How To Create a Survey in Google Forms [7 Steps]

Do you want to learn how to create a survey in Google Forms and share it? You’re lucky because I’ve compiled this step-by-step guide on how to create a survey in Google Forms, how to share your form, and tips you can follow to make your survey more goal-oriented and professional-looking.

Even with a powerful tool like Google Forms, your survey can only go as far as your design. The good thing is that creating a survey in Google Forms is simple, efficient, and hassle-free once you familiarize yourself with the tools and settings of the app.

To create surveys on Google Forms, you must first sign in to your Google account. You can then click on the “Blank” form and start adding questions to your form. Once you have finished adding your questions, your survey can be shared as a link.

Let’s get started!

How To Create a Survey in Google Forms

Knowing how to create a survey on Google Forms will help you collect and view responses with valuable information for your business, academic, or personal projects. Luckily, creating a survey using Google Forms is easy with its user-friendly interface, versatile features, and real-time collaboration capabilities.

Here’s a seven-step guide on how to create a survey in Google Forms:

Step 1. Accessing Google Forms

To get started, sign in to your Google account to access forms.Google.com.

Step 2. Creating a New Form

Under the “Start a new form” section, click the Plus sign (+), which represents a blank form. Once you select “Blank,” you can create a new survey in Google Forms.

Alternatively, you can select a Google Form template among the available ones. For this example, I created a new blank form.

Step 3. Naming Your Survey

Rename your survey title by clicking the first section under “Untitled form.” You can also fill out the “Form description” under the title to include more details. Use this section to enter the form’s purpose and other information you want your recipients to know about in your survey.

Step 4. Adding or Editing A Question

Adding the right questions is the first step to using Google Forms for a survey and what will distinguish it from a quiz or a generic form.

By default, your form will have one question on it. You can either delete it or edit it as one of your questions. You will also see a vertical menu on the right-hand side of your form.

From the menu, you can choose among the following elements to add to your survey:

1. Add question: This element is represented with a plus sign (+) inside a circle. It adds a new question in the default format of an editable question and a multiple-choice answer option.
2. Import questions: If you have another survey form available, you can import a question from that form to your current survey using this option.
3. Add title and description: You can add another title and description section.
4. Add image: If you want to elaborate your survey question using an image, you can use this option to upload photos to your survey.
5. Add video: This allows you to embed a video into your form and add an accompanying description.
6. Add section: If your survey discusses different topics, you can add a new section to organize your questions for each topic.

Additionally, you can customize the questions you’ve already created with the following features:

• Make the response to a question mandatory by ticking the “Required” slider at the bottom of the question box.
• Delete a question by clicking the “Delete” option (a trash icon) at the bottom of the question box.
• Duplicate a question by clicking the “Copy” icon on the bottom part of the question box.

Step 5. Editing Answer Options

Google Forms allows different types of responses per question, such as multiple choice and long or short-form answers. To change the answer type for each question, follow the steps below:

1. Click the question you want to edit.

2. On the right-hand side of the question, click on the drop-down menu (where Multiple choice is selected by default).

3. Select the appropriate answer type you want to receive from your respondents.

Here, you choose the appropriate answer option depending on what answer you want to receive for your question:

• Short answer: This allows respondents to type a one-line answer.

• Paragraph: This will enable respondents to type a paragraph-length answer.

• Multiple choice: This presents a list of options you have entered so your respondents can choose one answer among the different choices.

• Checkboxes: This allows respondents to select multiple answers from the options provided.

• Dropdown: The answer would be selected from a dropdown menu of options.

• File upload: This allows you to request to upload an external file (e.g., images or documents) to answer the question.

• Linear scale: Provide a linear scale where the respondent can choose a point on a numeric or qualitative scale.

• Multiple choice grid: This provides different options in different columns, allowing respondents to mix and match their answers.

• Checkbox grid: Create a checkbox grid where the respondents can select multiple answers corresponding to the rows and columns provided.

• Date: The answer must be a specific date.

• Time: The answer must be a specific time.

For answers requiring multiple options, you can delete an option by clicking on the X icon on the right side of that answer.

Step 6. Customizing Your Survey

By customizing your survey, you can demonstrate how to create a Google Forms survey that’s more visually appealing and attractive to recipients. Google Forms also allows you to change your font header, questions, other texts, and color theme and to add a header image to your survey.

To get started, click the palette icon on the right-hand side of the Google Forms Main Menu.

If you do not want to customize your Google survey, skip this step.

Step 7. Sharing Your Google Forms Survey

Once you have filled out your survey with all the questions and appropriate answer options, you can share it with your respondents. To get started, click the “Send” icon on the right side of the top menu of your survey.

Then, choose among these three methods you can use to share your Google survey:

Share Your Survey Via Email

Google Forms can share your survey as an email for you. This is useful if you already have a list of respondents with their email addresses. To send your form via email, here’s how to do it:

1. Enter the respondents’ email, separating each email with a comma.

2. Enter an email subject and type your message body. This is usually an engaging copy explaining what your survey is about.

3. If you want to include the form in the email, select the “Include form in email” checkbox.
   • Do not tick the checkbox if you do not wish to include the form in the email.

4. Once done, click the “Send” button at the window’s bottom-right corner.

Share Your Survey Via Link

Another option for sharing your survey is by a link, which is helpful when you want to include your form in a social media post, comment, email, or other applicable outlets. To get the link for your survey, simply follow these steps:

1. Select the “Link” tab on the “Send via” options

2. Here, you have the option to shorten your URL.
   • If you want to shorten your URL, tick the “Shorten URL” checkbox.
   • If not, proceed to the next step.

3. Click the “Copy” button on the bottom-right corner of your screen.

Once you’ve copied the URL link for your survey, you can paste it wherever you want to share your form.

Share Your Survey Via HTML Code Snippet

If you want to attach your survey to your blog or website, Google Forms provides a code snippet you can incorporate into your website. However, this requires web development skills to accomplish.

Other options also let you set whether the respondent receives an email of their responses to let them see the forms they’ve submitted. That’s how to create a Google Form survey.

Want a quick and easy way to learn how to create a survey in Google Forms? Check out our short 2-minute video to maximize your Google Forms app!

Setting Email Notifications When Someone Answers Your Survey

You can receive email notifications when someone answers your Google Form survey. Here’s how to set up a Google Form survey email notification:

1. Click the “Responses” tab in your form

2. Click the “vertical ellipsis” (three vertical dots) on the right-hand side of the responses box, and a drop-down menu will appear.

3. Select “Get email notifications for new responses” on the drop-down menu.
   • If you click the vertical ellipses again, you should now see a checkmark on the left-hand side of the option.

Note: Preview your survey before sending it to your respondents. This way, you can double-check for any typos or customization errors.

There are also other add-ons, like email notifications add-ons, which you can use to set and designate other email addresses to receive the notifications.

How To Make a Poll on Google Forms

Although Google Forms isn’t explicitly designed as a poll maker, using it as a Google polling tool is a straightforward process:

Step 1: Create a Blank Form

1. Launch your web browser and go to Google Forms
2. Choose “Blank” in the “Start a new form” section

3. Click on the “Untitled form” field and provide a name for your poll

Step 2: Insert Your Question

When adding your form questions, it’s important to remember that polls aren’t surveys. They’re much shorter and usually ask only one or two questions. If you want to ask multiple questions, include only the most important ones to keep it short and accessible.

1. In the vertical toolbar on the right, click “Add question.”

2. Enter your question (or instructions) in the “Question” field

3. Google Forms will automatically select a question type for you, depending on what you’ve entered
4. If the platform didn’t choose one for you, click your question card’s drop-down menu in the upper-right corner.

5. Next, select a question type from the list

Step 3: Test Your Form

Once you’ve added your question(s), your poll should be ready to receive votes and answers (unless you want to customize it further).

To ensure that your form functions correctly, click the “Preview” button (the eye icon) in the top-right portion of your screen to check it.

For polls in Google Forms, I find that multiple choice offers the best and easiest replies to collect the vote results. You can also use drop-downs or checkboxes, depending on your preferences.

Related: How To Create a Survey in Google Forms [Step-by-Step Guide]

How To Share Your Google Forms Poll

It’s good practice to make your poll easily accessible, so you commonly see them shared as a QR code or live link. In Google Forms, there are three main ways to share your poll: Using a link, sending it through email, or embedding it.

Using a Link

In my experience, Google Vote Polls are best shared via a link, as it’s easier to distribute among participants. Even if you don’t have a copy of these email addresses, you can send them the link to get their answers through other channels like Facebook Messenger or a social media post.

Here’s how you can generate a form link:

1. Click the “Send” button located in the upper-right corner of your screen

2. Switch to the “Link” tab (the middle icon)
3. Check the option for “Shorten URL”
4. Hit the “Copy” button or shortcut keys Ctrl + C on Windows (Command + C for Mac)

Sending Through Email

If you need to gather responses from specific individuals, sending your Google Form poll via email is recommended. This method works best when you have a mailing list handy.

Follow these steps to get started:

1. Go to the “Email” tab
2. Click the “To” field and enter the email addresses of your recipients
3. Enter a subject and message in the provided fields as needed
4. Click “Send” to send the email

Embed Your Poll

You can also embed your poll on an existing webpage on your site. For example, you can add it to a blog and ask your readers’ thoughts about what they’ve read. Google Forms will give you an HTML tag that you can use.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Switch to the “Embed” tab
2. Adjust the width and height settings of your form
3. Click “Copy”

4. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + C on your Windows keyboard (or Command + C for Mac)

Checking Your Poll Results

When you want to check your poll results, you can switch to the “Responses” tab in your Google Form. The platform offers you three ways to view your results:

• Summary
• Question
• Individual

Since your poll will likely be in single-question form only, consider using the “Summary” tab. Here, you will see graphs and charts automatically generated by Google Forms based on the responses.

The other two options provide more detailed information per question or individual response.

Other Tips on Creating Google Forms and Managing Responses

Knowing how to create a survey in Google Forms is only the first step in gathering the data. Your form and the collected responses should work hand-in-hand to give you the correct information your brand or company’s goals require.

Here are some tips for creating a goal-oriented poll and managing the responses in Google Forms:

Define your goals for creating your form

Before creating your poll, you can take notes about the information you are trying to gather using your survey. Then, focus on your goals and determine what questions you need to ask to achieve them.

Choose the appropriate answer type

The importance of your question relies on the correct answer. With the variety of answer types available in Google Forms (multiple choice, short answer, checkboxes, etc.), you must evaluate which answer type is most appropriate for each question.

Make your questions concise and easy to understand

Keep each question centered on gathering specific information from your respondent. Avoid asking questions that are too complex or long. This will help your respondents complete the survey more quickly while giving you more concise answers.

Customize your form

Customizing your form is an engaging way to make a Google Forms survey more pleasing to the eyes. Changing your survey form’s theme to match your brand and style will also help with brand consistency and recognition.

Track your responses

You should track the survey results as responses come in to see how your respondents received your poll. This way, you can know if you need to revise your questions or send them to others for more responses.

Use analysis tools

Quantitatively analyzing your form responses is a helpful way to interpret the data from your respondents. Google Forms’ built-in analysis tools are readily available for each survey form with the responses. Create charts, graphs, or other visual representations to understand the data better. You can also connect your Google Form survey to Google Sheets to maximize Google Sheets’ features.

Keep it short

Polls are very short (since they’re not surveys!). Keeping it short makes people more likely to answer it. Aim for a poll that takes no more than 5-10 minutes to complete, from opening the form to submitting it.

Use closed-ended questions

Rather than vague questions (“What do you think about XYZ?”), use closed-ended questions in your Google polling tool. Questions should provide a limited number of answers, like multiple-choice or checkbox options.

The answers are more straightforward to analyze and compare, and they’re also more uniform. Consider using the following question types in your Google Form:

• Multiple choice
• Checkboxes
• Dropdown
• Linear scale
• Multiple choice grid
• Checkbox grid

You’ll probably find the “Linear scale” type unfamiliar on the list. Use it for a form question like “Rate this product from 1 to 10.” You can also use them for Likert scales, which help measure how much people agree or disagree with a specific statement.

Whichever you use among these question types, ensure the answer options cover all possible perspectives to avoid biased results.

Make Your Form Visually Appealing

Engaging your participants is the key to higher response rates. You can achieve this by making your form aesthetically appealing. Simply click the “Customize Theme” button (the painter icon) at the top of your form.

The “Theme” editor panel will appear on the side, allowing you to:

• Add a header image to your Google Form
• Change your font settings, including the style and size
• Modify the colors of your form

• Consider Making Your Poll Anonymous: Respondents may wish to remain anonymous depending on your poll’s purpose.

When dealing with more “personal” topics, anonymity can encourage more honest and uninhibited responses. Follow these steps to make your poll anonymous:

1. Go to the “Settings” tab
2. Open the “Responses” drop-down

3. Select “Do not collect” in the “Collect email addresses” drop-down menu

4. Turn off “Allow response editing”
5. Turn off “Limit to 1 response”

Note: Skip this step if you want one response per user (to avoid duplicates and maintain accuracy).

By following these tips, you can use Google Forms for surveys more effectively while managing the form responses more efficiently.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Add Multimedia to the Questions?

Yes. You can easily add images and videos to your Google Forms survey to make your questions more informative and engaging.

Is Google Forms Survey Free?

Yes. Google Forms is a free poll survey creation tool provided by Google.

Is There a Survey Template in Google Forms?

Yes. Google Forms offers several templates for surveys, quizzes, and other kinds of forms with a set of predefined questions included.

Are Google Surveys and Google Forms the Same?

Google Forms is an online tool used to create forms and surveys. Google Surveys is a different product published by Google. It is a market research tool that allows you to create and conduct surveys online.

Do You Need a Google Account to Vote on Google Forms?

Some form owners may require their Google users to sign in first (for better tracking and verifiability), while casual polls may not need a Google account to participate.

How Do You Make a Google Docs Survey?

Google Docs don’t have the same features as Google Forms for doing surveys. You can make the form in Google forms and get the link to the form, then paste it into your Google Docs file.

Does Google Have a Polling Feature?

Yes. There are two Google polling tools that you can use: Meet and Forms. You can create a live poll during a video conference on Google Meet. As for the latter, you can set up a form that asks your poll questions.

Wrapping Up

Google Forms is a powerful and flexible tool for gathering information from your target respondents. With its easy-to-use interface and customization options, you can design a survey that meets your needs and goals.

For an easier time, if you’re wondering how to create a questionnaire using Google Forms, you can look at some of our Google Forms templates.

If you want to learn more about Google Forms and other Google apps in Google Workspace, consider taking online courses on GSuite today to expand your knowledge and skills.

Want to become a pro in Google Forms and Sheets? Take our masterclass!

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