Survey · Other
User persona survey template
Personas are only as good as the answers behind them, so this survey asks about what people actually do rather than what they would like. It covers role, goals, how often the task comes up, today's tools and what makes people switch, then routes anyone willing to talk to an interview sign-up.
Try it live
Try it as a respondent
Every question, and where it leads
The conversation
What a respondent is asked, in order.
Hi! We're trying to understand the people we build for. A few questions about your work and how you get it done, about four minutes.
Which of these best describes your role?
How many people work in your organisation?
What are you ultimately trying to achieve when you do this kind of work?
How often does this task come up for you?
How do you handle it today?
Walk us through the last time it was frustrating. What happened?
When choosing a tool for this, what matters most to you? Most important first.
How comfortable are you trying new software?
Have you looked for a better way to do this in the past year?
What made you look, and what did you end up doing?
Would you be open to a 30-minute follow-up call about your answers?
Great! How can we reach you to set it up?
Endings
Thanks, this is really useful
Thank you, we'll email you soon 🙌
The flow
Where each answer leads. Every route here is editable once the form is yours.
Single select
Single select
Long text
Single select
Multi select
Long text
Ranking
Opinion scale
Yes / No
Long text
Yes / No
Contact info
What this template uses
- Single select
- Long text
- Multi select
- Ranking
- Opinion scale
- Yes / No
- Contact info
- 4 branches
- 2 endings
Questions to consider
- Which task or problem are you researching? Name it in the greeting so every answer is about the same thing.
- What segments do you expect, such as company size or role, and does the survey ask enough to tell them apart?
- Which answers would change a product decision, and are those questions required?
- How many interviews can you run, and should only certain roles be offered one?
How to use the responses
Export the answers to CSV and group respondents by role, team size and how often the task comes up. Look for clusters that share a goal and a frustration, and read their written stories side by side; those clusters are your draft personas. Use the ranking to see what each cluster values, then book interviews with a few people from each cluster to test whether the persona holds up.
How to customize and share it
- 1Replace "this kind of work" and "this task" with the specific job you are researching, such as running payroll or planning a trip.
- 2Change the tool options to the real alternatives your users choose between today, including the manual ones.
- 3Share the link with existing users and with people who don't use your product yet, so the personas are not only about current customers.
Frequently asked questions
What questions should a user persona survey include?
Questions about role and context, the goal behind the work, how often it happens, how people do it today, what frustrates them and what they value when choosing a tool.
How many responses do you need to build personas?
Enough to see clear groups form, which depends on how varied your users are. Pair the survey with a handful of interviews per group to fill in the detail.
Should a persona survey use open or closed questions?
Both. Closed questions let you group people, and open questions about a real recent experience give you the detail personas need. The AI follow-ups in this template help when an open answer is too vague to use.
Can I recruit interview participants with this survey?
Yes. The last question asks if people are open to a call, and only those who say yes are asked for contact details.