A Smarter Way to Show Relevant Answers

Pollfish now gives you more control over your survey flow with Answer Display Logic, a powerful feature available directly within the Questionnaire Builder. This enhancement allows you to dynamically tailor answer options based on a respondent’s previous inputs—making your surveys more personalized, relevant, and efficient.

What is Answer Display Logic?

Answer Display Logic enables you to show specific answer choices only when certain conditions are met. This means you can tailor questions to the unique experiences or characteristics of each respondent, enhancing clarity and avoiding irrelevant options.

For example: If a respondent says they subscribe to Netflix in an earlier question, you can set up logic so that only “Stranger Things” appears in a follow-up question asking what shows they’ve watched recently. Respondents who did not select Netflix won’t see that option.

How to Set Answer Display Logic

Follow these steps to conditionally display an answer based on prior behavior:

1. Log in and create or open your draft survey
2. Select the question where you want answers to be shown conditionally.
3. Click the “Edit Answers Display Logic” tab on the left-hand side (just below the “Edit Advanced Logic” section) OR click on the Answers Display Logic icon next to the specific answer you want to conditionally display.
4. Set the conditions that must be met—these can be based on:
   
   • Answers to previous questions
     
   • Hidden variable labels
     
   • Targeting parameters (from your audience setup)
5. Answers with display logic will remain hidden unless the defined conditions are met.
6. You can use one rule to show or hide one or more answer options within a question.
   
7. That’s it! You’re all set to deliver a tailored, intelligent survey experience.

Compatible Question Types and Features

Answer Display Logic is currently supported on the following question types:

• Single Selection
  
• Multiple Selection
  
• Ranking
  
• Matrix (rows/columns, bipolar statements only)
  

Other features supported:

• Display logic on [Other] and [None of the Above] options
  

Works with “Shuffle answers” feature

Limitations and Incompatible Features

To help you avoid errors, it’s important to know what Answer Display Logic does not currently support:

• Only one rule can be applied to each answer option, but that rule can contain multiple conditions using AND/OR logic.
• Not compatible with the following question types:
  • Slider
    
  • Open-ended (including Numeric Open Ended)
    
  • NPS
    
  • Description
    
  • Rating Stars
    
  • Drill Down
    
  • All Research methods (e.g. Conjoint, A/B Testing)
• If a question also has Skip Logic, ‘’Answers Display Logic’’ rules will be evaluated first, followed by Skip Logic.
• Each question must include at least one answer that’s always visible to all respondents—meaning it’s not carried forward and has no display logic applied. This ensures there’s never a case where all options are hidden.
• Question shuffling (also referred to as ‘’Randomize Questionnaire’’) and Answer Display Logic cannot be used together. 

Editing and Removing Answer Display Logic

Once your survey is live, you can still edit or remove Answer Display Logic rules (‘’Edit Survey’’ option) for any remaining responses.

Additional ADL Issues & Error Handling

Pollfish will flag any logic issues automatically, such as:

• Setting conditions based on a question the respondent hasn’t yet answered

However, if you create Answer Display Logig rules based on a question that may be skipped due to Skip Logic, some respondents may never encounter the conditional answer option. It’s important to carefully review your survey flow to ensure all intended respondents have access to the relevant questions and answers.

Need Help?

We’re here for you! Use the live chat to connect with our support team 24/7. Our experts can walk you through the Answer Display Logic feature and help with setup.

You can also book a session directly from the chat for a live demo or personalized guidance.

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