š Overview
When building customer forms, you may need multiple choice questions where customers can select one or several answers. For example:
Do you suffer from any of the following?
Heart problems
Asthma
Back or neck pain
None
To do this, you'd create a multiple choice type field.
š” New to fields? See the Creating Fields guide here.
š Including a "None" or "None of the above" choice is still useful for capturing a definite answer.
ā
If you'd rather let customers skip the question entirely, you can now mark the field as optional instead. See the guide here.
š ļø Ways to Structure Multiple Choice Questions
There are different ways to handle these questions, depending on how you'd like to store the data. Using the example above, you might want either:
One field collecting all of the customer's answers together.
Each option as its own yes or no question, so you can drill down on who has, for example, "heart problems" but not "asthma".
ā ļø Decide on your structure before you start collecting answers. Data can't be merged between fields later, so switching from one approach to the other leaves your answers split across two sets of fields.
You can see the difference in the Customer List report, via Customers ā Customer list ā Export filtered list ā Export to CSV.
If you collect all answers in one field, the CSV report shows:
If you collect the answers as separate yes or no questions, the CSV report shows:
š¬ Adding an "Explanation" Box
If you need additional information depending on a customer's answer, there are two ways to collect it.
If you're collecting the data in a single multiple choice field, add a long-text field ordered next on the form that asks something like:
If you selected any option above, please explain here. Otherwise, write "N/A".
If you've created several yes or no questions instead, that field type supports its own explanation box. When you create a yes or no field, a Require an explanation section cascades below.
ā Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Find answers to common questions or additional details that may not be covered in the main instructions.
Click the arrow to view frequently asked questions
Click the arrow to view frequently asked questions
Which structure should I use, one field or several yes/no fields?
Click the arrow to see the answer
Click the arrow to see the answer
Use one field if you just need to see all selected answers together. Use separate yes or no fields if you need to filter or report on individual conditions independently.
My export shows this column as blank for everyone. Is something broken?
Click the arrow to see the answer
Click the arrow to see the answer
Usually not. Two things are worth checking. First, required fields are only enforced on customers who complete a form themselves, so anyone added by staff, imported, or signed up before the field existed won't have an answer.
Second, if you have two similarly worded fields, check you've selected the right one in the export options, as the answers may sit against the other field.
Can I require an explanation for a multiple choice field the same way as yes/no fields?
Click the arrow to see the answer
Click the arrow to see the answer
Not directly. For a single multiple choice field, add a separate long-text field afterwards to capture any explanation instead.