What SurveyMonkey is and what it does

SurveyMonkey is an online tool that lets you build and send surveys to collect responses from people. You create the questions, choose how people answer them (multiple choice, rating scales, open text), and then share a link or email invitation. SurveyMonkey collects the responses, organizes them, and shows you charts and summaries of what people said.

The platform handles the technical side — hosting the survey, storing responses securely, and generating basic reports. You do not need to know how to code or build a website. Most people use SurveyMonkey to gather feedback from customers, run internal workplace surveys, conduct research, or collect information for a school or community project.

SurveyMonkey offers a free tier with limited features and paid plans that unlock more question types, higher response limits, and advanced analytics. The free version is enough to get your free guide and test whether surveying is useful for what you need.

Key Takeaways

  • Create a free SurveyMonkey account by visiting surveymonkey.com, entering your email, and setting a password — no credit card required for the free plan.
  • Start a new survey by clicking "Create Survey" and choosing a blank template or a pre-built one that matches your topic.
  • Add questions one at a time using the question builder, selecting the answer format (multiple choice, rating scale, text box) that fits each question.
  • Share your survey by copying the link, emailing it directly through SurveyMonkey, or embedding it on a website once you finish building it.
  • View results in real time as responses come in — SurveyMonkey automatically counts answers and displays charts showing what people chose.

Setting up your account and starting a new survey

Go to surveymonkey.com and click "Sign Up Free" in the top right corner. Enter your email address, create a password, and click the confirmation link in the email SurveyMonkey sends you. You now have a free account with no payment information required.

Once you are logged in, you will see your dashboard. Click the blue "Create Survey" button. SurveyMonkey will ask whether you want to start from a blank survey or use a template. Templates are pre-built surveys for common purposes — customer feedback, employee satisfaction, event registration — and they save time if one matches what you need. For most first surveys, starting blank is simpler because you control every question.

Give your survey a name (something like "Customer Feedback" or "Event Feedback") and click "Create". You are now in the survey builder, where you write questions and choose how people will answer them.

Building questions and choosing answer formats

The survey builder shows a blank question field. Type your first question — for example, "How satisfied are you with our service?" — into the text box. Below that, you will see a dropdown menu that says "Multiple Choice" or another answer format. Click it to see your options.

The most common formats are: Multiple Choice (person picks one answer from a list), Rating Scale (person rates something on a scale, like 1 to 5), Ranking (person orders items from best to worst), Matrix (a grid where you ask the same question about multiple items), and Text Box (person types a written answer). Choose the format that matches what you are asking.

For a multiple-choice question, type each answer option into its own field. For a rating scale, SurveyMonkey usually defaults to 1 to 5, but you can change the range or the labels (for example, "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree"). Once the question is set up the way you want, click "Add Question" to move to the next one. Repeat until you have all your questions written.

Keep surveys short — most people will not answer more than 10 to 15 questions. Ask the most important questions first, because some people will stop partway through. Avoid questions that are confusing, leading (questions that push people toward a certain answer), or too personal unless you have a good reason to ask.

Organizing and testing your survey before sharing

Once all your questions are in, review them in order. You can drag questions up or down to reorder them, delete questions you no longer need, or edit any question by clicking on it. Look for questions that are unclear or that might confuse people who have not seen your survey before.

Before you share the survey with real people, take it yourself by clicking "Preview" at the top of the page. Answer the questions the way someone else might, and notice whether the wording is clear, whether the answer options make sense, and whether the survey feels too long. If something feels off, go back and fix it.

Check your survey settings by clicking the "Settings" tab. You can set whether people have to answer every question or can skip some, whether they can take the survey more than once, and whether you want to collect their email address. For most surveys, allowing people to skip questions and take it once is the standard approach.

Sharing your survey and collecting responses

Once you are happy with your survey, click "Collect Responses" at the top. SurveyMonkey will give you a unique link to your survey — something like surveymonkey.com/r/ABC123. Copy this link and share it however makes sense: paste it into an email, post it on social media, include it in a newsletter, or text it to people you want to reach.

If you want to email the survey directly from SurveyMonkey, click "Email" and type in the email addresses of the people you want to invite. SurveyMonkey will send them an email with a personalized link. This method also lets you see who has responded and send reminders to people who have not answered yet.

You can also embed the survey on a website if you have one. Click "Embed" and copy the code SurveyMonkey provides, then paste it into your website's page editor. The survey will appear directly on your page instead of sending people to a separate link.

Reading and downloading your results

As soon as people start answering, you can see results in real time. Click the "Analyze Results" tab to view charts, counts, and summaries. For a multiple-choice question, you will see a bar chart showing how many people picked each answer. For a rating scale, you will see the average rating and a breakdown of how many people chose each number. For text answers, you will see the actual responses listed out.

SurveyMonkey automatically calculates percentages and basic statistics. If you need the raw data — the actual list of every response — you can read it as a spreadsheet (Excel or CSV format) by clicking "read" in the results section. This is useful if you want to analyze the data in more detail or share it with someone else.

You can filter results by question, compare answers across groups, or look at trends over time if your survey is running for weeks or months. The free plan includes basic charts and summaries; paid plans offer more advanced analysis tools.

Keeping your survey and data find

SurveyMonkey stores your survey and responses on its servers, which use encryption to protect the data in transit. However, you should think about what information you are collecting. If you are asking for names, email addresses, or other personal details, tell people how you will use that information and whether you will keep it private.

If your survey is for a school or workplace, check whether there are rules about collecting personal information. Some organizations require you to get approval before surveying people, especially if you are asking sensitive questions.

You can delete individual responses or your entire survey at any time. If you no longer need the data, deleting it is the safest option. SurveyMonkey also lets you set an expiration date for your survey — after that date, the link stops working and no new responses are collected.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use SurveyMonkey for free, or do I have to pay?

The free plan is real and does not require a credit card. It lets you create one survey at a time, collect up to 40 responses, and use basic question types and reporting. If you need to run multiple surveys at once, collect more responses, or use advanced features, you would need a paid plan.

What if I want to change my survey after people have already started answering?

You can edit questions, reorder them, or add new ones at any time. However, if you change a question significantly, responses people gave to the old version of that question will not automatically update. It is best to finalize your survey before sharing it widely.

How do I know if my survey is too long?

Most people will complete a survey that takes 5 to 10 minutes. If your survey has more than 15 questions, consider whether every question is necessary. You can also look at your results to see how many people started the survey but did not finish — a high drop-off rate often means the survey is too long or too difficult.

Can I share my survey on social media?

Yes. Copy your survey link and paste it into a Facebook post, tweet, or any social media platform. You can also include it in a text message or when ready message. Just keep in mind that people on social media may not be your target audience, so you might get responses from people outside the group you wanted to reach.

What happens to my data if I delete my survey?

When you delete a survey, SurveyMonkey removes it and all responses associated with it. You cannot recover deleted surveys, so read your results as a spreadsheet first if you want to keep the data.