Logic and Routing
Overview
Routing logic allows you to create conditional pathways through your study — directing participants to different questions based on their previous answers. This ensures every participant sees only the questions that are relevant to them, improving data quality and reducing unnecessary friction.
Yazi supports multiple types of routing logic, from simple skip logic to complex nested conditional rules.
Types of Routing
Skip Logic
The most common routing type. When a participant selects a specific answer, they skip over irrelevant questions and jump directly to a more appropriate point in the survey.
Example:
Question 4 asks: "How frequently do you use AI tools?"
Participants who select "I've only tried it once" are routed to Question 5 (a question about why they haven't used it more) and skip the usage questions that only apply to regular users
Branching
Route different groups of participants down entirely separate question pathways based on their responses, then optionally merge them back together later.
Example:
Customers → questions about their purchase experience
Non-customers → questions about awareness and barriers to purchase
Both groups → same closing questions about brand perception
Screen-Outs
End the survey early for participants who don't meet your criteria. When a participant is screened out, they receive a customised screen-out message.
Example:
"Do you own a cat?" → No → screen out with a polite message explaining they don't qualify
Always Go-To (Unconditional Routing)
Route all participants from a specific question to another specific question, regardless of their answer. This is useful for:
Jumping an entire group past an irrelevant section after a branched pathway
Ending a sub-group's journey and taking them directly to the closing questions
Return to Menu (Diary Studies)
In diary studies, mark a question as the end of a journey to route participants back to the main menu, logging the completed session and resetting for the next entry.
How to Set Up Routing
Question-Level Routing
Open the question you want to add logic to
Click the Logic icon or tab on the question card
Select the answer option you want to trigger the route
Choose the destination question the participant should jump to
Repeat for each answer option that requires a different pathway
Options without specific routing will follow the default sequential order
Always Go-To Routing
Use this when you want to redirect all participants from a question to a specific point — regardless of what they answered:
Open the question
Add an Always Go-To rule
Select the destination question
Remove any individual answer-level routing (the Always Go-To overrides everything)
Use case: After a branched open text question that only applies to a sub-group, add an Always Go-To to jump those participants to the end of the survey, bypassing questions intended for the main group.
Condition Types
For text-based questions (open text, voice note transcriptions), routing can be based on text matching:
Text contains
Route if the participant's response contains a specific word or phrase
Text matches
Route if the response exactly matches a defined string
This allows you to route participants based on keywords in their open-ended responses.
Nested Logic (AND / OR Rules)
For complex routing requirements, you can combine multiple conditions:
AND Logic
Both conditions must be true for the route to trigger.
Example:
Participant selected "ChatGPT" AND "Meta AI" → route to a comparison question about both tools
OR Logic
Either condition can be true for the route to trigger.
Example:
Participant selected "Daily" OR "Multiple times a day" → route to the advanced usage section
Combining Multiple Rules
You can stack multiple logic rules on a single question, combining AND and OR conditions to create sophisticated pathways. Rules are evaluated in the order they appear — be mindful of rule priority when building complex flows.
Routing Best Practices
Plan Before You Build
Sketch your routing logic on paper or in a flow diagram before setting it up in the builder. Complex routing is much easier to implement when you can see the full structure clearly.
Test Every Pathway
After setting up routing, test each possible pathway by completing the survey yourself with different answers. Verify that:
Each route leads to the correct next question
No participants get stuck in a loop
Screen-outs work correctly
All pathways eventually reach the closing message
Keep It As Simple As Possible
Complex routing increases setup time and the risk of errors. Always ask: "Can I achieve the same outcome with simpler logic?" Often you can restructure questions to reduce the need for complex branching.
Use Always Go-To to Clean Up Sub-Group Journeys
When a sub-group of participants goes through a specific branch, always ensure they have a clear path out. Use the Always Go-To rule to jump them past irrelevant sections rather than leaving them to answer questions not meant for them.
Routing in Diary Studies
Diary studies use routing to create multiple journeys from a single menu:
Each menu item routes to a different starting question
The final question in each journey routes back to the menu (marked as survey complete)
You can add nested logic within any journey for additional branching
See [Diary Studies] for full details on menu-based routing.
Known Limitations
Preview routing — always use the test link to experience routing in the actual WhatsApp interface. The builder preview shows individual questions but not the full conditional flow.
Text matching is case sensitive — ensure your text match conditions account for different capitalisation possibilities
Voice note routing — routing based on voice note content uses the automatic transcription, which may occasionally contain transcription errors. Use this for broad keyword matching only.
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