Surveys

What a survey is

A survey is a form with as many questions as you like, published at its own page on your website. Readers answer with their email address, and each answer is saved to that reader's subscriber profile. You can then use the answers in segments and automations.

You manage surveys under Tools, Surveys. The list shows each survey's Survey Name, Status (Draft or Live), Responses, Last Response and when it was Created. Use Search surveys and Date created to find one.

Creating a survey

Click New Survey. A new draft opens straight away in the builder. A survey page has three tabs, Builder, Response and Settings, plus Preview and Publish at the top. Click the survey's name at the top to rename it.

Building the questions

Under Add Title and Add Description, write the heading and intro readers see at the top of the form.

To add a question, drag a question type from the left onto the form. You can drop it between existing questions, and drag questions by their handle to reorder them.

For each question:

• Write the question under Add your question.
• For choice questions, fill in the choices and use Add option for more.
• Turn on Required on form if readers must answer it.
• Pick a Custom field (see below).

The copy and bin icons on a question duplicate or delete it. Changes save automatically as you work.

Why every question needs a custom field

A custom field is where the answer is stored on the reader's subscriber profile, for example "Favourite topic". Pick an existing one, or click Create a new one and give it a Field name.

• If a reader answers the same survey again, their saved answer is replaced with the new one.
• Choices are saved as the words readers picked, so you can use them in segments.
• A custom field belongs to one survey at a time. Picking a field that another survey uses moves it to this survey.

Settings

The Settings tab holds the rest. Click Save changes when you are done.

Survey types

• Standalone: answering doesn't subscribe anyone. A new email address is saved as a reader who gets no emails, and existing subscribers stay exactly as they were.
• Subscribe: a new email address becomes a subscriber straight away, without a confirmation email. It counts toward your plan's subscriber limit. People already on your list, including those who unsubscribed, are not changed.
• Unsubscribe: answering unsubscribes the reader. Use it as a "why are you leaving?" form.

If your publication is private and requires approval, new people from any type of survey wait for your approval.

Publishing

Click Publish, then confirm. Inkwave first checks that:

• the survey has at least one question
• every question has question text
• every question is mapped to a custom field
• every choice question has at least one option

If anything is missing you see "Please fix the following errors before publishing." and what to fix.

Once live, the survey's page is at /survey/ followed by a short name made from its title, on your website. Click View live to open it and copy the link. The address is set the first time you publish and never changes afterwards, even if you rename the survey.

Changing a live survey

While a survey is live, its questions can't be changed, so every response matches the same questions. To change them, click Unpublish, make your changes, then Publish again. Readers who open the link while it's unpublished can't answer. The link and all responses so far are kept.

The Settings tab, including the description, button text and thank-you message, can still be changed while it's live.

Preview shows the form as readers see it, at any time.

What readers see

Readers type their email address and answer the questions. If they are signed in to your website, their email is filled in. A signed-in reader who has already answered sees "You've already responded to this survey."

Readers answer a survey on its own page; you can't place it on your other website pages. You can also make it a step in a signup flow under Website, Settings, Signup flows.

Responses

The Response tab shows Total Questions and Total Responses, with two views:

• Summary: each question with its answers. Choice questions show a count and percentage per choice.
• Individual: one row per response, with Email, Status, Questions Answered and Responded At. Status shows the person's paid subscription, if they have one. Click View to see every answer. Use Search by email to find someone, and Export CSV to download the list.

Using answers elsewhere

• Automations: the Survey Submission trigger starts an automation when someone submits a survey.
• Segments: the Survey Response condition finds people who answered, and their custom fields can be used like any other.

Deleting a survey

Click the bin icon on the survey's page, or Delete in the list, and confirm. This permanently deletes the survey and all its responses.

Your plan

If your plan doesn't include surveys and polls, New Survey is turned off and you see "Your plan doesn't include new surveys and polls. Existing ones keep working." Your existing surveys stay editable and publishable, and readers can keep answering. Your plan may also limit how many surveys and polls you can have together, counting live surveys and every poll; at the limit, publishing a survey is refused with a message saying how many your plan allows, and drafts are not counted.

Troubleshooting

Publish says to map every question to a custom field: a question has no Custom field selected. It is outlined in red in the builder.

I can't edit the questions: the survey is live. Unpublish it, edit, then publish again. It keeps its link.

The link shows "not found": the survey has been unpublished, or not published yet.

A reader saw "This publication isn't accepting new subscribers right now.": a Subscribe survey can't add more subscribers because your plan's subscriber limit has been reached.

An answer on a profile changed: the reader answered the survey again, or another survey now uses the same custom field.