A label is an interpretation
A theme such as “collection instructions” can help find related comments. It should not replace the comment or imply that every comment in the group says the same thing. Write a short definition for each theme and decide whether one response can have more than one label. Keep ambiguous cases visible instead of forcing them into the nearest category.
Work through a fictional example
“The repair was excellent but the entrance was hard to find” could receive a repair-quality theme and a collection-access theme. If you count it under both, the theme totals can exceed the number of comments. Explain that rather than reporting the sum as a respondent count. A word appearing twice in one comment is also not two independent customers.
Review the boundary cases
Take a few comments that fit imperfectly and check whether the theme definitions are useful. Preserve disagreement between reviewers until it is resolved or documented. This process can be done manually for a small set; it does not require a paid analysis feature. Avoid creating so many themes that each comment becomes its own category.
Turn a theme into a question
A repeated entrance complaint suggests inspecting the instruction and route, not automatically redesigning the whole service. Keep severity, feasibility and missing context separate from frequency. One serious issue can deserve attention even when it is not the most common theme; the appropriate responsible person should decide the response.
Make the coding rule reviewable
Create a short theme key with an example and a boundary. “Directions” can include difficulty locating an entrance but exclude dissatisfaction with opening hours unless the theme explicitly covers both. If the definition changes during review, revisit affected comments and note the revision. A theme count should identify whether it counts comments, people or mentions. Those units are not interchangeable. Preserve mixed feedback; a positive overall tone does not cancel a specific operational problem in the same answer.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- SurveyMonkey customer-feedback analysis guide — Merchant documentation · surveymonkey.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-10-01