Survey collectors: what they are and how to best utilize them

What is a Survey collector?

A survey collector has a clue to what it is in the name, it is a sort of 'box' that collects all the answers from your survey and funnels them into different collectors dependant on what iframe or url was used to deploy the survey.

Collectors are required for the system to track responses to your survey. 

For example, you may use a Survey to sign recipients up to an event. You could have one collector placed on your website and another placed on a campaign you’ve built, allowing you to see which was the most effective method of gaining RSVPs. You can also use them to sign people up for different events without you having to create a new survey each time (simply disable an old collector and enable a new one). This retains branding across all the collectors and means you only have to make a change once for all the collectors to be updated.

By default, one collector (“First collector”) is pre-built for every survey.

Adding a new collector:

• Click the down arrow icon next to the survey title, and select More.
• Click the Collectors tab.
• Click the Add Collector button to create additional collectors if you wish to track sub-sets of responders separately. For instance, if you create a customer satisfaction survey, you may want to then setup different collectors for each year. That way all responses are stored together, but can also be reviewed and segmented by year.
• Click the down arrow icon next to a collector’s name to access additional options:
  View / view the survey using the selected collector
  Deploy / access options to deploy the survey via this collector
  Disable/Activate – disable an active collector, or activate a disabled collector
  Edit / edit the settings and restrictions for a collector
  Rename / change the name of the collector as it is shown in your account
  Reset / delete all views, responses and other statistics for the collector.

This will open up a window where you can customize your collector to perform different tasks.

From this page, you'll be able to customize how your collector will function. For example, you may want to have a survey that is linked on both your website and your email campaign but have the responses capped and separated. To do this, you'll need to set up your collector, making sure to set the maximum responses to the set number you need.

Then, once everything has been set up as you'd like it, you will need to click the drop down menu next to the collector and pick a way to deploy.

How to deploy collectors:

• Navigate to Surveys
• Click the drop down menu next to the survey
• Click the More button
• Navigate to the collectors tab
• Click the drop down menu and select Deploy

Deployment options:

• From the Collector URL tab, copy and paste the URL displayed to allow responders to answer the survey (e.g. from your website).
• From the Short URL and QR Code tab, copy and paste the Short URL (requires bitly account) or download a QR image to provide easy access to your survey.
• From the Embed tab, copy and paste the HTML code displayed to embed the survey within your website.
• From the LinkedIn tab, post a network update with a link to your survey (your account must be connected to LinkedIn via Settings for this option).
• From the Facebook tab, post an update with a link to your survey (your account must be connected to Facebook via Settings for this option).
• From the Twitter tab, tweet a short URL to your survey (your account must be connected to Twitter via Settings for this option).
• From the Prompt tab, generate HTML code to use on your website to automatically prompt visitors to complete your survey.
• From the Overlay tab, generate HTML code to use on your website to display your survey as an overlay, either automatically or following a visitor's click.

Using one of these additional deployment methods means that when viewing the Responses tab, only IP addresses and “Unknown” will be listed for the responders (not email address). Your survey must include questions to obtain the responders’ details, including name and email address. When you export responses, you will then be able to view those details.

 

If you'd like to deploy your collector the old fashioned way by linking to your campaign, follow the steps below:

• Go to the Content step of an in progress campaign.
• Click into the editable area, and select the text or image you wish to link. (If no text or image is selected, the title of the collector will be used as the link.)
• Click the Create Link icon in the editing toolbar, and click the Survey tab.
• Select a survey from the drop down menu.
• By default, the link will open in a new window when clicked by recipients so that they will also have your original campaign open after visiting that link. Alternatively if desired, you can deselect the checkbox to open the link in a new window.
• Click the Create Link to Survey button.

When you start to get responses in, you'll need to go to Reports > Surveys > Click the survey > Responses. From here you can tally up how many responses you got from each collector either via the interface, or exporting to an excel spreadsheet.

How to connect a survey to a collector outside of a campaign

If you wish to send an anonymous survey to recipients not via a campaign, you'll need to send the generic survey URL on it's own. You can get this link by clicking the drop down menu next to the survey, selecting More, and then the Collectors tab on the form that opens. Each collector will have a dropdown beside it allowing you to Deploy or View to grab the generic URL for that collector.

Please note that when you view your responses in the survey, they will display as Unknown and you will need to click into the response to see who submitted it (Make sure to put in a First Name, Last Name and Email question if you'd like to go down this route)