Use a Picture Choice question when respondents need to choose one or more images from a set of visual options.
Each choice can include both an image and a text label. You can also hide the labels when the images are clear enough to stand on their own.
Unlike a Multiple Choice question, Picture Choice lets you attach an image to each answer choice. This makes it useful for comparing products, designs, colours, packaging concepts, visual preferences, or other image-based alternatives.
If you're comparing product concepts or designs, you can also start with the Product Testing Survey and customise it for your research.
How to add a Picture Choice question
- Open the survey you want from My Surveys, or create a new survey.
- Go to the Create phase.
- Select Picture Choice from the available question types.
- Click it to add the question, or drag and drop it into the required position.
If you have not created your survey yet, you can start with our online survey maker.
How to set the Picture Choice question label
Enter the question you want respondents to see in the Label field.
You can type @ to insert an answer from a previous question or a Custom Variable.
For example, you could use a respondent's name, selected product, branch, or another value already available in the survey to make a later Picture Choice question more relevant.
What should you include in Description?
Use Description when respondents need additional instructions about how to compare or select the images.
For example:
Label:
Which of the following designs do you prefer?
Description:
Select the image you think is most suitable for the product packaging.
You can also type @ in Description to insert a previous answer or a Custom Variable when it helps clarify the question.
How to add Picture Choice options
Under Choices, add the image and text label you want to display for each option.
You can create the choices manually or use Ready-made choices when a suitable predefined set is available.
After selecting a ready-made set, customise the images or labels to match your question.
Note: Ready-made choices can only be selected before the question is saved for the first time.
If you prefer to begin with a complete survey structure rather than creating every question manually, browse the Porsline survey templates.
How to use Other, N/A, and All options
Open Other, N/A, etc options to configure additional response options.
Available options include:
- N/A option
- All options
- Other option
Enable Other option when respondents should be able to enter an answer that is not included among the image choices.
Use N/A option when none of the available images applies.
Use All options when respondents may need to select all displayed choices.
How to make the question required
Enable: “Required”
Once enabled, respondents cannot submit their final response without answering the Picture Choice question.
If they leave a required question unanswered, they can return to it before submitting the survey.
How to add supporting media
The images added under Choices are the answer options themselves.
You can separately enable Image or Video when you need to display supporting media alongside the question.
Add an image
- Select Image.
- Click Choose.
- Select the image from your device.
The image must be in JPG, PNG, or GIF format and no larger than 2 MB.
Add a video
Select Video, then enter the relevant video link in the field provided.
Use a link that meets the field requirements and is accessible to respondents.
How to adjust the Layout for Mobile and Desktop
After enabling “Image or Video” and adding an image, open:
“Layout”
You can adjust the image display separately for:
- “Mobile”
- “Desktop”
Select the appropriate display option for each device.
This lets you control how the question image appears on different screen sizes.
How to add secondary labels to choices
Enable Add secondary label to choices when you need each Picture Choice option to have a different code or value in exported results.
Secondary labels are not shown to respondents. They appear in exported data, such as Excel files.
For example, respondents can see normal text labels while the exported data contains numerical values from 1 to 5 for further analysis in Excel or SPSS.
How to randomise Picture Choice options
Enable Choice Randomization when you want the image choices to appear in a different order instead of always following the sequence in which they were added.
This can help reduce the influence of choice position on respondents' selections.
How to hide choice labels
Enable Hide labels when the images are clear enough that respondents do not need the accompanying text labels.
Before using this option, preview the question and make sure each image can be understood without additional explanation.
How to increase the image display size
Enable Double display size when you want the choice images to appear larger than their standard display size.
This can be useful when respondents need to examine visual details before making a selection.
How to allow multiple image selections
Enable Multiple Selection when respondents should be able to choose more than one image.
Under Range, set:
- Min
- Max
These values determine the minimum and maximum number of images respondents can select.
For example, if Min is 2 and Max is 4, respondents must select between two and four images.
How to hide the question number
Enable: “Hide question number”
The question will then appear without its number in the survey.
How to view and export Picture Choice responses
After you start collecting responses:
- Open the survey.
- Go to the Results phase.
- Open the Results Table.
- Review the answers submitted for the Picture Choice question.
- Use Export to download the results in Excel or CSV format.
You can also open Charts to review how responses are distributed across the image choices.
Picture Choice questions support available chart views together with the frequency and percentage for each choice.
When should you use a Picture Choice question?
Use Picture Choice when the visual appearance of each option is an important part of the respondent's decision.
It is particularly useful for product concepts, designs, packaging, visual preferences, colours, and other situations where seeing the options is more useful than reading text alone.
If images are not necessary and you only need respondents to choose from text options, use a Multiple Choice question instead.
For an overview of the other available question formats, review the Guide to Question Types in Porsline Forms, Surveys, and Quizzes.
If you need help setting up a Picture Choice question or reviewing its responses, contact us at [email protected].