Using Categories & Category Scores

Overview

Categories and Category Scores are at the heart of many powerful scorecards built in ScoreApp. By grouping related questions (or answers) into categories, you can provide more granular insights to your audience and tailor recommendations based on how they perform in each area. This article will guide you through creating categories, assigning questions to them, calculating category scores, and displaying meaningful feedback in your Results Page.

1. What Are Categories and Why Use Them?

Categories let you group questions by topic, theme, or any logical grouping. For example, if you’re creating a leadership assessment, you might have categories like “Communication,” “Strategic Thinking,” and “Team Management.” Each category then has its own sub-score, helping quiz-takers see not just an overall score, but how they performed in each specific area.

Benefits of using categories:

Granular Feedback: Provide specific insights on strengths or weaknesses.
Personalized Results: Tailor recommendations or next steps based on category performance.
Flexible Display: Highlight the highest-scoring category (e.g., personality-style quiz) or show all categories in a donut or bar chart.
Future Segmentation: Track category data to segment leads or deliver more targeted follow-ups.

2. Creating Categories

Before you start assigning questions to categories, you need to create them in your scorecard settings:

Go to your Scorecard: In the left-hand “Build” menu, select Questions.
Select the Category Icon: Usually, you’ll see a tab or icon labeled “Categories” (it might look like stacked columns).
Click “Add Category”: Give your category a clear name (e.g., “Marketing,” “Sales,” “Leadership,” etc.).
(Optional) Add a Description: This can help you remember how the category is used, though descriptions are internal and do not automatically appear to quiz-takers.
Save Your Category: You can add as many categories as you need.

Tip: Think about how many categories you truly need. Too many can overwhelm results, so aim for a balance that provides meaningful insights without unnecessary complexity.

3. Assigning Questions to Categories

After you create your categories, you’ll want to map each question to the correct category. A single question can also contribute to multiple categories, if needed.

Open the Question: In the Build → Questions view, click on a question to open its settings panel on the right.
Select “Answers” (or click on a specific answer): Here you’ll see the scoring toggle. Turn on Scoring for the specific answer you want to score if it's not on already.
Assign Category: For each answer, choose the relevant category (or categories) from the dropdown. (You can also add new categories directly here as well)
Set Points: Decide how many points an answer is worth within that category. Repeat for any additional categories if an answer should impact more than one. Read more about assigning points here

Remember: If you plan to show results at a category level, every category must have at least one question / answer scoring into it (otherwise, that category will display as zero).

4. Calculating Category Scores

Each category’s score is determined by summing the points for all answers assigned to that category. ScoreApp then converts those points into a percentage (based on the total possible points in that category). This approach allows you to show the user how they performed, for example:

Category Score: Achieved points ÷ Total possible points for that category × 100%

If your category has 20 total possible points and a respondent earns 10, that’s 50%. How you label that result (e.g., Low, Medium, High) depends on the Score Tiers you’ve set up. Read more about Score Tiers here

5. Showing Category Scores on the Results Page

You have multiple ways to show category scores:

Donut or Bar Chart: Display each category’s percentage, letting the user see their distribution across multiple categories.
Highest-Scoring Category: Perfect for “personality-style” quizzes. You can highlight the single best-matching category if you prefer that approach.
Individual Category Sections: Each category can have its own block or section with tailored content. This is especially useful if you want to provide different advice or resources for each category.

Note: If you only want to show the highest (or lowest) scoring category, be sure to use one of the Individual Category sections and set it to “Display Highest” or “Display Lowest” in the section settings. Read more about Personality-Style Quizzes here

6. Dynamic Content in Category Results

Dynamic Content is a powerful feature that allows you to display different texts or call-to-action items depending on the user’s score tier in each category. For instance:

Low Tier (0–33%): “You may need more support in this category. Consider focusing on basics or scheduling a consultation.”
Medium Tier (34–66%): “You’re on the right track! Here are some strategies to boost your performance further.”
High Tier (67–100%): “Excellent work. You’re performing strongly in this category. Keep refining your skills.”

How to Enable Dynamic Content for a Category Section:

Go to Results → Edit Result Page.
Click Add Section (or edit an existing category section).
Toggle on Dynamic Content under the Logic or Settings tab.
Provide content for each Score Tier (Low, Medium, High or however you label them).

7. Hiding or Excluding Certain Categories

Occasionally, you might have categories (like “Demographics” or “About You”) that you don’t want to show in the results. If so, you can:

Not assign scores for those questions. Simply keep scoring disabled in the “Answers” tab so these questions do not contribute to any category.
Hide the category section in your Results Page. You can either toggle off the “Show Category” by clicking the eye icon on the left, or simply not add an individual category section for it.

This approach ensures that demographic questions stay out of the scoring and remain invisible to the user’s final results.

8. Weighted Categories

Sometimes you want certain categories to contribute more (or less) to an overall score than others. You could:

Assign higher point values to categories requiring more weight.
Keep the category’s total possible points higher than other categories (e.g., one category might have 5 questions × 3 points each = 15 points, while another has 3 questions × 1 point each = 3 points).
Use the same number of questions, but vary the points per answer to reflect a higher weighting.

As a result, the category with higher points exerts more influence on the overall or final result.

9. Common Use Cases & Examples

Multi-Category Assessments: e.g., Health & Fitness quizzes with categories for Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Stress.
Personality-Style Quizzes: e.g., 4–5 distinct personalities, each assigned to a category. Show only the highest scoring category in the result.
Skill Gap Analysis: e.g., categories for Sales, Marketing, Operations, Finance. Show where a user is strongest and which skill needs the most improvement.
Complex Weighted Scoring: e.g., Leadership scorecards where “Team Management” is worth more than “Meeting Efficiency.”

10. Troubleshooting & Best Practices

Missing Category Scores? Double-check your questions’ “Answers” tab to ensure you toggled on scoring and assigned categories.
Score Tiers Not Matching Expected Values? Remember that the system converts raw points to a percentage based on total points in that category. Adjust the tier ranges under Build → Settings → Score Tiers if needed.
Overlapping Categories: If a single question belongs to more than one category, it can create complexity in your final analysis. Ensure your scoring approach is intentional and clarifies how you’re weighting each category.
Too Many Categories? More isn’t always better. Overloading with 8, 10, or more categories can dilute the significance of each one and overwhelm users in the results.
Test Thoroughly: Use draft mode to test your quiz without consuming real leads. Check each category’s dynamic content or result text to ensure it lines up with the correct range or tier.

Key Takeaways

Plan Ahead: Decide on categories and how they contribute to (or are excluded from) overall scoring before you build your questions.
Assign Thoughtfully: Make sure each answer properly maps to the category(ies) it should impact.
Use Dynamic Content: Provide personalized feedback based on each category’s performance tier.
Balance Detail vs. Clarity: Show all categories if you need granular insight, or highlight a single category (like the highest scoring one) for simpler “personality quiz” outcomes.
Test & Refine: Always preview the quiz and results page in draft mode to confirm everything behaves as intended.

By leveraging categories effectively, you can transform a simple questionnaire into a rich, insight-driven scorecard that delivers valuable and personalized feedback for your audience.