Purchase-intent survey questions and scoring

Start with one offer, one price, and a clear buying question

A purchase-intent survey asks people how likely they are to buy a specific offer in a stated situation and timeframe. Show the same neutral description to everyone, ask the buying question, and count each answer. Use the reasons behind those answers to decide what to test next.

Copy and adapt these survey questions

This is an original starting template, not a validated questionnaire. Replace the example details with your offer, choose who qualifies before recruiting, and try the wording with a few people from that audience before running the survey.

For this hypothetical skincare study, eligibility means having bought facial skincare for personal use in the past six months. That choice focuses the study on recent category buyers; it leaves out potential first-time buyers.

1. Check eligibility before showing the offer. “Have you bought a facial skincare product for your own use in the past six months?” Offer: Yes / No / Not sure / Prefer not to answer. Continue with Yes responses for this study; record the others separately.
2. Show a neutral offer description. Hypothetical example: “A 30 ml vitamin C facial serum in a refillable bottle, sold online for $28 including delivery. The first purchase includes the bottle and serum. Refills are sold separately.” Include relevant features, contents, and costs; leave out praise such as “revolutionary” or “great value.”
3. Ask buying intent. “If this serum were available online today for $28 including delivery, which answer best describes whether you would buy it for your own use in the next three months?” Offer these five answers in order: Definitely would buy / Probably would buy / Might or might not buy / Probably would not buy / Definitely would not buy. Also allow “Not enough information to answer” separately from the five-point scale.
4. Ask the reason. “What is the main reason for your answer?” Use an open text response.
5. Ask about concerns. “What, if anything, would put you off buying this serum?” Use an open text response; allow “Nothing.”
6. Ask about the current alternative. “What do you currently use instead, if anything?” Use an open text response; allow “Nothing.”
7. Ask about the next action. “What, if anything, would you do next after seeing this offer?” Use an open text response; allow “Nothing” or “Not sure.” This is still a stated intention. Measure a later visit or purchase separately.

Keep the offer, answer order, recruitment criteria, and survey context consistent when comparing versions. This follows general guidance on clear questions and pretesting from Pew Research Center and on sampling and questionnaire design from AAPOR. Neither source validates this specific template.

Score the responses: a hypothetical example

Suppose 100 eligible people each selected one of the five buying-intent answers. Every count below is hypothetical, not customer evidence or an app result.

Top-two-box: 30 / 100 = 30%. Add the two positive answer counts (10 + 20), then divide by all five-point answers. Here, 30% expressed positive buying intent for this offer and timeframe. It does not mean 30% will purchase.

Descriptive mean: 2.85 / 5. Assign scores from 5 to 1 as shown: (10 × 5 + 20 × 4 + 30 × 3 + 25 × 2 + 15 × 1) / 100 = 2.85. This summary treats the steps between answers as equal, which is an assumption. Keep the full distribution visible: a mean can hide a split in opinion.

Both calculations summarize human survey answers. Neither is a sales forecast or the scoring method used by WouldTheyBuy, which derives its directional signal from simulated written responses.

Keep the denominator visible

In this hypothetical example, all 100 eligible people answered on the five-point scale. In your survey, report how many were eligible, how many gave a scale answer, and how many skipped or selected “Not enough information.” Exclude those missing or unscored answers from these calculations and disclose their counts; do not turn them into a neutral or negative response.

Use the result to choose the next test

There is no universal pass mark for this template. Read the response spread alongside the reasons and concerns. Small samples can swing with a few answers, and a large convenience sample can still miss the intended audience. Report who responded and how they were recruited; do not generalize to all buyers from an unrepresentative group.

For the hypothetical serum, concerns about freshness could suggest a follow-up interview or a test of clearer product information. A human survey can check stated reactions among recruited skincare buyers. A presale or live offer test can then show whether people act at the stated price.

Which kind of purchase-intent evidence do you need?

All three approaches can be useful, but they answer different questions. WouldTheyBuy is the earliest and weakest evidence source in this sequence. It helps choose what deserves the next test; it does not pretend to be a survey of real people.

Where WouldTheyBuy fits

Use it when you can state one consumer offer, intended buyer, differentiator, and approximate price. The report can surface whether the next question is about price, trust, need, audience, or the promise itself.

It does not fit tightly screened audiences, specialist roles, hands-on product experience, or decisions that require evidence from actual people. The current panel is broad, simulated, and U.S.-focused. Read the full panel and benchmark limits.

What supports the answer

The screen uses a published approach evaluated against human concept-survey responses, with a narrow U.S. personal-care benchmark. That evidence supports early ranking and question formation, not sales prediction. The synthetic consumer research guide contains the numbers and category limitations so supporting pages do not repeat them out of context.

The next stronger validation step

Choose the uncertainty that could change the decision. Use a recruited product concept survey for stated feedback from real people, a human panel for option or creative feedback, or a presale and live market test for behavior.

If you need responses from recruited people, use the questions above with a suitable human research provider. If you have a concrete consumer offer and want an earlier simulated screen, choose Test my offer. WouldTheyBuy does not recruit respondents or administer this questionnaire.