What is quantitative feedback?
Quantitative feedback is feedback in numbers: scores, ratings, choices and rankings that you can count, average and compare. It tells you how much and how many, and pairs well with open answers that tell you why.
Quantitative feedback in plain terms
Any answer that lands on a fixed scale or a fixed list is quantitative. A 0 to 10 recommendation score, a 1 to 5 star rating, a yes or no, a pick from a list of reasons and a ranked list of priorities can all be counted, turned into shares and averages, and charted.
Numbers make feedback comparable. You can follow a score from month to month, compare countries or devices, set a target and see whether a change moved anything. They also scale well: a thousand ratings take no longer to read than ten.
What numbers can't do is explain themselves. A satisfaction score that falls says something went wrong without saying what. That is why most surveys pair a scored question with one open question, and teams read the two together.
- Collected with
- Closed-ended questions: scales, ratings, choices and rankings
- Answers
- How many, how much and how it changes
- Examples
- NPS, CSAT, CES, shares of a multiple choice, average rank
- Pairs with
- Qualitative feedback, which explains why
Quantitative feedback examples
Most quantitative questions belong to a few families, and each family has its own summary. Pick the summary before you collect, so the numbers mean the same thing every period.
A choice question, like the card here, turns into a share and a count per option. Keep the options few, distinct and in the customer's words.
- A recommendation score: NPS from 0 to 10, summarized as promoters minus detractors
- A rating: Stars from 1 to 5, summarized as an average or the share who gave 4 or 5
- An effort score: CES from 1 to 7, summarized as an average or the share who found it easy
- A ranking: items in order of importance, summarized as the average place of each
- A matrix: several parts of an experience rated on one scale, read as a grid
Quantitative vs qualitative feedback
Quantitative feedback measures, and qualitative feedback explains. You need both to act well: the number shows where to look and how big a problem is, and the words show what to do about it.
| Quantitative | Qualitative | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks like | Scores, ratings and choices | Written or spoken answers |
| Answers | How many and how much | Why, and what exactly |
| Collected with | Closed-ended questions | Open-ended questions |
| Analyzed by | Counts, shares and averages | Themes and sentiment |
| Best at | Comparing over time and between groups | Finding problems you didn't ask about |
How to analyze quantitative feedback
Start with the right summary for each question, then compare. A single number means little alone. The same number against last month, or against another group of customers, tells you whether something changed and where.
- Use the share of top answers for ratings and the group formula for NPS
- Compare with the period before, using the same question and channel
- Break results down by country, device or plan to find where a score differs
- Check how many answers sit behind each number before you compare
- Read the open answers behind a change before you act on it
When to use quantitative feedback
Use numbers when you already know what to ask and need to measure it: how satisfied customers are after a delivery, how easy checkout feels, which of five features matters most. Numbers suit regular tracking, targets and A/B tests, since they compare cleanly.
Use open questions when you are still exploring and don't know the right options yet. A good path is to ask an open question first, find the themes that come up most, and turn them into the options of a later choice question.
Quantitative feedback in Usertick
Results gives every question a card in the chart its type calls for, compared with the period before: the NPS score with detractors, passives and promoters for everyone and per device, the Stars average with the share rated 4 or higher, the CES average with the share who found it easy, choices as shares and counts, a matrix as a heat map and a ranking as average place.
Filters by date, country, device, language, page and answers narrow every card at once, and saved views keep a set of filters for the whole organization. The Audience tab shows the score for each country, device, language and page beside the overall score.
Usertick reads the written answers next to the scores and files each one by theme and sentiment, so a number that moved comes with the reasons people gave.
Mistakes to avoid with quantitative feedback
Small choices that keep the results useful.
- 01
Reporting averages without the spread
An average of 3 can mean everyone gave 3, or half gave 1 and half gave 5. Look at the count for each answer too.
- 02
Changing the question between periods
A new wording or scale breaks the trend line. Keep scored questions the same, so the numbers stay comparable.
- 03
Collecting scores without a reason
A falling score with no open answer leaves your team guessing. Add one optional question that asks why.
- 04
Comparing groups with few answers
A country with 12 answers can swing many points by chance. Check the count before you compare.
Frequently asked questions
Quantitative. Each point on the scale is a number you can count and average, even when the points carry word labels such as Poor and Great.
Yes, by coding it: each written answer gets a theme and a sentiment, and you count them. Usertick does this for every written answer, so themes can be counted and followed over time.
It measures only what you asked about, on the scale you chose. Problems you didn't think to ask about show up in open answers.
Enough that chance can't move the number much: a few hundred for a score you report, fewer for a rough read. In Usertick, a score based on fewer than 30 answers says how many it has.
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