How to Use Branching in Your Survey

Branching helps you create more relevant surveys by changing the survey path based on the answers respondents give.

Instead of showing every respondent the same fixed list of questions, you can direct them to another question, move them to another page, or end the survey when a condition is met.

For example, respondents who have used your product can answer questions about their experience. Respondents who have not used it can skip those questions and continue to a more relevant section.

Branching is also commonly called skip logic, because it allows respondents to skip questions that do not apply to them.

Example

Imagine you are creating a community survey with this multiple-choice question:

Which of the following areas do you think need the most improvement in our community? Select all that apply.

• Education
• Healthcare
• Public safety
• Infrastructure

You want to show respondents follow-up questions that are relevant to the areas they select. You can use different branching conditions to decide when a rule should apply:

• Equals: If the respondent selects Education, direct them to a question about improving local schools.
• AND: If the respondent selects both Education and Healthcare, direct them to a question about improving these two services together.
• OR: If the respondent selects Education, Healthcare, or both, direct them to a page about community services.
• NOT: If the respondent does not select Education, skip the education follow-up questions and direct them to the next relevant section.

These are separate examples of how each condition can be used. You do not need to add all four rules to the same question. Choose the condition that matches the survey path you want to create.

The steps below explain how to select the condition, choose the answer values, and configure what happens when the condition is met.

How to configure branching in Enquete

Follow these steps to create a branching rule in the survey builder.

Step 1: Open the survey you want to edit

Open your survey and click Edit to open the survey builder.

Your survey questions appear on the left, with the survey preview on the right.

Step 2: Open the question that should trigger the rule

Select the question whose answer should determine what happens next. Click the question to expand its settings.

For example, to send respondents to another question when they answer No, open the question containing that answer option.

The screenshots show a Multiple choice question with answer options such as Education, Healthcare, Public safety, and Infrastructure.

Step 3: Open the Advanced tab

Inside the expanded question, click Advanced, next to the Main tab.

Find the Branching section.

Step 4: Click Configure Branching

Click Configure Branching.

The Branching Rules panel opens on the right-hand side of the screen. This panel contains the rules for the question you selected.

Step 5: Click Add Rule

If no rules have been created yet, the panel initially shows an Add Rule button.

Click Add Rule to create a rule.

The rule contains three main fields:

• Condition: how the respondent’s answer should be checked.
• Values: the answer options used in that check.
• Target: what should happen when the condition is met.

Step 6: Choose the condition

Open the Condition dropdown. The available options are Equals, AND, OR, and NOT.

Choose the condition that matches the rule you want to create.

Equals

Use Equals for a simple rule based on a particular answer.

For example: If the respondent selects Education, apply the target action.

For a straightforward Equals rule, select the single answer option you want to check under Values. If you need to check several options, use AND or OR to make your intention clear.

AND

Use AND when the respondent must select all the answer options included in the rule.

For example, select Education and Healthcare under Values.

The condition is met when the respondent selects both Education and Healthcare. Selecting only one of them does not meet the condition.

This is useful for multiple-choice questions where respondents can select more than one answer.

OR

Use OR when selecting at least one of the answer options included in the rule should trigger the action.

For example, select Education and Healthcare under Values.

The condition is met when the respondent selects Education, Healthcare, or both.

NOT

Use NOT for a rule based on an answer option not being selected.

For example, select Education under Values to create a rule for respondents who do not select Education.

Test this condition in the live preview, including the case where an optional question is left unanswered, to confirm that the survey follows your intended path.

Step 7: Select the answer options under Values

In the Values list, click the answer option you want the rule to check.

To select several options:

• On Windows, hold Ctrl while clicking each option.
• On Mac, hold Cmd while clicking each option.

If necessary, scroll inside the Values list to see more answer options.

The chosen options appear beneath the list under Selected, displayed as purple labels. Check these labels to make sure you have selected the correct answers.

Step 8: Choose the target action

Open the Target dropdown to choose what should happen when the condition is met.

The available actions are:

1. End of survey
2. Go to Question
3. Go to Page
4. Hide.

Check this field carefully for every rule. In the screenshots, it initially displays End of survey. Change it if you want a different action.

End of survey

Choose End of survey when respondents who meet the condition should finish the survey without answering the remaining questions.

For example, if your survey is only intended for existing customers, you might end the survey for respondents who answer that they have never used your product.

Go to Question

Choose Go to Question to send respondents directly to a later question, skipping the questions in between.

After choosing this action, select the destination in the Target Question field.

For example, to send respondents who answer No on Question 1 directly to Question 4, select Question 4.

Go to Page

Choose Go to Page to send respondents to another page of the survey.

Select the destination page in the additional field shown for this action.

This is useful when you have organised your survey into separate sections using page breaks. For example, one page might contain questions about education and another might contain questions about healthcare.

Hide

Choose Hide when your rule should hide content rather than move the respondent to another question or page.

Review any additional settings displayed after selecting this action. Then use the live preview to check which content is hidden when the condition is met.

Step 9: Add or remove rules if needed

To create another rule for the same question, click Add Rule again.

Configure the Condition, Values, and Target separately for each rule.

To delete a rule, click the Remove button inside that rule. Check that you are removing the correct rule before clicking.

Keep your rules clear and avoid creating conflicting actions. For example, a respondent answering a multiple-choice question might select values that match more than one rule. Test that combination carefully if the rules lead to different destinations.

Step 10: Review and test your branching

Check the Condition, selected Values, Target, and any destination fields for each rule.

Close the Branching Rules panel using the X in its top-right corner.

Click Open Live Preview at the top of the survey builder to test the respondent experience.

Test the following:

• A matching answer: select an answer that should trigger the rule and check the result.
• A non-matching answer: select an answer that should not trigger the rule and check the normal survey path.
• Multiple selections: for AND and OR rules, test one selected value and several selected values.
• Overlapping rules: test answers that might match more than one rule.
• The complete path: continue through the remaining survey to check that respondents do not later encounter questions that should have been skipped.

If a path behaves differently from what you intended, return to the question, open Advanced → Configure Branching, and adjust the rule.

Best practices for using branching

• Plan the respondent paths first. Decide which questions each group should answer and where each section should lead.
• Keep rules simple. Add branching where it improves relevance and avoids unnecessary questions.
• Choose conditions carefully. AND requires all selected values; OR requires at least one.
• Check every target. Make sure the action and destination match the respondent’s answer.
• Test before publishing. Follow each possible path in the live preview, including combinations of answers on multiple-choice questions.