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Ad experience survey template

Balance the ads that pay for your journalism, with the readers who see them

Three one-tap questions for a sample of readers: how intrusive the ads are, how relevant they feel and whether a small fee to remove them would appeal. Add an open question if you want reasons, and Usertick reads every written answer for you.

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What this ad experience survey tells you

An ad experience survey asks readers how the advertising on your site feels to them. This template takes about twenty seconds: a 1 to 10 rating of how intrusive the ads are, a five-star rating of how relevant they are and a yes or no on paying a small fee to remove them.

It is written for a popup shown to a sample of readers after they have read a few articles. Set the pages viewed trigger to three on any plan, and from Starter, or on 1 survey on Free, show it to a share of your traffic, so most readers never see it. The same template also runs as a link in your newsletter.

Every question is a tap. Results shows the average intrusiveness with a column per step, the share who rated the ads' relevance 4 or higher and the share who would pay, and the Devices card in the Audience tab shows the relevance rating on desktop, tablet and mobile. Add an open question, and Usertick reads each written answer as it arrives.

On your websiteAs a linkIn an emailAs a conversation
Questions
3
Time to answer
Under a minute
Written for
A popup for a sample of readers after a few articles
Plans
Every plan, the free plan included

See it on every channel

The same template on your website, behind a link, in an email and as a conversation.

On your website

Show it as a popup, a side button or inside the page, and choose the pages and the moment it opens: on page load, after a delay, on scroll or as someone is about to leave, on every plan. Event and behavior triggers work on 1 survey on Free and on every survey from Starter.

The 3 questions, one by one

What each question asks, why it is there, what it shows you and what to change.

Question 1 of 3 · Big scale

How intrusive are the ads on our site?

Why ask it
Readers judge ads by how much they get in the way. A 1 to 10 scale from not intrusive to very intrusive turns complaints about pop-ups and autoplay into a number you can follow.
What you learn
The average on the 1 to 10 scale and a column per step, compared with the period before. Here a higher average is worse, so watch for it rising after a new ad format goes live.
Make it yours
Run it before and after you change an ad format or placement, and compare the two periods.
Question 2 of 3 · Stars

How relevant are the ads to you?

Why ask it
An ad can be well placed and still feel random. Relevance is the part your ad partners and targeting control, and it needs a score of its own.
What you learn
The star average, a bar per rating and the share who rated 4 or higher, and the Devices card shows whether ads feel less relevant on mobile.
Make it yours
Share the relevance score with your ad team together with the intrusiveness average, since the two point to different fixes.
Question 3 of 3 · Yes / No

Would you pay a small fee to remove ads?

Why ask it
A yes or no on a small fee tests demand for an ad-free option before you build one.
What you learn
The share that said yes, compared with the period before. Select Yes to see how intrusive those readers find the ads today.
Make it yours
Name the fee in the question, such as $2 a month, if you want answers about a real price.

What the answers show

Results turns each question into numbers you can follow week by week.

How relevant are the ads to you?

The average rating and the share who gave 4 or 5 stars, against the period before.

Use this template in four steps

From the template to the first answers.

  1. 1

    Open the template

    Sign up free and pick Ad experience in the template gallery. It opens in a matching style, ready to change.

  2. 2

    Make the questions yours

    Reword any question, change the options, and add logic or more questions.

  3. 3

    Choose where it runs

    Show it on your website, send it by email, share its link and QR code, or switch it to a conversation.

  4. 4

    Publish and read the answers

    Answers arrive in Results and the inbox as people send them, each written one read and filed by Usertick.

Tips for this survey

Small choices that keep people answering and the answers useful.

  1. 01

    Ask after a few articles

    Set the pages viewed trigger to three, so readers judge the ads after real use of the site.

  2. 02

    Sample your traffic

    From Starter, or on 1 survey on Free, show the survey to a share of visitors, such as 10 percent, so the question itself doesn't add to the clutter.

  3. 03

    Leave out readers who see no ads

    From Starter, pass each reader's plan with Usertick.identify and target only the readers who see ads.

  4. 04

    Compare desktop and mobile

    Open the Devices card in the Audience tab after a few weeks, since the ad formats on a phone differ from those on a laptop.

Product feedbackReader surveysWebsite surveysAds in podcasts questions

More product feedback templates and questions

Templates like this one, and single questions from the library to add to it.

Templates

Browse all templates
ProductArticle feedbackThe classic question at the end of an article: was it useful, and if not, what was missing. Place it below every article.
ProductNews appLearn how readers rate your news app, from loading speed to saving articles, and what's missing. Show it in the app after the fifth session.
ProductProduct feedbackGive users one place to share what they think of the product, sorted by area so it reaches the right team. Run it as an always-on feedback button inside your app.
ProductFeature requestCollect feature ideas together with the problem behind them and how people cope today. Link it from your help menu, your roadmap or your changelog.

Questions from the library

Browse the question library
  1. How were the ads in this episode?Multiple choice · Ads in podcasts
  2. Do you skip past the ads?Yes / No · Ads in podcasts
  3. How well did the ads fit the show?Big scale · Ads in podcasts
  4. Where do you read us most?Multiple choice · The app and the site
  5. Have you installed our app?Yes / No · The app and the site
  6. How easy is it to find a story in the app?Customer effort · The app and the site

Frequently asked questions

A sample of the readers who see ads, after they have read a few articles. From Starter, leave out subscribers on ad-free plans with a trait passed with Usertick.identify.

The scale runs from not intrusive at 1 to very intrusive at 10, so a rising average means readers feel the ads more. Flip the ends if your team prefers higher to mean better.

It takes about twenty seconds, opens only after a few articles and, from Starter or on 1 survey on Free, only for a share of visitors. Set the show frequency to Once, so a reader who closes it isn't asked again.

Compare the intrusiveness average before and after each change to your ad formats, and use the share who would pay to size an ad-free plan. On every plan, a workflow can add each answer to a Google Sheet for your ad team.

Keep it running on a small share of traffic, so the score follows each change, or run it for a few weeks before and after you add a new ad partner.

Yes. Every template comes with every plan, the free plan included, and the free plan covers 150 responses a month across your surveys.

Yes. The template becomes your own survey, so reword any question, add or remove questions, and change the options and the logic. The gallery stays as it is.

Yes, from Starter. The template is written in US English. Add languages by hand or with AI translation, and each person sees the survey in their browser's language.

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  • 150 responses a month on Free
  • Every channel and AI analysis
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