Introducing the Best Survey: 5 Point Scale

What is a 5 Point Scale Survey?

A close-ended question with five answer choices is known as a 5 point scale question. Surveys that feature these questions is called 5 point scale survey. 

Imagine a scenario where you want to find out how your employees feel about the casseroles in the breakroom. Are they too salty? Just right? Not enough variety? You could ask them outright, but then you might get biased answers.

An inefficient way would be to ask them many questions with a yes/no answer type. That would take forever, and you would still not have accurate data.

The 5 point scale survey comes to the rescue in such a situation.

Using a simple question like “How do you feel about the casseroles in the breakroom?” with answer options ranging from “Very Satisfied” to “Very Unsatisfied,” you can easily get an idea about how people feel about the casseroles without having to ask a lot of questions.

The 5 point scale survey is a type of Likert scale questionnaire that uses a five-point agreement scale to collect data. 

This type of questionnaire works very well both in B2C and B2B contexts.

The Likert scale survey is named after its inventor, American psychologist Rensis Likert. Furthermore, the term Likert item means the particular statement that the respondent is asked to agree or disagree with.

How are Likert Scales Represented?

The 5 point scale survey is one of the most commonly used survey types. It is easy to use yet can provide detailed data about customer opinions and attitudes. 

The most common representation of the Likert scale consists of five agree/disagree points, which are:

• Strongly Disagree
• Disagree
• Neutral
• Agree
• Strongly Agree

Advantages of Likert Scales

There are several advantages of using Likert scale questionnaires compared to other types of surveys:

• They are easy to understand and use.
• Quantitative data is extrapolated easily and converted into percentages and averages.
• They are versatile and can be used for various purposes, such as customer satisfaction surveys, employee satisfaction surveys, product evaluation surveys, etc.

Disadvantages of Likert Scales

That said, like other survey-scale questions, it has its limitations too:

• The scale is not always accurate and does not allow the respondent to express their opinion in detail.
• The answers can become biased based on previous questions.
• Some people avoid choosing the extreme positions on the scale (i.e., “Strongly Disagree” or “Strongly Agree”) to appear more neutral.

There are various ways to tackle these disadvantages. In the “The Best 5 Point Scale Survey” section, you will learn about them. 

However, before we do that, let’s go over the typical questions asked in a Likert scale survey.

Alternative 5 Point Scale: 5 Star Rating

5 Star Rating Explained

A 5-star rating system is a popular method for gathering quick feedback, commonly used in customer reviews and satisfaction surveys. It offers a straightforward way for respondents to rate their experience or satisfaction level from 1 to 5 stars.

Benefits of the 5-star rating:

• Simplicity: Easy for respondents to understand and use.
• Quick feedback: Ideal for capturing immediate reactions.
• Visual appeal: Stars are universally recognized and visually engaging.

Implementation tips:

• Ensure clarity: Define what each star represents.
• Consistency: Use the same scale across surveys to maintain data integrity.
• Combine with comments: Allow for additional written feedback to provide context to ratings.

Comparison: Numeric 5-Point Scale vs. 5-Star Rating

Feature	Numeric 5-Point Scale	5-Star Rating
Ease of Use	Simple, but requires understanding	Extremely simple and intuitive
Detail	Offers precise feedback	More general, less nuanced
Visual Appeal	Less visually engaging	Highly engaging and recognizable
Data Analysis	Easier to quantify and analyze	May require conversion for analysis
Context	Can include descriptive labels	Often combined with written reviews
Consistency	Consistent across different surveys	Can vary based on implementation

The numeric 5-point scale provides more detailed feedback and is easier to analyze, while the 5-star rating form is more intuitive and visually appealing, making it ideal for quick, general feedback.

Areas That a Likert Scale Question Can Target

When preparing your Likert items or Likert scale questionnaire, it is crucial to keep your questions short, clear, and to the point. 

Why? Because you want to avoid confusion and get accurate answers. Furthermore, your customers want to answer your questions quickly and move on.

Before we head into the questions, highlighting the various areas that a Likert question ‘scales’ target is beneficial. 

The following table will tell you about different areas that a Likert item can target and the various scale points used. 

Scale	Answers
Agree to Disagree	Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
Satisfaction	Very Unsatisfied Unsatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied
Likelihood	Very Unlikely Unlikely Neutral Likely Very Likely
Good to Bad	Very Poor Poor Average Good Very Good
Frequency	Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always
Quality	Excellent Good Fair Poor Very Poor
Importance	Very Important Important Neutral Unimportant Very Unimportant
Difficulty	Very Easy Easy Neutral Difficult Very Difficult
Comparing Two Products	Much Worse Slightly Worse No Difference Slightly Better Much Better
Level of Familiarity	Not at all familiar Slightly familiar Neutral Moderately familiar Very familiar
Reflection	Very untrue to me Untrue to me Somewhat untrue to me Neither true nor untrue of me/Somewhat true of me True to me Very true to me
My Belief	Very untrue of what I believe Untrue of what I believe Somewhat untrue of what I believe Neither true nor untrue of what I believe Somewhat true of what I believe True of what I believe Very true of what I believe
Level of Awareness	Not at all aware Slightly aware Moderately aware Very aware
Overall Impression	Didn’t get what I wanted Got a little of what I wanted Neutral Got most of what I wanted Got exactly what I wanted
Knowledge of Action	Never true Rarely true Sometimes true Often true Always true
Affect on	No affect Minor affect Moderate affect Significant affect Very significant affect
Level of Acceptability	Totally unacceptable Unacceptable Slightly unacceptable Neutral Slightly acceptable Acceptable Perfectly acceptable
Level of Appropriateness	Absolutely inappropriate Inappropriate Slightly inappropriate Neutral Slightly appropriate Appropriate  Perfectly appropriate
Level of Concern	Not at all concern Slightly concern Moderately concern Very concern Extremely concern
Level of Probability	Not probable Slightly probable Moderate probable Very probable Extremely probable
Level of Influence	Not at all influenced Slightly influenced Moderately influenced Very influenced Extremely influenced

Some vital things to take away from the above are that a Likert scale questionnaire can measure different levels and intensities using multiple scale points.

Also, the Likert item should be based on what you want to find out from your survey respondents.

9 Typical Likert Scale Questions

Now that we have a better understanding of what areas Likert scales cover, let’s look at some typical questions.

For clarity, we have divided the questions into nine different sections

1. Customer Service Satisfaction Survey

For a customer service satisfaction survey, choose the liker scale survey questions so that they clearly point to the customer service situation.

Avoid generic customer feedback questions like “how was your experience today” or “how would you rate our business”. Stick to something like the example here:

How satisfied are you with the quality of our customer service?

• Very Unsatisfied
• Unsatisfied
• Neutral
• Satisfied
• Very Satisfied

2. Product Satisfaction Survey

Customer satisfaction regarding the product is extremely helpful information. It can guide you in the product development process and helps you differentiate between product satisfaction and customer service satisfaction.

How satisfied are you with the product/services?

• Very Unsatisfied
• Unsatisfied
• Neutral
• Satisfied
• Very Satisfied

3. Product Features Importance

Software companies, hear this.

If you want to learn more about what your customers really need from you, ask them about the importance of each feature. It will help you discover sentiment levels regarding detailed product information.

How important are product features to you?

• Very Important
• Important
• Neutral
• Unimportant
• Very Unimportant

How important is the automatic tagging feature to you?

• Very Important
• Important
• Neutral
• Unimportant
• Very Unimportant

4. Likelihood to Recommend

Likelihood to recommend reveals a great deal about customer satisfaction. While you can use a 5 point Likert scale to measure it, there’s also a specific tool for it: the Net Promoter Score.

Here’s an example of an NPS survey:

And here’s how it would look like as a 5 point Likert survey:

How likely are you to recommend our product/services to a friend or colleague?

• Very Likely
• Likely
• Neutral
• Unlikely
• Very Unlikely

Pro tip: if a customer states their willingness to recommend, why not let them? With Trustmary, you can create surveys that turn positive feedback into public testimonials.

5. Customer Service Expectation

Inspecting how customers viewed customer service in relation to their expectations reveals more than just the level of customer service. It tells you how highly customers think of your brand in the first place.

Think about it like this: when you don’t expect anything from a brand, you are satisfied with a lower level of customer service. On the other hand, if you enter a premium store, you might expect a very high level of customer service. If they fail to provide it or only offer average service, you might rate them low on this survey.

To what extent did our customer service meet your expectations?

• Exceeded expectations
• Met expectations
• Neutral
• Did not meet expectations
• Did not receive service

You might also present another type of question here:

6. Quality of Product

Collecting data on what customers think about the quality of your products and services is crucial. It helps you see if people regard your brand of high quality or not.

If you reach high points in a survey like this, you might want to consider if your prices could be increased a little bit… People are willing to pay more for premium!

How good is the quality of our product/services?

• Excellent
• Good
• Fair
• Poor
• Very Poor

7. Ease of Use

If your product is difficult to use, it might prevent people from continuing their business with you. You must tackle this issue immediately.

How easy is it to use our product/services?

• Very Easy
• Easy
• Neutral
• Difficult
• Very Difficult

8. Price of Product

Of course, price plays a great role in purchase decisions. Here’s a question you might want to ask when doing market research:

How important is the price of the product/services to you?

• Very Important
• Important
• Neutral
• Unimportant
• Very Unimportant

And here’s how you can find out if you offer the adequate price or not:

The price of the product/service matches the value.

• Strongly agree
• Somewhat agree
• Neutral
• Somewhat disagree
• Strongly disagree

Notice what I did here: you can flip the script and instead of asking questions, you can present statements and measure the level of agreement that customers have with the statements.

9. Time it Took to Receive Product

Sometimes, the problem is not with your product or brand. Customer experience and satisfaction are effected also by things like shipping.

You should know what your customer’s stance about shipping is, so that you can make sure you are collaborating with the right partners.

How much time did it take to receive the product/services?

• Very Quick
• Quick
• Neutral
• Slow
• Very Slow

When creating your Likert scale questionnaire, keep a few key things in mind.

1. Decide on the purpose of your survey. What are you looking to find out from your respondents?
2. Consider the different levels and intensities that you want to measure.
3. Choose the questions that will best help you reach your objectives.
4. Once you have decided on the questions, it is important to be clear and concise in your wording.
5. Make sure that the questions are easy to understand and answer.
6. Finally, decide on the number of answer options (scale points). Too many or too few answer options can impact the reliability of your Likert scale data.

Five is often a good number of answer options for Likert scale responses. But why, though? 

The answer to that question is in the next section!

If you are content with your learning this far, why not start creating your surveys immediately? Start a free trial for Trustmary’s survey maker.

Benefits of Using 5 Point Scale Survey

Before I list down the various benefits of giving the audience five options for Likert scale responses- 5 point Likert scale, we must understand the difference between the forced and unforced Likert scales.

Forced Likert Scale

Likert scales with an even number of points is a forced Likert scale, i.e., 2, 4, 6, 8, 10.

It is called a forced Likert scale because it forces the respondents to choose one side of the scale or the other. It does not allow them to answer with a “neutral” response.

For example, if you ask a question on a four-point Likert scale, the respondent would be forced to answer “agree,” “somewhat agree,” “somewhat disagree,” or “disagree.”

Unforced Likert Scale

On the other hand, odd-numbered Likert scales are unforced, i.e., 3, 5, 7, 9.

This type of Likert scale allows the respondent to choose a “neutral” response if they do not feel strongly about either side of the scale.

For example, if you were to ask a question on a five-point Likert scale, the respondent would be able to answer “strongly agree,” “agree,” “neutral,” “disagree,” or “strongly disagree.”

Now that we have looked at the difference between forced and unforced Likert scales, why is it recommended to offer five options compared to four or seven?

5 Vs. 4 Point Scale Survey

It is often recommended to offer five points on a Likert scale survey; here’s why:

1. The 5 point Likert scale survey is more versatile

A five-point Likert scale allows for a wider range of responses, which can help measure opinions and attitudes that fall in the middle of the scale.

2. The 4 point scale survey can lead to distorted results

With 4 point Likert scales, the respondent may feel forced to choose one of the options, even if they do not fully agree or disagree with it. That can lead to distorted results.

3. The 5 point scale survey encourages participation

Offering five points on a Likert scale can encourage more respondents to participate in your survey. They feel like they have more options to choose from, and their answers are not being pigeon-holed.

5 Vs. 7 Point Scale Survey

There are a few reasons why it is often recommended to offer seven points on a Likert scale survey; however, 5 scale points are more popular because:

1. The 5 point scale survey allows for higher quality data

Offering five points compared to seven points can help you collect higher-quality data. Respondents are more likely to carefully consider their answers when there are fewer options to choose from.

2. Some respondents find 7 point scale surveys too long.

Some respondents may find a seven-point Likert scale survey too long and tedious to complete. They may rush through their answers or skip questions altogether.

3. The 5 point scale survey is easier to analyze

The five-point Likert scales are also easier to analyze than the seven-point scales. There are fewer response options to examine, making it simpler to identify patterns and trends in the Likert scale data.

To summarize all we have learned in this section, here are five benefits of using a 5 point scale survey:

• A Likert item with five answers gives the respondent more room to express their opinion, yielding a more accurate measure of attitudes and opinions.
• A five-point Likert scale is more versatile than a four-point scale and can measure opinions and attitudes that fall in the middle of the scale.
• A five-point Likert scale encourages participation, as respondents feel they have more options.
• A five-point scale allows for higher quality data. Respondents are more likely to consider their answers when there are fewer options carefully.
• The data analysis of a Likert item featuring a five-point value is simpler than the seven-point value since there are fewer response choices to examine.

Now that we have gone over the typical Likert items and seen that offering five points is indeed the most effective way, let’s learn about the best 5 point scale survey!

The Best 5 Point Scale Survey – And Why It Works

The best 5 point Likert scale survey is designed to be simple and easy to use while still providing accurate data.

The following survey helps you do the following:

• Segment your audience by asking demographic questions.
• Find out their thoughts and opinions on your brand, products, services, etc., using five-point Likert scale questions. 
• Expand their answers with the help of open-ended questions. 
• Furthermore, we will begin and end the survey by thanking the respondent for their time to show that their opinion is valued.

Now let’s dive right into the best 5 point Likert scale survey.

The Best Likert Scale Questionnaire

Layout of the survey

1. Thank you for taking the time to participate in our survey. We appreciate it!
2. What is your job title?
3. How likely are you to recommend our company/products/services to a friend or family member?

• Very likely
• Likely
• Neither likely nor unlikely
• Unlikely
• Very unlikely

• 4. How satisfied are you with our company/products/services?

• Very Satisfied
• Satisfied
• Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
• Dissatisfied
• Very dissatisfied

• 5. We are pleased to receive your feedback. Thank you for your time!

To create personalized 5-point scale surveys and questionnaires, use our drag-and-drop survey maker.

So why do I think this is one of the best examples of a 5 point scale survey?

Start Creating Surveys

So what have we gathered from this article?

First and foremost, the 5 points Likert scale is a versatile tool used in several settings. Five point rating scales are perfect for polls, surveys, and questionnaires because it helps to reduce bias and allows for more accurate responses.

Likert scale questions target customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction levels, product/service quality, etc. 

Five points Likert scale questions are perfect for those instances when you want to get a quick reading of the respondent’s opinion.

Compared to 4 point and 7 point scale questions, 5 points scales are easier to answer and produce less bias. 

Finally, the example survey provided is an excellent illustration of how to ask 5 points Likert scale questions. If you’re looking to create your survey, consider using some of the tips and tricks from the example.

Use a Software to Create and Send Surveys

Whether you want to measure satisfaction using Likert scale questionnaires or collect feedback that helps improve your business, by providing you with undeniable social proof, Trustmary can help you. 

Trustmary offers an easy way to collect feedback from your customers, turn feedback into public testimonials, and automate the whole process.

Book a meeting today and learn more about how Trustmary can help you!

If you want to explore the survey maker, start a free trial below.

Further Reading

Trustmary Articles

• How to Create Effective Survey Questions
• The Ultimate Guide To Surveys
• 5 Examples of Biased Survey Questions and Why You Should Avoid Them
• 7 Survey Subject Line Examples You Can Copy
• Online Survey Advantages and Disadvantages

Other Reading Material

• Question and Questionnaire Design Jon A. Krosnick and Stanley, Handbook of Survey Research (2nd Edition) James D. Wright and Peter V. Marsden (Eds).

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