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Web-Based Surveys

Jomar Ferreras (he/him)
  • Updated

Web-based Surveys are pop-up surveys that can be implemented on your customer-facing app or website. These surveys do get comparable response rates to emailed surveys, so if you have a lot of activity within your platform, they can be an effective way to get feedback from your user base.

Web-based Surveys will respect the first Global Contact Rule: the amount of time to wait between sending Surveys to contacts. Web-based Surveys cannot be "delayed" for new contacts who access your particular survey page for the first time.

 

Is this approach to gathering feedback right for your business?

Great question! A few things to consider:

Web Developer help is required

Our javascript solution requires access to the front end of your website - you will need a developer to help build a "container" for the surveys so that they show to the right people at the right time.

Timing is important! 

You should attempt to send these surveys after a transaction or event to avoid interrupting the user's workflow.

Feedback from a user in your website can result in Contacts scoring based on their experience in the site rather than your brand, or vice versa. Use the Survey configuration options to gear your messaging towards capturing their impressions of the app/website OR general sentiment towards your overall brand.

Web-based Surveys can only survey users who access your app/website

You may miss important stakeholders who don't log in regularly. Combining Web-based and Email-based campaigns may help you target your key Contact base. 

Email is optional, or required if Follow-up is desired. An email address must be captured from the Contact that is taking the Web Survey to run Workflows and to activate the Global Contact Rule to limit their exposure to the survey. Otherwise, a new anonymous email will be generated automatically for Survey requests without Email.

Unlike our Email-based Surveys, Web-based Surveys do not provide Contacts with the option for "Privacy" or "Unsubscribe". Since you control who gets to see the survey on your site, a Contact accepts your Terms and Conditions by accessing the page. Any correspondence from AskNicely afterwards (ie. Workflows) does provide the opt-out options. 

NOTE: Survey respondents become new, "Active" Contacts in AskNicely. If you use a mix of web-based surveys and automatically scheduled surveys, you may need to maintain your Contact list on a regular basis. 

All set? Read on for how to enable Web-based Surveys.

 

Choose Your Survey Template

When setting up Web Surveys, you should first configure a specific Survey Template:

We recommend creating a specific Web-Based Survey Template as it makes it much easier to isolate your Web Survey Responses specifically, when you filter by Survey Template.

Web surveys, by default, do not display  scale labels or Privacy/Unsubscribe links.

  1. Navigate to the Web Survey App. App Store > Discover > Web-based Surveys > Configure
  2. Click "Create a new Survey Template." This will take you back out to a Survey building page. When you have completed this step, head back into the Web Survey App.
  3. Select your Survey Template
      • Select the name of the template you just built, or;
      • If you haven't created an additional Survey Templates yet, the dropdown will only show the "Default" Survey Template.

 

Implementing Web-Based Surveys

Next, scroll down the Web-Based Survey app to grab the Javascript code you will be embedding in your app/website.

  1. Scroll down to the "Embedding in your website" section in the Web Survey app.
  2. Select either the "Traditional Website" or "Single page web application" tab.
    • You should choose based on the type of app/website in which you will be delivering the Web-Based Survey. If you do not know which one to choose, consult your IT/Development team.
  3. Copy the Javascript code provided.
  4. Insert the code into the webpage where you want your contacts to be surveyed.
    • We recommend coding a "container" for this Javascript code. 
      • A "container" sets criteria for who is shown the survey
        • A good container defines exactly how & when the survey will be shown to the user.
        • We recommend thinking long and hard about the best trigger for showing the survey - it's better to do it after a specific event so that it doesn't interrupt the user's workflow. 
      • If you do not build a "container", the survey will just show to everyone that goes to that page.
  5. Edit the Javascript code in the config section to reflect your domain details. Make sure the "template_name" is an exact match for the Survey Template you chose in Step 1 above.
            domain_key:    "ztrain", // Required - this is what comes before ".asknice.ly" in your AskNicely URL
            template_name: "Default", // Required - the survey template you wish to use
            alignment:     "center", // Optional - "left", "center" or "right"
            name:          "Zach Dunham", // Optional - but nice to have
            email:         "zach.dunham+1@asknice.ly", // Required - if no email, this should be a unique id for this customer in an email-like format. But a real email address is more powerful for follow-ups
            email_hash:    "91b628e621b3a64c9728b8587afa07a3b019e99e8f40afd41def874726f40a82", // Required - *security hash of this customers email - see below
            created:       1628892440 // Highly desired - unix timestamp when this customer joined your service.
        },
        customData: { // Optional - Send extra data about this customer for reporting and leaderboards
            customer_type:       "business", // AskNicely can accept *any* field-value pairing.  
            location: "New York" // Another example of a  field-value pairing.

 

​​The default AskNicely Web Survey will display to anyone that is on the page the widget lives on. We will create contact records for any survey recipients that do not already have a contact record in AskNicely.

 

Turn on Web-based Surveys

You've already completed the hardest part! Turning on the Surveys is easy.

  1. Set/Check your Global Contact Rule. In AskNicely, go to your Send page (paper airplane icon) and make sure that your Global Contact Rule is set correctly.
      • We typically recommend setting your time between Surveys to a minimum of 90 days.
      • Web Surveys will not obey the "Delay" field, so we recommend leaving that at 0.
  2. Choose Your Display Limits. Then, go back to the Web-Based Survey app in AskNicely (App Store > Installed Apps > Web-based Surveys)
      • Scroll down to the "Display Limits" section
      • Choose the number of surveys to send per day in the "Daily Limits" box
        • You have the option to set hourly limits as well - this is a good way to make sure everything is working as expected when you first turn on your surveys.

 

We recommend testing thoroughly and monitoring sent surveys closely to ensure they aren't being over-automated. Happy coding!

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