Audience targeting and demographic questions both involve respondent traits, but they do different things and are used at different stages of your poll. Here's the key distinction:
Audience targeting controls who sees your poll. You set it before launch, and only respondents matching your chosen traits can respond.
Demographic questions collect extra data from whoever takes your poll. You analyze the results after to see how different groups responded.
Audience targeting
When you select Custom audience in the poll builder, you choose up to four trait categories (like age range, gender, or shopping habits). Only respondents who match all of your selected traits are invited to answer.
Use targeting when you already know who your customer is and you want feedback specifically from that group. For example, if you're testing packaging for a women's skincare product, you might target by gender and age range to make sure you're hearing from your actual customer base.
Demographic questions
Demographic questions are optional data points you add in the final step of the poll builder. After respondents answer your main question, they're asked to provide information about themselves — like income, education, or shopping habits.
All plans include two free demographic questions: age and gender identity. PickFu+ plans include three additional free questions: highest level of education, racial or ethnic identity, and annual household income (five free total). Additional questions beyond the free ones cost $0.10 per respondent per question.
Use demographic questions when you want to discover patterns — for example, "did higher-income respondents prefer a different option than lower-income respondents?" — without narrowing your audience upfront.
When to use each
Situation | Use targeting | Use demographic questions |
You know your target customer and want to hear only from them | Yes | Optional |
You want broad feedback but want to see how different groups responded | No | Yes |
You're doing audience discovery — figuring out who prefers what | No | Yes |
You want a specific audience AND richer result segmentation | Yes | Yes |
You can use both on the same poll. For example, you might target "Female, ages 25–44" and add demographic questions about income and shopping habits to see how those subgroups differ within your targeted audience.
A practical example
Say you're testing two book cover designs and you're not sure whether your book appeals more to younger or older readers.
Option A: Use demographic questions. Poll a random audience of 50 respondents and add age range as a demographic question. After the poll completes, filter results by age to see if there's a preference split.
Option B: Use targeting. Run two separate polls — one targeting ages 18–34 and another targeting ages 35–54 — and compare the results directly.
Option A is faster and cheaper (one poll instead of two). Option B gives you more focused feedback from each group. The right choice depends on how important the age distinction is to your decision.
FAQs
Can I see demographic data without adding demographic questions?
All PickFu Panel polls include basic demographic data (age and gender) by default. PickFu+ plans also include education, ethnicity, and income at no extra cost. You only need to add demographic questions if you want data points beyond what your plan includes.
Do demographic questions slow down my poll?
Slightly. Each additional question adds a few seconds to the respondent's experience, but it doesn't affect how quickly respondents are matched to your poll. The impact on overall completion time is minimal.
Can I add demographic questions to an own audience poll?
Yes. This is a great way to learn about your audience demographics for free. Learn more about own audience polls.