Creating a Survey

This tool allows you to create a variety of surveys regarding any topic, and you have the flexibility to collect different answer types: yes/no, multiple choice, etc.  Afterwards, the Survey Report will display the response information for everyone who took the survey along with how they answered the question.

To begin, go to Advocacy > Surveys and click “New Survey.” If you want to edit an existing survey instead, just click on the name of the survey in question.

There are four major parts to creating a survey:

• Options
• Alert
• Questions
• Confirmation & Promote

Options

The first page of the survey editor allows you to enter a name for the survey, choose how long it lasts, and set other broad options.

Enter a name that will set this survey apart from any others. The name is only visible to you, not your supporters.

Next, set the priority level. Spotlight places a link to the survey in a banner area at the top of your main VoterVoice page. Normal places that link only in a text listing.

Also, set the dates the survey should be displayed on the action center.

You will need to choose whether the survey is public or private. A public survey is discoverable by anyone who visits your site, but a private survey can only be accessed through the direct link that you send out.

At the bottom, check the first checkbox if you want to organize your survey into sections.  For instance, the survey may have a biographical background section, educational background section, etc.  Use the second checkbox for sensitive issues, and it allows your contacts to fill out the survey anonymously.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you choose to make the survey anonymous, the track and resend tool will not be available because the contacts are unknown.  Also, once you make a selection for this checkbox and click Continue it cannot be changed – so please make your selection carefully.

Alert

The second page allows you to explain the purpose of the survey and include background information for your supporters.

This will appear on your Action Center, and will also be automatically imported as the subject and body of any email created to drive your members to the survey. Remember that this is your message to your users asking them to take their time to complete the survey.

Section Headings

If you chose to organize your survey into sections, the next page requires you to name each one.  

You may assign as many as needed. If you need more lines, click Add New Section Heading. To edit the title or delete a section heading, click the appropriate icon at the end of the corresponding row. You also have the option to make the survey multi-page, with each section separated. Check the box at the bottom to enact this option.

Questions

The Questions page is where you create the questions that you want your supporters to answer. To create a new question, click the “New Question” button at the top-right corner of the page. To edit an existing question, just click on the question.

If you created sections, then the first step before adding a question is to select under which section it belongs.  Otherwise, move straight to typing your desired question into the text box.

Determine what type of response you are looking for (yes/no, number, date, etc.) and remember that the more specific and limited the answer, the quicker it is to view results.  For example, if you give a yes/no question, the VoterVoice system can tally the responses and give you a percentage in seconds, whereas if you ask for a long text reply, you will have to read each individual response.  This sample survey from our Demo site contains examples of many different answer types.

You may set any question to be required or optional, and you may also save most answers to a custom field that you have created. This option saves the user’s answer directly to his or her contact record. All answers are always saved in the Survey Report.

Explanation of Answer Types

• Yes/No – Provides a circle button or checkbox beside a Yes/No option
• Short Text – Provides user with a text box that allows up to 1000 characters (not 1000 words)
• Long Text – Provides user with a text box that allows up 2000 characters (not 2000 words)
• Date – Provides user with date fields for month/day/year and a calendar to verify; example: birthday
• Number – Provides a number box; example: age
• Currency – Provides user with a number field; example: annual income
• Multiple Options with Single Answer – Lists the possible answers with the option of only checking one; multiple choice.
• Multiple Options with Multiple Answers – Lists the possible answers with the option to check as many as apply.
• Multiple Options with Grading - Provides the user with a list of topics to grade on whatever criteria you provide; example - Supports, Opposes, No Opinion, Did Not Discuss. The user may grade each topic once.
• Multiple Options with Multiple Grading - Provides the user with a list of topics to grade on whatever criteria you provide; example - Supports, Opposes, No Opinion, Did Not Discuss. The user may grade each topic multiple times.
• Multiple Options with Ranking – Lists the options and user will rank from 1-# of options available; example: Rank in order from best to worst where 1 = best.
• Ballot With Single Choice – Provides user with a number of ballot options from which to make a single choice; example: holding board elections for the association. You have the ability to add in images and text for each ballot option provided. (Example image to the right.)
• Ballot With Multiple Choice – Provides user with a number of ballot options from which to choose multiple selections
• Meeting Information - Used only for surveys collecting data about users meeting with elected officials. This includes the official with whom the user met, where they met, when they met, and who else was present. A question with this answer type must be the first question in a meeting report survey.

Depending on which option you select, extra steps may be necessary due to the nature of the answer.  If you select a Multiple Options Answers, then once you enter the question, you must enter the different answer options in the text boxes provided.  If you need more lines, click Add More Lines. If you choose Multiple Options with Grading, enter the options to be graded and the grading schema. For example, you want to see how your contacts feel about the President, V. President, and Secretary of your association; you would enter their names into the answer fields and then Very Satisfied, Satisfied, or Dissatisfied in the Rating Scheme.  

Confirmation & Promote

The Confirmation page of the survey editor allows you to compose a short message that indicates to your contacts that the survey is complete and to express your gratitude for their participation. Users will see a thank you message on the webpage and also receive it in an email.

You can choose to disable or allow the easy share icons for social media. If you leave these enabled, users will see icons to post a link to the survey on their social media accounts.

The checkbox below that indicates whether you wish to allow your users to be able to see a report of survey responses by either percentages only or by percentages and numbers. When you are finished click continue.

At this point, you have the option to send a message to your contacts that drives them to the survey action center.  By selecting Yes, the system redirects you to Manage Broadcasts. Remember, now your survey is on the action center regardless of you sending a message.  If you do not wish to send a message at this time, select No. If and when you do wish to send one; however, there is no need to recreate the survey; simply go into Manage Broadcasts and create a new message with the purpose of “drive my contacts to my action center” and then choose this survey from the list of possible actions.

You may visit the link below to view steps in YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BL_07SnZPs