What is a ranking question?
Ranking questions allow participants to review and prioritize a list of items by arranging them in order of preference. This type of question is particularly useful for understanding what matters most to your audience, whether you’re exploring product features, service options, or other key factors.
Ranking questions offer participants a list of options to choose from, then ask them to drag and place items in the order of their preference.
Creating a ranking question
From your dashboard, click +Create study, and then Test or survey, or you can edit an existing one.
Add a question to your test. You can add a ranking question as part of a dedicated question section or include it as a follow-up question after any task. Write a clear and concise question that asks participants to rank the items.
Select “Ranking” as the question type from the dropdown menu to the right of your question.
Add the options you want participants to rank. Enter each item to be ranked on a new line. These options will be presented to the participants for them to arrange in order of importance.
Review your randomization options. By default, the order of items is randomized for each participant to minimize bias. However, if you prefer the items to be presented in a specific order, you can uncheck the “Randomize the order of choices” option.
✏️ Helpful tip: To prevent overwhelming participants, keep your list manageable and limit the number of items they'll need to rank for each question.
Interpreting ranking question results
After participants complete your test, you’ll be able to see how they ranked the items in the Results section of your study:
The mean ranking is an average that shows how each item was ranked across all participants. A lower mean indicates the item was generally ranked higher (closer to 1st place), which means that it was more preferred. In short, the lower the mean, the more participants liked that option.
How the mean is calculated
The mean (or average) ranking for each item is calculated by adding up all the ranks given to that item by participants and then dividing that total by the number of participants.
Example: If three participants ranked an item as 1st, 3rd, and 4th, the mean would be calculated as:
(1 + 3 + 4) ÷ 3 = 2.67
This mean shows the item’s average rank across all participants, helping you quickly identify which items are most preferred.
Which item was selected as the most important?
In our example test shown above, participants were asked to rank the features of a smartphone from most important to least important. Here’s what the results show:
Battery Life had an average (mean) ranking of 3.30. Since the mean is closer to 1, it means that participants generally rated Battery Life as one of the more important features.
Operating System had a mean of 3.90. Participants still found it important, but slightly less so than Battery Life.
Camera Quality had a mean of 4.40. It’s important to some, but not as much as the features with lower means.
Screen Size and Price both had a mean of 5.40, indicating they were the least important features according to the participants.
Key Takeaway: The lower the mean number, the more important that feature was to participants. In this case, Battery Life was considered the most important, while Screen Size and Price were seen as less important.