14 ranking survey question examples to use in 2025

Whether you're looking for customer input about potential feature releases or asking employees about their recent onboarding experience, surveys help you collect more data and uncover the insights you need. But only if you ask the right questions.

Want to know what your customers think about current features or what they want in the next iteration of your product? A simple yes/no question won't cut it. But asking customers to rank which features are most important can give you the data to make informed decisions for your product roadmap.

‍Ranking survey questions let your audience rank attributes, features, and more based on their unique preferences. Their responses reveal their favorite—and least favorite—choices, like ranking Sherlock Holmes as their favorite fictional detective and Elliot Stabler as their least.

We're sharing how you can use them in your surveys to collect more data and 14 real-world examples to help you build better surveys.

What are ranking survey questions?

The simplest definition of a ranking question is a question that gives survey takers multiple options to rank. You typically ask your audience to rank the choices based on preference, importance, ease of use, and other ranking factors.

Ranking survey questions are especially powerful when trying to understand customer priorities and preferences because the responses offer crucial insights for your team, from informing your roadmap to improving customer satisfaction.

These questions typically use rank order scales, like:

• Drag and drop: You simply drag options into their preferred ranking order.
  
• Radio button: You must choose a ranking for each option from a list of provided rankings.
  
• Text box: You can type your preferred value into a text box from a list of provided values. ‍
• Select box: You click an arrow to move options upward and downward in a list until it matches your ranking preference.

Ranking vs. rating questions

While ranking and rating questions are similar, they're not the same. A ranking question lets survey takers rank items in order of preference, usually with a drag-and-drop function.

But a rating question encourages survey takers to rate a statement on a scale—usually 1 to 5 or 1 to 10—to indicate their level of agreement. Take the example below. It asks customers to rate the likelihood they'd recommend Bloomed.

The pros and cons of using ranking questions

There are dozens of survey questions, from multiple-choice and ranking to open-ended and Likert scale questions. Each type helps you gather different forms of data—ranking questions are great for uncovering customer needs but not so much for collecting contact information.

The big advantage of using ranking questions is that they let you get a closer look at customer preferences, giving you precise data. You can then use that data to create a better product or customer experience.

The disadvantage? The data you get from ranking questions can be complex and difficult to analyze. It also only gives you partial insights—you can see how survey takers ranked something, but not why they ranked it the way they did.

Ranking survey question examples

Ask the right survey questions for your market research, employee satisfaction, or other surveys by borrowing inspiration from one of the examples below.

1. Ranking customer problems from high to low

One of the best ways to improve your product is through customer feedback. And you can collect customer feedback with ranking survey questions that ask customers to rank any issues with your product, service, or customer experience.

The data you gather from these responses can reveal frustrations or points of friction in the customer journey or where you need to make improvements (and which should be a priority).

Let's say you ask customers to "Rank the following problems in order of severity." Your options might include things like:

• Slow customer service response times
• Product functionality issues
• Limited payment options
• High shipping costs
• Poor product quality
• Complicated returns

And your survey would likely look like the one below.

By analyzing the survey results, you can identify which issue to address first to improve customer satisfaction. 

2. Ranking product features used most often

Want to know which product features are collecting dust and which ones customers can't get enough of? Ask customers to rank the features they use the most. Their answers show you which features they may enjoy using (or not using) which can inform where you invest resources.

You might ask, "Rank the following product features in order of how frequently you use them, with 1 being the least and 5 being the most used. Your options might include:

1. Search function 
2. Analytics tool
3. Customer support chat
4. Multiple user profiles
5. SMS notifications

Analyzing the results from this survey can help identify that, while your customers strongly dislike the SMS function, they love using your robust analytics features. 

3. Ranking important factors while ordering a product

Before buying something, many of us consider the price, reviews, and the return policy. Your customers likely do, too. Asking a ranking question about the factors helps you learn about the factors that drive purchase decisions and buyer psychology.

Take a look at the example below. The brand asks customers to rank features in order of importance when buying a product. The options include common considerations, like price, warranty, and delivery speed.

Once you review the responses, you'll have a better idea of the most important buying factors and you can tailor communications, ads, and more to emphasize these factors. If reviews are the top determining factor, your ads could feature G2 ratings or customer testimonials, for example.

4. Ranking favorite features of an existing product

Asking your customers to rank their favorite features is another way to gather valuable zero-party data about your product. Your product team gains insights into your product's strengths and weaknesses while your marketing team learns more about what features resonate most with your target audience.

Let's say you want customers to rank specific features. You might ask, "Rank these features from your most favorite to least." Options might include:

• User-friendly interface
• Fast processing speed
• Customizable settings
• Integrated help center
• Mobile compatibility
• Easy adoption 
• Cross-platform collaboration

Collecting this data gives your team direct access to customer preferences within your product, making it easier to focus development efforts on popular features within the product. 

5. Ranking features to improve the user experience on your website

Your website is likely one of the first places people go to learn more about your brand and products—especially if you're a software as a service (SaaS) brand. People want to know how your product works, what it does, and what features you offer. 

Long story short? Your website needs to give visitors a great user experience.

To make sure your website creates a pleasant user experience, use ranking questions to ask about specific parts of your audience's experience on your site. Their answers might reveal unknown problems and help you prioritize fixes.

Look at the example below. ZoDigital asks survey takers to rank ‌features in order of how much they contribute to a positive website experience.

6. Ranking satisfaction with recent product updates

Another way to gauge customer preferences is to ask them to rank their satisfaction with your most recent product updates and feature releases. Evaluating user satisfaction can help determine if you're going in the right direction or aimlessly rolling out updates your customers don't care about.

Your customers' responses will either validate new releases and updates or point you in a new direction. Either way, that data's helpful in shaping your product. 

7. Ranking reasons that’d make a customer leave

Ranking questions that attempt to anticipate problems or predict churn typically ask customers what would cause them to leave or lessen their customer loyalty. In the example below, the company asks customers to rank common complaints that'd make them leave the brand.

If an overwhelming majority rank "Poor customer service" as the number one reason they'd leave, you can use that data to focus on creating a white-glove customer service experience.

8. Ranking trusted brands or competitors

Want to know what your customers think about your competitors? Measure customer sentiment with ranking questions that ask them to rank various brands based on factors like trust.

You might ask customers, "Rank the following brands in order of trust and preference on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least trusted and 5 being the most trusted.” And your list would include a few of your competitors.

Understanding which brands your customers trust can go a long way toward understanding their purchasing preferences and show you who your biggest competitors actually are.

9. Ranking customer service expectations

Meet—and exceed—customer expectations by asking them what they expect of your customer success team. Their responses can give you insights into what matters most to them and how you can improve on those specific areas.

Take a look at the example below. This business asks customers to rank various areas of customer service, like response times and availability. The data they get from those responses will help the customer support team create a better customer experience.

10. Ranking expectations for future developments

Asking survey takers to rank what they want to see in your product in the future guides your roadmap and makes sure you align with customer expectations by developing products or features they want and need.

Instead of considering the product as it stands now, you’re asking what your customers want to see in the next round of product development.

11. Ranking priority employee benefits

Ranking questions aren't just to understand customer needs. You can also use them to better understand your employees and their wants and needs from your company—like which benefits they value most.

Knowing which benefits your employees rank highest helps your HR team put together a benefits package that can increase employee satisfaction and retention.

12. Ranking work tools that are the most useful

Another employee question that can help them be their best at work is about the work tools they find the most useful. Identifying tools with the highest ROI can increase employee productivity and satisfaction.

The data you get from these responses should inform your tech stack, and can potentially help you pare it down.

13. Ranking preferred managerial styles

Coach your managers and help them improve their communication, collaboration, and managerial skills with data straight from your employees on what they expect from their managers.

Use a ranking question that asks employees to order the management styles they like the most and least. It might look a little something like the example below.

14. Ranking factors that’d increase employee satisfaction

Ask a ranking question to uncover what employees value most and use those responses to improve employee happiness and satisfaction (why guess if you can just ask?).

You might ask, "Rank the following factors in order of how much they would increase your happiness at work.” The choices might include:

• Flexible working hours
• Recognition and rewards for achievements
• Opportunities for professional growth
• Supportive team culture 
• Better work-life balance initiatives

The data collected in this survey can help your team decide which employee satisfaction measures to prioritize to increase retention. 

Best practices for ranking questions

You've got over a dozen ranking question types to help you build your next survey. Now, let's talk about best practices to make sure your survey performs well and gets you the data you need.

Pro tip: How you format questions matters. Make sure you format your questions to get the most accurate responses so you can fully analyze the survey data. 

Build your next survey with Typeform

Ranking survey questions are a powerful tool in any researcher’s toolbox. Whether you want to get to know your employees better, determine the most popular product in your suite, or delve deeper into any other preference-based dataset, ranking questions are the way to go. 

Ready to try out some ranking questions of your own? Try Typeform.

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