand and engage them.

Lead Enrichment Software

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Triggered Email

A triggered email is an automated message sent to a user in response to a specific action or event, like signing up or making a purchase.

Triggered Email

Lead Enrichment

Lead enrichment adds third-party data to your raw lead lists, creating fuller prospect profiles for more effective and personalized outreach.

Lead Enrichment

Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

A Unique Value Proposition (UVP) is a concise statement that clearly communicates the unique benefit a customer gets from your product or service.

Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Data Encryption

Data encryption translates data into another form, or code, so that only people with access to a secret key or password can read it.

Data Encryption

Account-Based Selling

Account-Based Selling is a B2B strategy where sales and marketing treat high-value accounts as markets of one, using personalized outreach.

Account-Based Selling

Conversational Intelligence

Conversational intelligence (CI) is AI technology that analyzes customer conversations to find insights that help sales and support teams improve.

Conversational Intelligence

ETL

ETL, short for Extract, Transform, Load, is a data integration process for moving raw data from various sources to a central data warehouse.

ETL

Microservices

Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.

Microservices

End of Day

End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.

End of Day

Break-Even

Learn about break-even, including calculating your break-even point, importance of break-even analysis, & break-even analysis vs. profit margins.

Break-Even

Performance Monitoring

Performance monitoring involves collecting and analyzing data to track a system's operational health and efficiency, ensuring it meets set standards.

Performance Monitoring

Marketing Automation Platform

A marketing automation platform is software that automates marketing actions. It helps manage tasks like email campaigns and lead nurturing.

Marketing Automation Platform

Landing Pages

A landing page is a standalone web page created for a marketing campaign. It’s where a visitor “lands” after clicking an ad or email link.

Landing Pages

Channel Sales

Channel sales is an indirect sales model where a company leverages third-party partners, such as resellers or affiliates, to sell its products.

Channel Sales

Sales Operations Management

Sales Operations Management streamlines sales processes, tech, and data analysis to help sales teams sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Operations Management

Revenue Forecasting

Revenue forecasting is the process of estimating a company's future revenue, using historical data and market trends to guide strategic planning.

Revenue Forecasting

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

Cloud Storage

Cloud storage is a service model where data is stored on remote servers and accessed from the internet, rather than on a local drive.

Cloud Storage

End of Quarter

“End of Quarter” (EOQ) refers to the final weeks of a business quarter when sales teams rush to meet quotas, often leading to a flurry of deals.

End of Quarter

Accessibility Testing

Accessibility testing is a software testing method that verifies an application is usable by people with disabilities, like vision or hearing loss.

Accessibility Testing

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Lead Conversion

Lead conversion is the process of turning a prospect into a customer by getting them to complete a desired action, such as making a purchase.

Lead Conversion

User Testing

User testing involves observing real users interact with a product to identify usability issues and improve the overall user experience.

User Testing

Messaging Strategy

A messaging strategy defines what your brand says, how it says it, and where it says it to connect effectively with your target audience.

Messaging Strategy

Scalability

Scalability is a company's ability to handle increased workloads or market demands without a drop in performance or a spike in costs.

Scalability

Guided Selling

Guided selling simplifies complex sales by giving reps step-by-step instructions and data-driven recommendations to close deals faster.

Guided Selling

Behavioral Analytics

Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.

Behavioral Analytics

Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are quantifiable data points that track and measure a sales team's performance against specific goals and objectives.

Sales Metrics

PPC

Pay-per-click (PPC) is an internet advertising model where businesses pay a fee each time one of their online ads is clicked by a user.

PPC

Letter of Intent

A Letter of Intent (LOI) is a document declaring the preliminary commitment of one party to do business with another, outlining the chief terms.

Letter of Intent

No Cold Calls

No Cold Calls is a sales strategy that replaces unsolicited calls with warm outreach to prospects who have already demonstrated interest.

No Cold Calls

Total Audience Measurement

Total Audience Measurement (TAM) provides a holistic view of content consumption, tracking viewership across all platforms and devices.

Total Audience Measurement

Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Sales Kickoff

A sales kickoff (SKO) is an annual event for a sales team to celebrate wins, align on goals, and get motivated for the upcoming year.

Sales Kickoff

Data Enrichment

Data enrichment is the process of enhancing raw data by adding missing information from other sources, making it more complete and actionable.

Data Enrichment

CRM Integration

CRM integration connects your CRM software with other tools, creating a unified system for all your customer data and business processes.

CRM Integration

Value Chain

A value chain is the series of business activities required to create and deliver a product or service, from conception to the final customer.

Value Chain

Decision Maker

A decision-maker is an individual with the authority to make significant choices for a company, especially regarding purchases or strategy.

Decision Maker

Kanban

Kanban is a visual project management method that uses a board to visualize workflow, limit work-in-progress, and maximize team efficiency.

Kanban

Stakeholder

A stakeholder is any individual, group, or party that has an interest in an organization and the outcomes of its actions.

Stakeholder

Real-time Data Processing

Real-time data processing is the method of analyzing data the instant it's generated, enabling immediate actions and decision-making.

Real-time Data Processing

Bulk Application Programming Interface

Learn about bulk API, including how it works, the advantages of using it, common use cases, and tips for optimizing it.

Bulk Application Programming Interface

Sales Coach

A sales coach is a mentor who trains and guides sales reps to enhance their skills, boost performance, and ultimately close more deals effectively.

Sales Coach

Order Management

Order management is the end-to-end process of tracking customer orders from placement to fulfillment, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Order Management

Field Sales Rep

A field sales representative, or outside sales rep, travels to meet prospects in person, selling products or services directly within their territory.

Field Sales Rep

Marketing Intelligence

Marketing intelligence is gathering and analyzing data about your market, customers, and competitors to inform strategic marketing decisions.

Marketing Intelligence

Sales Quota

A sales quota is a time-bound sales goal for a rep or team, measured in revenue or units sold, to be met within a specific period.

Sales Quota

Data Hygiene

Data hygiene is the practice of ensuring your customer data is clean, accurate, and up-to-date by removing duplicates and correcting errors.

Data Hygiene

Revenue Operations (RevOps)

Revenue Operations (RevOps) is a business function that aligns a company's sales, marketing, and customer service teams to drive predictable revenue.

Revenue Operations (RevOps)

Customer Success

Customer Success is a business strategy focused on proactively helping customers achieve their goals with your product or service.

Customer Success

Small to Medium-Sized Business

A small to medium-sized business (SMB) is a company whose employee count and annual revenue fall below certain industry-specific thresholds.

Small to Medium-Sized Business

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria

Sales Dialer

A sales dialer is software that automates outbound calling for sales teams, allowing reps to connect with more prospects in less time.

Sales Dialer

Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

Inbound Lead Generation

Inbound lead generation is the process of attracting potential customers to your business with valuable content and tailored experiences.

Inbound Lead Generation

Expansion Revenue

Expansion revenue is the extra money a business makes from its current customers via upgrades, new products, or additional services.

Expansion Revenue

Always Be Closing

“Always Be Closing” (ABC) is a sales mantra meaning every action a salesperson takes should be with the ultimate goal of closing the sale.

Always Be Closing

Weighted Pipeline

A weighted pipeline forecasts sales revenue by assigning a closing probability to each deal based on its stage in the sales funnel.

Weighted Pipeline

SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to your website through organic search results.

SEO

On-premise CRM

An on-premise CRM is a system hosted on a company's own servers, offering complete control over data, security, and system maintenance.

On-premise CRM

Net Promoter Score

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a metric measuring customer loyalty by asking how likely they are to recommend your company or product to others.

Net Promoter Score

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

SDK

A Software Development Kit (SDK) is a set of tools that allows developers to create applications for a specific software package or platform.

SDK

Horizontal Market

A horizontal market is one where a product or service is designed to meet a common need for a wide array of customers, regardless of their industry.

Horizontal Market

Warm Outbound

Warm outbound is a sales strategy for contacting prospects who've shown interest in your brand through prior engagement, like website visits.

Warm Outbound

Sales Enablement Platform

A sales enablement platform centralizes content, training, and analytics to help sales teams engage buyers and effectively close deals.

Sales Enablement Platform

Sales Forecast Accuracy

Sales forecast accuracy is a key metric that compares your predicted sales revenue against the actual sales revenue you ultimately achieve.

Sales Forecast Accuracy

Salesforce Object Query Language

Salesforce Object Query Language (SOQL) is a query language used to search your organization's Salesforce data for specific information.

Salesforce Object Query Language

Lead Qualification Process

The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.

Lead Qualification Process

Decision Buying Stage

The decision stage is where a well-researched buyer chooses a vendor. They compare specific products and pricing before making their final purchase.

Decision Buying Stage