How to Use Demographic Questions to Improve Survey Results

Chosen demographics are crucial to obtaining data necessary to split the audience, recognize trends, and offer more detailed information. No matter if a customer satisfaction survey is carried out, a marketing research, or a survey in an educational/scientific context, the usage of proper demographic questions guarantees that your results are meaningful, effective, and not distorted in any way.

What makes demographic information special?

Demographic data gives the respondent’s answers some background information by allowing the survey maker to get a basic idea of who the respondent is. This background knowledge allows you to categorize the respondents to analyze the data better according to what you want to offer: a product, service, or a marketing campaign. For example, the class of audience A may not react in the same way as the class of audience B and this can be identified as an important parameter in business. However, demographic data enables one to consider trends, associations and even patterns of specific categories of individuals responses. 

1. Age: 

Why It’s Important: Interest and purchase patterns and lifestyle preferences are determined by age in equal measure. Adding the questions that point to the age of the respondents, you will be able to divide the participants according to the generation they belong to to find out the certain tendencies in their choices.

How to Ask: Don’t be too picky with questions, to serve the purpose of age avoid asking for the specific digits. Use ranges that reflect different life stages, such as:

• Under 18

• 18-24 (Young Adults)

• 25-34 (Early Career)

• 35-44 (Mid-Career)

• 45-54 (Late Career)

• 55-64 (Approaching Retirement)

• 65+ (Retired or Senior)

Example: The response to a survey about your business may show that a percent of respondents belonging to the age group 18-34 are ready to embrace a new technology while 55+ are likely to resist change. It helps in defining your marketing and product sales development strategies based on each segment.

2. Gender : 

Why It’s Important: Consumers have broad preferences, opinions, and buying behaviors about their sex, gender, or images of gender. Gender data collection assists in understanding customer segments by gender to help identify and effectively respond to inequalities in the delivery of goods and services by gender.

How to Ask: What we should do, however, is be more inclusive with the way we ask questions about gender. In addition to providing traditional options like “Male” and “Female,” consider including non-binary and gender-diverse options:

• Male

• Female

• Non-binary/Third Gender

• Prefer not to say

• Prefer to self-describe: _______

Example: When collecting responses on fashion, in the gender section of the survey respondents, the women might be more inclined towards liking particular trends compared to men who may have other preferences like durability and kind of design among others. Having this information assists organizations in developing accurate adverts or products suited to certain gender groups.

3. Ethnicity (Race): 

Why It’s Important: Ethnicity and race are two factors that are likely to affect cultural preferences, cultural consumption expenditure, and cultural consumer behavior. Inviting ethnicity questions allows organizations to effectively address the cultural needs and differences of some groups, without discriminating against them.

How to Ask: Ethnicity is always a question that is best avoided so make sure your options are not only complete but also polite. Provide a mix of broad categories and an "Other" option for flexibility:

• White

• Black or African American

• Hispanic or Latino

• Asian

• Indian or Eskimo

• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander

• Prefer not to say

• Other: _______

Example: In a survey about food preferences ethnicity may manifest itself in that respondents of a certain ethnic background will tend to prefer certain kinds of foods over others. An advertising agency that guarantees audience targeting could also use this data to fine-tune restaurant-chain menus for different customers.

4. Education: 

Why It’s Important: Education level normally has a link between income and also job and lifestyle probability. It is useful to learn your respondents’ level of education because sometimes their education level can facilitate the understanding of their behavior.

How to Ask: There should be a spectrum of forms being offered to simultaneously address different levels of education.

• No formal education

• High school graduate or the equivalent thereof

• Some college

• Associate degree

• Bachelor’s degree

• Master’s degree

• Doctoral or master’s degree

Example: For example, while doing a survey on personal finance, respondents who are more educated may be more familiar with investment products than less educated respondents even though the latter may be saving less to invest. Such information may prove to be valuable when designing educational materials or designing a specific financial product.

5. Employment Status: 

Why It’s Important: Employment status refers to a current state of having a job which determines a person’s general way of living, spending power, and largely his/her focus. Familiarizing yourself with the employment patterns of your respondents assists in determining their economic livelihood and purchasing power in economics, which makes it the core of market analysis.

How to Ask: A detailed list of options is offered to address different employment situations with ideal models:

• Employed full-time

• Employed part-time

• Self-employed

• Unemployed, looking for work

• Unemployed, they do not search for a job

• Retired

• Student

• Homemaker

Example: Employed full-time respondents in a survey regarding their behavior in online shopping may be more inclined to buy luxury products while student or unemployed respondents are inclined to buy cheaper products.

6. Location (Geographical Data): 

Why It’s Important: Stakeholders highlight location because geographical tendencies affect culture, climate preferences, and service availability. The process of adapting your products or services to meet regional or country-specific needs is the winning strategy in global or regional markets.

How to Ask: Questions, which refer to location, can be general, or as specific as desired. Consider asking for:

• Country

• Region/State

• City

• Postal code (if required)

Example: When asked for knowledge on climate-related products, a respondent sampled especially in the warm biased area will be more inclined toward Air conditioning systems while a respondent in the colder biased area will lean more towards heating systems.

7. Language: 

Why It’s Important: Language is the major demographic factor that plays an important role within the company involved in operating globally or within the multilingual marketplace. Knowing which language is most frequently used by the respondents allows them to adjust the language in communicating with customers, advertising, and customer servicing.

How to Ask: When asking a question about language, one can either ask the respondent sequentially, which language he/she speaks or else present a list of languages, to which the respondent would check the languages he/she would like to speak fluently. For global surveys, you might ask:

What is your first language? (Open field or a dropdown with major languages which includes English).

Which languages do you comprehend? (Check all that apply)

Example: If you are doing a survey for an international product launch, understanding your respondents’ languages will enable you to decide which languages you should address in your product manuals, your customer care services, and your advertising. It also helps to add content in the user’s language for a better experience and increase engagement.

8. Location (Geographical Data): 

Why It’s Important: Geographical information is still one of the most crucial demographic characteristics, since it shows preferences, climate-driven activities, and tendencies on the market. Location data is useful in market segmentation because it enables you to direct your advertising, promotions, and service delivery to specific locations.

How to Ask: You can decide to obtain location data by requesting the country, the state or region, and the city. Presumably, in more specific polls, people might give their Postcodes which could be more informative.

• Which country do you live in? (Dropdown)

• In which state or province are you living? (Dropdown)

• Kindly, avail your Postal/ZIP code (Not compulsory).

Example: Companies can then employ this information to manage their supply chain respectively and their products according to customers’ demands per region. 

Conclusion: 

Apart from helping you gather accurate data, the choice of appropriate demographic questions in surveys assists you in grasping the multiple requirements of audiences. Every question contributes to another level that can help improve products and services, market targeting and selling, and overall business management.