When you add a Virtual Question (VQ), the Optional Presets dropdown gives you a ready-made starting point for its answer options. Presets are built from your survey's own structure and data—logic groups, multi-answer questions, prefix and hashtag groups, open-ended codebooks, demographic traits, variables, Data Cleaning results, and nested quotas—so the presets you see depend on how your survey was programmed and targeted.
In This Article
- How the Optional Presets List Works
- Group Logic
- Top 1 or Top 2 Boxes
- Labels and Images for Group Presets
- Questions
- Prefix and Hashtag Groups
- Codebooks
- Demographic Traits
- Demographic Traits: Age Range
- Demographic Traits: Race/Ethnicity (US Surveys)
- Demographic Traits: Relationship Status
- Other Variables
- Data Cleaning
- Nested Quotas
- Why an Expected Preset Is Missing
How the Optional Presets List Works
Presets are grouped under headers, in the order shown below. A header appears only when your survey produces at least one preset for it, so most surveys show only some of these groups. Use the Search items box at the top of the dropdown to find a preset quickly.
| Header | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Group 1:, Group 2:, … | Comparable questions from [group] logic or Smart Loops. See Group Logic. |
| Questions: | Multi-answer questions with 2–7 answer options. See Questions. |
| Prefix group: | Answer options grouped by a shared first word. See Prefix and Hashtag Groups. |
| Hashtag group: | Answer options grouped by #label. See Prefix and Hashtag Groups. |
| Codebooks: | Tags from open-ended codebooks. See Codebooks. |
| Traits: | Demographic traits your survey targets. See Demographic Traits. |
| Variables: | Custom Upload, piping, and system variables. See Other Variables. |
| Data Cleaning: | Respondents' Data Cleaning suspicion level. See Data Cleaning. |
| Quotas: | Nested quota groups. See Nested Quotas. |
The list also only shows presets that fit the VQ's current answer type (Single choice, Multiple choice, Matrix single choice, or Open ended). If you change the answer type after selecting a preset that doesn't fit the new type, the preset is cleared.
Group Logic
If your survey uses [group] logic or Smart Loops, Optional Presets detects each node (one pass through the group or loop) and compares the questions that sit in the same position in every node—the first question of each node, the second question of each node, and so on. Each logic group or Smart Loop is listed under its own header: Group 1, Group 2, and so on.
A set of comparable questions is offered as a preset only when:
- It contains at least two questions—that is, at least two nodes have a question in that position.
- Every question in the set matches the first one on question type and number of answer options (e.g., each is a single-choice question with 5 answer options). For matrix and ranking questions, the rest of the question's structure must match too.
- The questions aren't slider questions. Slider questions never form a group preset.
⚠️ Note: When you view a shared report as a guest, questions removed from the report are left out before this check. That can drop a set below two questions, so a group preset may be visible to the report owner but not to a guest.
After you select a group preset, up to two more controls appear: a top box dropdown (for certain question types) and the label and image dropdowns.
Top 1 or Top 2 Boxes
For single-choice, matrix, and ranking questions, a second dropdown lets you collapse the answer list into Top Box answer options. Groups of multi-answer questions (such as multiple-choice questions) are analyzed as whole questions and don't get top boxes.
Because a Likert scale can be programmed in either direction, both ends of the answer list are offered. The dropdown lists up to four entries, in this order: Top 2 Box at one end, Top 2 Box at the other end, Top 1 Box at one end, and Top 1 Box at the other end. Each entry is labeled with the answer positions and text it includes, e.g., Top 2 Box (A1: Very satisfied, A2: Satisfied).
- Top 2 Box needs at least 3 qualifying answer options; Top 1 Box needs at least 2.
- Answer options such as None of these or Don't know are excluded before the box is formed, so a top box never includes them.
- If no top box qualifies, this dropdown doesn't appear.
Labels and Images for Group Presets
After a group preset, two dropdowns sit side by side: one fills in the labels for your VQ answer options, and the other fills in images. Each works independently. The images dropdown appears only when your survey has images to offer. In both dropdowns, an entry is listed only when the survey has the data it needs.
Labels
| Option | What it fills in |
|---|---|
| Use auto text | For a [group], the part of the question text that differs between otherwise identical questions. For a Smart Loop, the loop's variable values. Selected by default when available. |
| Use '<variable name>' text | The values of a Smart Loop text variable. One entry is listed for each text variable. |
| Use aliases | Each question's alias, when aliases are set. |
| Use aytm Logic references | The values of piping variables that appear in the question text. |
| Use Q text from <group> | The full question text. An entry is listed for this group and for each other comparable group in the same logic group or Smart Loop. |
💡 Tip: Auto text only detects differences in the question text itself, not inside logic such as aliases or piping. To label answer options with aliases or piped values, choose Use aliases or Use aytm Logic references instead.
Images
| Option | What it fills in |
|---|---|
| No images | No images. This is the first entry in the list. |
| Use auto images | The images that correspond to each question in the preset. |
| Use '<variable name>' images | The images from a Smart Loop variable. One entry is listed for each variable. |
| Use Q images from <group> | The question images from that group. |
To change the image on a single answer option, click the image or camera icon in that VQ label. A menu opens with every image in the survey. To remove the image, select No image at the bottom of that menu.
Questions
Under Questions, each multi-answer question with 2–7 answer options gets its own preset. This includes multiple-choice questions as well as heatmap and other multi-punch questions. After you select one, a second dropdown offers:
- Default: One answer option per answer. A respondent who selected several answers is counted in each of them, so the column can total more than 100%.
- Combinations: One answer option for every possible combination of answers. Combinations are generated from the question's answer list, not from responses, so a 7-option question produces 127 answer options, many of them empty.
Heatmap questions with clusters also get presets built from those clusters, and these update when the clusters change.
Prefix and Hashtag Groups
When a question has 6 or more answer options, Optional Presets groups answer options that start with the same first word into a Prefix group (e.g., A1 ShinyGlow Shampoo with A2 ShinyGlow Conditioner; A3 PureLocks Shampoo with A4 PureLocks Conditioner; A5 SilkWave Shampoo with A6 SilkWave Conditioner). The first word is the first word of the answer text, ignoring any [logic] tags at the start. A Prefix group is created only when at least one first word repeats and the answer options have at least two different first words.
Similarly, if you add a #label to answer options in a question with 6 or more answer options, that question appears as a Hashtag group. When selected, answer options that share a #label are combined into one answer option in your VQ. Answer options without a #label aren't dropped—each one is added as its own answer option at the end, below the hashtag groups.
⚠️ Note: Prefix and Hashtag groups aren't built for MaxDiff, Polarity, or Matrix Scale questions.
Codebooks
Under Codebooks, each open-ended question that has a codebook is shown as a heading, with its codebooks listed beneath it. Selecting a codebook creates one answer option per tag, plus a Not coded answer option for responses that weren't tagged.
Demographic Traits
Under Traits, you'll see a preset for each demographic trait your survey targets, so the list depends on your survey and its fielding country. A standard US survey includes traits such as gender, age, income, Hispanic origin, race, region, education, employment, career, relationship status, parental status, children's age and gender, and device. The country trait appears only for Worldwide surveys.
How a trait's preset is built depends on its answer type:
- Single-answer traits produce one preset with an answer option per value.
- Multi-select traits with 7 or fewer values get a second dropdown with Default and Combinations, as described for Race/Ethnicity and Relationship status below.
- Multi-select traits with more than 7 values produce one preset with an answer option per value and no Combinations option.
A few traits (Age range, Race/Ethnicity, and Relationship status) have extra considerations as you set up your VQ.
Demographic Traits: Age Range
When you select Age range, the answer options populated contain logic for our pre-programmed age buckets: 13-17, 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45-54, 55-64, 65-74, and 75+. Older surveys that use the previous age trait have seven buckets, ending at 65+. To combine several preset age ranges, use the operator or (e.g., age_range = '13-17' or age_range = '18-24').
To set up your own age groupings, convert the logic to call up ages with mathematical operators:
- With Age range selected, hover over an answer option and Shift-click switch to advanced mode. Shift-clicking switches every answer option at once; a regular click switches only that one.
- In each answer option, replace the logic with age >= # and age <= #, where the # values are the minimum and maximum ages for that custom range.
To go back, click switch to basic mode. If the expression is too complex to convert back, the control reads Simplify/clear logic to switch to the basic mode.
Demographic Traits: Race/Ethnicity (US Surveys)
Because the US Census asks two questions to determine race and ethnicity (Hispanic Origin, and Race multi-select), there are four possible Virtual Question presets for race and ethnicity, as determined by the US Race/Ethnicity demographic trait classifications:
- Hispanic origin: Its own trait preset in the Traits list. Shows the difference in your results between respondents who selected Yes and those who selected No.
- Race, then Default in the second dropdown: One answer option per race. Because race is multi-select, a respondent who selected more than one race is counted in each of those answer options, so the column won't sum to 100%.
- Race, then Combinations in the second dropdown: Every possible combination of race answers—63 answer options for the 6 US race values. Combinations are generated from the answer list, not from responses, so many of them will be empty.
- Race + Hispanic origin: A separate preset listed directly below Race, available when both traits are in the report. It creates mutually exclusive answer options: one per race for non-Hispanic respondents who selected only that race, one for Hispanic respondents (of any race), and a Multiracial answer option for non-Hispanic respondents who selected more than one race.
Demographic Traits: Relationship Status
Because Relationship status is a multi-select answer, a respondent can fall into multiple categories. After you select Relationship status, a second dropdown offers two options:
- Default: Counts each respondent in every relationship status category they chose, so the column won't sum to 100%.
- Combinations: Shows every possible combination—63 answer options for the 6 relationship status values. Combinations are generated from the answer list, not from responses, so combinations nobody selected appear as empty answer options.
Other Variables
Under Variables, Optional Presets lists your survey's variables: data appended with the Custom Upload feature, piping variables, and system variables such as browser and platform. A variable is listed only if it has at least one value, so an empty Custom Upload column won't appear. Hidden variables are left out. Custom text variables with 15 or more values are offered as Open ended presets.
Data Cleaning
Under Data Cleaning, the DC Suspicion Level preset splits respondents by their Data Cleaning suspicion level, with six answer options: No Suspicion, Minor, Low, Moderate, High, and Not Analyzed. This preset appears only when Data Cleaning results are available for the survey and to you.
Learn more about Data Quality Report.
Nested Quotas
If you set up Nested Demographic Quotas (quota groups) on the Target Market page, the Quotas header in the preset drop-down has a preset—Nested quota groups. It creates one answer option for each quota group that has at least one demographic filter, and each option is named after its group. The preset appears only when:
- The survey uses quota groups. Census-balanced surveys don't have a quota preset.
- The survey has at least 2 quota groups.
Groups with no filter, shown as "No filter" on the Target Market page, are skipped. If none of your groups has a filter, the preset doesn't appear. Each answer option uses its group's demographic criteria, except Country and Premium Profiles, which aren't included.
The preset reads your survey's current quota groups each time the report loads, so it includes groups added or changed during fielding.
⚠️ Note: Each answer option checks every respondent in the survey against its group's criteria. If a group was added or changed during fielding, the answer option also counts respondents collected before the change. Its counts may not match that quota's fill on the Target Market page.
Why an Expected Preset Is Missing
Headers with no presets are hidden, so a missing preset usually means one of these requirements wasn't met.
| Missing preset | Check that |
|---|---|
| Group logic | At least 2 nodes have a question in that position, the questions match on type and number of answer options, and they aren't slider questions. |
| Top boxes | The questions are single-choice, matrix, or ranking questions with enough qualifying answer options (3 for Top 2, 2 for Top 1). |
| Questions | The question is multi-answer and has 2–7 answer options. |
| Prefix or Hashtag group | The question has 6 or more answer options and isn't an excluded question type. For a Prefix group, at least one first word repeats. |
| Trait Combinations | The trait is multi-select and has 7 or fewer values. |
| Variable | The variable has at least one value. |
| Nested quota groups | The survey uses nested quotas (not census balancing) and has at least 2 quota groups. |
| Premium Profiles | Premium Profiles used for targeting don't appear as presets. |
| Any preset, as a guest | Questions removed from a shared report are excluded, which can remove group presets that the report owner still sees. |