What is a survey completion rate?
A survey completion rate is the share of people who finish a survey out of those who start it. If 500 people begin and 410 reach the end, the completion rate is 82%.
Completion rate in one number
Completion rate measures how many people who begin a survey see it through. Divide the number of finished surveys by the number of started ones and multiply by 100. The rest is the drop-off rate: the share who left partway.
A low completion rate is a sign that the survey asks too much, too soon or too unclearly. It also changes what the results mean, since the people who quit early are often the busiest or the least happy, and their answers to the later questions go missing.
Completion rate picks up where response rate ends. Response rate asks how many of the people you invited answered at all, and completion rate asks how much of the survey they finished. Some tools, Usertick among them, measure completion a second way: the average share of questions answered in each submitted survey.
- Measures
- How many people who start a survey finish it
- Calculated as
- Finished surveys ÷ started surveys × 100
- Opposite
- Drop-off rate, 100% − completion rate
- Lowered by
- Long, hard or unclear surveys
- Not the same as
- Response rate
How to calculate completion rate
Count the people who reached the end and sent their answers, divide by the number who answered the first question, and multiply by 100. Subtract the result from 100% for the drop-off rate.
To measure it this way, a tool has to record the people who start and leave. Tools that store only sent surveys can't see who left, so they measure how complete each sent survey is instead, as the table further down shows.
Completion rate = finished surveys ÷ started surveys × 100
Drop-off rate = 100% − completion rate
Started means the first question was answered. Count each person once, even if they opened the survey twice.
A completion rate example
Say 500 visitors answer the first question of a ten-question survey and 410 reach the end. The completion rate is 82%, and 18% dropped off.
If most of the 90 who left did so at the same question, start there. A long text box, a large grid or a question that feels too personal is a common place to lose people.
- Started the survey
- 500
- Finished it
- 410
- Left partway
- 90, or 18%
- Completion rate
- 410 ÷ 500 = 82%
Two ways to measure completion
Tools differ in what they divide. The classic rate compares finished with started surveys. The other measure looks only at the surveys that were sent, takes the share of questions each one answered, and averages those shares.
Say three people send a ten-question survey and answer 10, 8 and 6 of its questions. The average of 100%, 80% and 60% is 80%. Optional questions people skip lower this measure, and so do questions that logic jumped over.
| Finished ÷ started | Average share answered | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks at | Everyone who started | Surveys that were sent |
| Lowered by | People leaving partway | Questions skipped or not shown |
| Needs | A record of every start | Only the sent answers |
| Answers | Where do people quit? | How complete is each answer? |
Why people don't finish a survey
Most drop-off comes from the survey itself, and the question where people leave usually points to the cause.
- It runs longer than promised, or gives no sense of how long it takes
- A question is hard to answer, such as a large grid or a long text box
- A question feels too personal too early
- It doesn't work well on a phone
- Questions don't apply to the person, with no way to skip them
- Something else on the page pulls the person away
How to raise your completion rate
Cut every question you won't act on, and put the most important one first so it gets answered even when people leave early.
- Keep the survey to a few questions, and show progress
- Ask one thing per question, in plain words
- Use logic to skip questions that don't apply
- Make open questions optional and put them near the end
- Try the survey on a phone before you publish it
Completion rate in Usertick
Usertick stores answers only when the person submits them or a timer sends them, so partial answers never reach your results. Its completion rate is the second measure above: the average share of the survey's questions that each person answered, with message screens left out. Questions skipped by logic, and questions a variant doesn't show, lower it.
The Summary shows the completion rate beside how many people answered and the median completion time, and each question's card shows its median time and, for timed questions, the share who ran out of time. A speeders filter shows the people who finished in under a third of the median time, so you can check whether rushed answers skew the picture.
Once a period has enough answers, Improve this survey, part of the AI reading, points out a question answered far less than the others, a slow question and long completion times, so you can see which question to cut or rewrite.
Mistakes to avoid with completion rate
Small choices that keep the results useful.
- 01
Confusing it with response rate
A survey can have a high response rate and a low completion rate. Track both, since they point to different fixes.
- 02
Hiding how long the survey takes
People quit when a survey runs past what they expected. Say how long it takes and show progress.
- 03
Making every question required
A required question people can't or won't answer ends the survey for them. Require only what you truly need.
- 04
Putting the key question last
When people leave early, the last question gets the fewest answers. Ask what matters most first.
Frequently asked questions
Compare your own surveys with each other and over time, since the length, the channel and the way the rate is measured all change the number. A sudden drop at one question is the clearest thing to act on.
They are two sides of one number. If 82% of the people who start finish, 18% dropped off.
In the finished ÷ started measure it doesn't, since a skipped question stops nobody. In the average-share measure Usertick uses, questions skipped by logic count as unanswered, so a survey with many branches shows a lower rate even when everyone finishes.
No. Nothing is sent until the person submits or a timer sends the answers, so an abandoned survey stores nothing and Usertick has no drop-off funnel.
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