Branching and Logic Design

Logic turns a static form into a survey that adapts to each respondent. Used well, it shortens the experience; used carelessly, it creates dead ends and confusing loops. Here's how the pieces fit together.

Display logic for individual questions

Display logic shows or hides one question based on an earlier answer, without ending the survey - use it for follow-up detail questions that only make sense for some respondents.

Skip logic and branching for bigger jumps

Skip logic ends the survey early or jumps ahead several questions; branching routes a respondent down an entirely different page path. Reserve branching for genuinely different experiences, not minor variations.

Screening questions come first

If someone shouldn't take the survey at all - wrong role, wrong product, outside your target segment - screen them out with the very first question, before they invest time in a survey you can't use.

Quotas to keep your sample balanced

Cap responses per segment so one group doesn't flood your results - useful when your distribution list is skewed but you need proportional representation.

Piping for continuity

Reference an earlier answer in a later question's text ("You said [X] was your biggest challenge - what would help most?") to make branching feel personal rather than mechanical.

Test every path before launch

Click through each branch yourself, including the ones most respondents won't take - a broken logic rule is invisible until someone hits it live.