When testing your survey you may notice Progress Bar percentages seem lower than they should and/or huge jumps in percentages that as you move through the survey. This is usually due to the use of features that dynamically change the number of pages that are seen by the respondent (e.g., page logic, skip logic, branching, etc. The Progress Bar is designed to calculate a percentage based on all the pages in a survey, regardless of whether all pages are ultimately displayed to the respondent.
The Progress Bar percentage is recalculated each time a survey page is submitted (via a click on either the Next or Submit buttons) and is based on the submitted page's location among all survey pages.
Each page's progress percentage-value is determined by the number of total pages in the survey. For a five-page survey, we take 100% and divide by 5, resulting in 20% progress per page. The 20% per page value is applied as follows:
- 20% progress after Page One is submitted.
- 40% progress after Page Two is submitted.
- 60% progress after Page Three is submitted.
- 80% progress after Page Four is submitted.
- 100% progress after Page Five is submitted.
Whether any prior pages are seen or not does not factor into the percentage that is displayed. The following diagram will help illustrate this:
We would typically expect to see 60% progress on Page Four (after Page Three has been submitted). However, if Page Three is not seen by the respondent (and thus not submitted), we see 40% progress on Page Four as the last submitted page was Page Two.
The only way to avoid the jump in the percentage is to remove the progress bar from a survey. This is highly recommended if you have a lengthy survey with a number of potentially hidden pages. This will help avoid respondent confusion as well as their potential misconception that they have not made significant progress within your survey.
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 11/21/2019
@Rebecca: Thank you for your question!
An Admin-Only page does not count as a page for the progress bar, whereas a Disabled Page does count.
Also, thank you for your feedback regarding updating the Progress Bar. I will note this with our Product team.
Thank you again,
David
Technical Writer
SurveyGizmo Learning & Development
— Marketing on 11/21/2019
If you have admin only or disabled pages - do they count as a page for the progress bar?
Also - I am voting for progress bar updating!!!
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 02/25/2019
@Help@theviewers.co.uk: Thank you for your note!
I will share this suggestion with our Product team. While I am not sure how feasible this might be, I certainly like the idea of allowing the survey creator to specify a progress multiplier.
Thank you for your thoughtful suggestion!
David
Technical Writer
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience
— Dean@inquisi.co.uk on 02/24/2019
I appreciate fixing this issue with the progress bar must be complex given no progress has been made for a few years but I was wondering if a possible workaround could allow the survey creator to specify that the progress bar % is multiplied by a given amount. I have an example of a survey where respondents get 1 of 2 sets of 20 questions, if the progress % was simply multiplied by 2 it would be correct and you could multiply by 3 if there were 3 main routes etc. I realize it may not be entirely accurate but this must be a simpler calculation for the software whilst also helping respondents have a sense of where they are in the survey. With my current survey they have to do 20 pages to get to 50% then suddenly they're done and I don't think just saying remove it is good enough really. Many Thanks!
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 01/15/2019
@Andrew: Thank you for adding your voice and for your feedback on the progress bar.
I will share your note with our Product team as well.
Thanks again for taking the time to share this with us!
David
Technical Writer
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience
— Andrew on 01/15/2019
I'd like to see this updated as well. The progress bar is important in fighting fatigue, especially in more complex surveys. Even a small amount of skips makes it useless right now.
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 01/14/2019
@Larry: Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us!
I will share your note with our Product team and we will update this thread with any future developments.
Thank you again for sharing this feedback.
David
Technical Writer
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience
— Gina on 01/14/2019
The progress bar should be calculated based on the number of questions. Not, the number of pages.
Admin
— Bri Hillmer on 11/16/2018
@Julian: Thanks for your feedback! I'll make note of this for discussion of possible future improvements with our development team!
Bri Hillmer
Documentation Coordinator
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience Team
— Julian on 11/16/2018
Another vote for updating progress bar. There should be an option to weight pages to give a true reflection of respondent effort.
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 07/23/2018
@David: Thank you for your question!
I'm afraid that there are no updates regarding the progress bar at this time.
We will certainly update this thread should there be any changes upcoming.
Best regards,
David
Documentation Specialist
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience
— David on 07/23/2018
Any progress on the progress bar? Like others, I want users to see true progress on live question pages, and ignore followup pages. Thanks
Admin
— Dave Domagalski on 11/14/2017
@Aaron: Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback with us! I will make sure that we keep you up to date, should there be any modifications to the functionality of the Progress Bar.
Best regards,
David
Documentation Specialist
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience
— Adrienne on 11/14/2017
I'll also add my input on the useless progress bar. I currently have a 77 page survey, yes, 77 pages! The most pages any one individual will see is probably 15 max, but it won't show anywhere near an accurate % complete. I have never used the progress bar on any of the surveys I've built, as all have some sort of page logic to avoid people answering questions that aren't relevant to them.
Admin
— Bri Hillmer on 02/02/2017
@Dan: Thank you for adding your voice!
Bri
Documentation Coordinator
SurveyGizmo Customer Experience Team
— Dan on 02/02/2017
Bri, I second that comment from Joe. Our survey is very long since it has three distinct response paths based on early answers. So, it is calculating the percentage on the basis of someone receiving all questions in the survey, which no one will. The most anyone will get is one-third of the questions. So up until the last screen, it tells the respondent they've completed less than 33%. Yikes!
Admin
— Bri Hillmer on 05/04/2016
@Joe: i'm glad the tutorial answered your question! Thanks so much for your feedback on the progress bar; I'll be sure to make note of it for discussion for future improvements with our development team!
Bri
Documentation Coordinator/Survey Sorceress
SurveyGizmo Customer Support
— Joe on 05/04/2016
This really needs to be fixed! The progress bar is all but useless to anyone who builds anything other than a very simple survey. The help topic is very helpful! Answered my question clearly and efficiently. Thanks!