A common survey format is:
Rating
Excellent / Good / Okay / Poor
→ Optional comment box
You can create this in Grapevine Surveys using a single-choice question. Add your rating options as the main answer choices, then enable Allow ‘Other’ option on any option where you want the customer to be able to leave an additional comment. This builds on how single-choice questions and the “Other” option already work in Grapevine Surveys.
What is this question type useful for?
This setup is useful when you want customers to choose from a fixed list of answers, but also give them the chance to explain their response in their own words.
For example:
How was your experience with our team and service?
Excellent
Good
Okay
Poor
You can then use the optional text field to ask for more detail, such as:
Could you tell us a bit more?
This is slightly different from a CSAT question. CSAT is designed specifically for measuring satisfaction on a 5-point scale, while a single-choice question with an optional comment box is better when you want more control over the answer labels and when you want to attach a comment field to a selected response.
How to set it up
Add a single-choice question
Create a new question in your survey and choose Single-choice. Single-choice questions are designed for predefined answer options, with the option to let respondents enter their own wording when needed.
Enter your question text
For example:
How was your experience with our team and service?
Add your rating options
Create your top-level options, for example:
Excellent
Good
Okay
Poor
Enable Allow ‘Other’ option
Within the option where you want to collect extra detail, enable Allow ‘Other’ option.
This adds a freeform text box that the customer can type into. In this use case, it can be used as an optional comment field rather than as a traditional “Other” answer. The single-choice article explains that the “Other” option can be used as a freeform text box and that both its label and placeholder can be customised.
Customise the text field
You can leave the Other sub-option label blank or tailor it to suit your survey design.
Then update the Other sub-option input placeholder to something like:
Could you tell us a bit more?
This gives customers a clear prompt to add more context if they want to.
Repeat for other options if needed
You can enable Allow ‘Other’ option on more than one top-level option if you want customers to be able to leave a comment for multiple responses.
For example, you might enable it for:
Good
Okay
Poor
That way, customers can explain their answer whenever more detail would be useful.
When should I use this instead of CSAT?
Use this setup when:
you want custom rating labels such as Excellent / Good / Okay / Poor
you want to attach an optional comment box to one or more answers
you want more flexibility than a standard satisfaction score
Use a CSAT question when:
you want to measure customer satisfaction using a dedicated 5-point satisfaction scale
you want to report on CSAT performance as a customer satisfaction metric
you want to use the purpose-built CSAT question type in Grapevine Surveys
Things to keep in mind
The “Other” option is very flexible, but written responses can introduce lots of unique answers. Our single-choice guidance notes that these responses may be harder to analyse at scale, so it is worth reviewing them regularly to spot common themes.
Need more help?
If you’re not sure whether to use a single-choice question with an optional comment box or a CSAT question, please get in touch and we’ll help you choose the best setup for your survey.