Some surveys ask the same things about multiple objects, like several products, providers, or events. In a normal export, that data ends up as one row per participant with lots of columns, which is fine for participant-focused reporting but awkward if you want to analyse the objects themselves.
Looped export solves this by reshaping the output. Respondents still answer repeated questions, but the “looping” effect happens when you enable Looped export in the Responses tab settings, where the data can become one row per object and participant.
How looping works in Survey Automator
Survey Automator can keep both unlooped (participant-focused) and looped (object-focused) versions of the same data in one project. That makes it possible to build reports where some pages focus on participants and other pages focus on objects.
A key point: there is no looping functionality in the survey form itself. Looping is achieved by repetition (you repeat questions in a structured way), and then you configure the export to output looped rows.
You also choose one of two setup methods per project — they are mutually exclusive, meaning you cannot combine Method 1 and Method 2 in the same project.
● Method 1: Grid row loops (objects are grid rows)
● Method 2: Question block loops (a block of questions is repeated per object)
Method 1: Grid row loops
Use this when each grid has one header question and the rows are the objects (not a classic “multi-aspect” grid).
You set looping at the row level (the objects), and you can loop all rows or only selected rows. You can do this by going to: Edit question → Rows sub-tab → row level settings menu → Loop.
Method 2: Question block loops
Use this when you have a set of different questions about an object, and you repeat that block for object 1, object 2, and so on.
This way of looping requires you to add an answer block to the question, then enabling the looping in its settings.
How to use it
In the Responses tab, enable looped output by clicking the cogwheel and going to Other settings, then tick Looped export. With Looped export active, the response list (and Excel export) switches to a looped layout where each participant appears on multiple rows, with one row per loop. If you want those looped rows available for reporting inside the same project, export the looped file and import it back. This can also be automated with our Automation feature, so scheduled synchronization of responses → download looped export → import looped export.
Smart duplication
Survey Automator is designed to make loop creation faster when you duplicate blocks of questions. If you use a consistent naming pattern in Question IDs (for example 1Product , 1Satisfaction, 1Recommend), then when you multi-select the block and duplicate it, the next block will automatically get incremented IDs (for example 2Product, 2Satisfaction ,2Recommend ). The same logic applies to conditions: if you name conditions consistently (for example 1BoughtProduct → 2BoughtProduct), duplicating a loop block will copy the conditions and generate the next set in the same pattern, so you mainly need to review and adjust them rather than rebuild them from scratch.
With question looping, you can reshape repeated-question data into object-level rows inside one platform.
So, what are you waiting for? Contact us at Research Automators, and we’ll help you automate your business with modern technology.