Quotas
A quota limits the number of people who can take your survey. It helps you get a balanced sample of specific responses and the exact amount of data you need.
Once your quota is met, the collector closes so no one else can take your survey. Then you can see the complete results of your quota in your results.
First, create the survey questions you want to add a quota to using only these supported question types:
We suggest adding 1–3 questions with answer choices that help you identify who you want to get responses from. Check out the Video Overview for examples.
Get to know some of the terms you'll encounter when building your quota.
| Term | Definition |
| Simple Quota | A type of quota. A Simple Quota lets you use 1 qualifying question in your survey to set limits for how many people can answer with specific answers. You can set limits for one or more Answer Groups from any 1 question. |
| Combination Quota | A type of quota. A Combination Quota lets you automatically close your survey once you receive a specific combination of responses across 2 to 3 questions in your survey. |
| Quota Label Field | The field where you name your Simple or Combination Quota. The label could be representative of your desired target respondent base. |
| Answer Group Label | You can name each Answer Group you create for your quota. This label represents how a someone will answer your qualifying question(s). |
| Answer Groups | These are the answer selections you need people to select when taking your survey. Answer Groups can include a single answer choice or multiple answer choices on any single question. A quota can have 1 or more Answer Groups, like in a checkboxes question. Each Answer Group limit needs to be met before your quota is met and the collector closes. |
| Assign Values | You Assign Values to combine Answer Groups from your 2–3 questions in a Combination Quota. Once the Answer Groups are selected, you'll set the limit of responses needed with that exact Answer Group combination. You can't Assign Values on a Simple Quota. |
| Equations | You can add additional equations, which allow you to Assign Values to other Answer Groups in your Combination Quota. Equations aren't used on a Simple Quota. |
| Quota Options | You can control what the over-quota survey takers see after answering your quota questions. |
Once your survey design is complete, you're ready to add your quota. There’s a limit of one quota per survey. If you're not sure if a Simple Quota or Combination Quota is best for you, check out the Terminology section above.
If you add a quota to your survey, you can't embed your first question in an email invitation.
You can't add a quota to your survey if you plan to purchase SurveyMonkey Audience responses. Instead, use multiple Audience collectors to reach the respondent sampling you need.
You can edit the quota options to choose what survey takers see after submitting an answer that exceeds a quota limit. You can also edit the survey closed message for people who try to take the survey after it's closed.
| Option | Description |
| End the survey | They proceed to the Survey End Page. |
| Display a custom message | They see the custom message you entered. |
| Redirect to your own webpage | They are redirected to the URL you entered. |
| Close window | Their browser window closes. |
The font formatting used for a quota's custom message can be controlled by setting the Answer choice font setting.
If your survey is live—meaning it already has responses—you can still edit or apply a quota. When you apply a quota to a live survey, existing responses don’t count towards the quota, only new responses do.
If your survey closed because the quota was met, you can adjust the quota to accept more qualified responses. You also need to reopen the collector so more people can take your survey.
When you're ready to view your quota results, head over to the Analyze Results section. The Quota status bar lets you know how close your quota is to being met.
When a quota is applied to a survey, a saved view is created for each set of qualified responses. If you have more than one limit set up on your quota, you'll have multiple saved views.
When you select a saved view, it displays a filtered view of only the Complete responses within that quota limit.
To select a saved view:
A green check mark ✅ next to a view means the view is selected. You can toggle a view on and off by clicking its name.
Don't edit the filters in these saved views, since there isn't a way to revert back to the original saved view. If you want to add additional filters, use the Original View and build your filters from scratch.
To export quota responses:
In the Individual Responses tab of the Analyze Results section, you'll see the Response Status for each respondent.
Only Complete responses count towards your quota and are included in your Saved View. Over Quota and Incomplete responses aren't included in your Quota.
If you delete an individual response that counted towards your quota, the quota is still considered met. If you want to collect more qualified responses, increase your quota.