Skip logic and branching, explained

How survey skip logic works in Versive: conditions, branching actions, screening rules, and common pitfalls like orphaned branches.

Survey skip logic sends each participant down a path based on how they answer, so they do not see questions that do not apply to them. In Versive, question logic consists of rules attached to a question. When a condition matches, the rule can jump the participant elsewhere, screen them out, or end the interview early. This guide covers supported conditions and actions, common patterns, and unreachable branches.

How logic rules work

A logic rule lives on a question. It pairs a condition with an action, and you can chain more than one rule on the same question. Rules are checked top to bottom, and the first matching rule runs. Any rules below it are skipped. If no rule matches, the interview moves to the next question.

A broad rule placed above a narrow one will always run first, making the narrow rule and its branch unreachable. Order rules from most specific to least specific, and put a general "always do this" rule last.

What triggers a rule

The conditions you can use depend on the question type the rule sits on:

• Multiple choice supports always and equals a specific option; multi-select multiple choice additionally supports includes a specific option and fewer than a set number of selections.
• Rating scale, NPS, star rating, and number questions support always, or a numeric comparison: equal to, greater than, greater than or equal to, less than, or less than or equal to a value you set.
• AI question, exploratory, open text, and short text questions support always, or an AI rule.
• Every other question type only supports always, so the rule fires unconditionally once a participant reaches it.

AI rules make branching possible on open-ended answers. Instead of matching an exact value, you write a condition in plain language, such as "if the participant mentions price as a concern," and Versive's AI evaluates it against the response. AI rules run in order alongside the other rules on the same question. Use a specific, observable condition such as "mentions a competitor by name" instead of an interpretation such as "seems unhappy." Specific conditions evaluate more reliably. See AI follow-up questions: probing without a moderator for more on how the AI reads open-ended responses.

What a rule can do

When a condition matches, one of five actions runs:

• Go to question jumps ahead to a later question, skipping everything in between.
• Move to group jumps to a question group; the participant enters at that group's first question and continues from there.
• End interview finishes the study immediately and shows the thank-you message.
• Screen out ends the interview and shows the screen-out message. The response is marked as screened out and does not count toward your quota.
• Redirect to URL sends the participant to an external URL. It is not available on AI question or exploratory questions.

Common patterns

Screening participants. Put qualifying questions first and attach a screen out rule to each disqualifying answer. A participant who matches a rule sees your customizable screen-out message and is excluded from completions and insights by default. For help writing the qualifying questions, see How to write screener questions that actually screen.

Branching by answer. A multiple choice question with an equals or includes rule per option is the most common branch point: participants who pick one answer see a different follow-up than participants who pick another. For example, someone who rates their experience at the low end of a scale can be routed to an AI question that asks what went wrong, while everyone else skips straight to the next section. Because conditions vary by question type, check what a question supports before you design a branch around it.

Reusing earlier answers. Skip logic controls where a participant goes; mentions control what they see once they get there. Type "at" (the @ symbol) in the question editor and pick a previous question to insert a reference to its answer, or to a specific option or property. A later question can then include that participant's answer, as in "Why did you choose the Pro plan?" You can pipe answers from open text, short text, multiple choice, matrix rating scale, card sort, ranking, and allocation questions.

Where jumps can and cannot go

Jumps are forward-only: a rule can only target a question or group that comes after the question it belongs to, which is why the last question in a study has no valid jump targets at all.

Question groups add two more constraints. Questions inside a group with randomized order cannot be targeted directly because their position differs for every participant. Target the group instead; each participant enters at the first question in their shuffled order. Empty groups cannot be targeted because there is no question to land on.

The target picker in the logic editor offers only valid destinations, so you cannot select an impossible jump.

Avoiding orphaned branches

A saved rule can become invalid after an edit. This happens if you delete its target question or group, move the target earlier in the study, or turn on randomized order for the target's group. Versive keeps the rule and shows a warning in the logic editor so you can fix or remove it. Until you do, the branch may be unreachable.

Rule order can also make a branch unreachable. If an early, broad rule matches before a later, narrower rule, the narrower rule never runs. After adding or reordering rules, trace each branch and confirm that a participant can reach its target.

Logic in multilingual studies

Logic is language-aware: rules are evaluated against the language in which the participant takes the study. This matters if you run a study in multiple languages and rely on AI rules to identify specific phrases. You can usually re-check a condition by adding another correctly ordered rule to the same question instead of creating a separate question.

Add branches one at a time and confirm each target in the logic editor after adding or reordering rules.