Building Dynamic Ad Hoc Surveys

Before you can build and send an ad hoc survey, Rant & Rave will need to configure your survey settings.

As part of the configuration, Rant & Rave will create a new campaign workflow and an email template where you can define the email subject and salutation for personalization.

The email template will also contain:

• A fixed logo of your choosing - this logo will be the same for all campaigns sent using the survey configuration.

• A dynamic intro - added to the data file used to trigger your survey, allowing you to apply context, set expectations, and explain the intended data usage.

  Tip: your dynamic intro should be a single paragraph using best email practice.

• A dynamic survey link - configured for each campaign by copying the URL for your survey into the data file used to trigger your survey.

• A fixed image of your choosing - this image will be the same for all campaigns sent using the survey configuration.

When your ad hoc survey is configured, you can begin building your dynamic ad hoc survey.

Building ad hoc surveys using Alchemer

Note: this article only covers the steps needed to add questions and link them to your Rant & Rave ad hoc survey. It is not a full user guide for building a survey in Alchemer.

When your survey is first configured, you will be provided with a web form template. When you want to launch a new ad hoc survey:

1. Copy the web form you wish to use as the basis for your new survey campaign.

   Tip: copying the existing web form will copy the webhook action associated with your ad hoc survey.

2. Give the copied web form a new name. This will be the campaign name within Rant & Rave.

3. Remove any questions you do not need.

   

4. Use the add new: links at the bottom of the pane to add a new question.

5. Select your question type, enter your text/options, and save the question.

   

6. When you have finished adding/removing questions, open the webhook action.

   Note: the webhook action will be added as part of the survey configuration and does not need to be re-added if you copy the existing web form for each new survey.

   However, you will need to re-map your questions.

7. In the edit action pane, scroll down to your questions.

   Any questions kept from the previous web form will already be mapped. Verify these are correct.

   How you map your added questions depends on if your survey uses fixed meta data headers or dynamic data fields.

Mapping fixed meta data headers

If using an ad hoc survey configured with fixed meta data headers:

1. On the primary setup tab, use the select a question to map dropdown to select your added questions and add them to the webhook action.

   

2. Enter the fixed meta data header to map to, e.g. MD5.

   Note: the names of your fixed meta data headers are defined during configuration of your ad hoc survey.

3. Verify you have mapped all your questions and press the save action button.

Note: when your survey is processed, only the answers are recorded in the dashboard. You will need to cross reference the responses with the campaign to identify the question.

Example: you run two campaigns and have the following in your dashboard:

Cross-referencing the campaigns would reveal that the questions were:

How often do you visit the store?

How do you typically travel to our events?

Mapping dynamic data fields

If using an ad hoc survey configured with dynamic data fields:

1. On the primary setup tab, use the select a question to map dropdown to select your added questions and add them to the webhook action.

   

2. Enter a logical, short phrase to identify the question in the dynamic field, e.g. if the question is related to how a service is valued, you could enter "dynamic: services value" in the text box (without quotation marks).

3. Verify you have mapped all your questions and press the save action button.

Note: when your survey is processed, you will need to run a script in the Discover module to convert the dynamic field into a meaningful report. For training on the Discover module, contact support.

Triggering the survey

When you have finished configuring the web hook for your survey, you will need to link the web form to your Rant & Rave workflow before triggering your survey.

1. Go to the share tab and copy the URL of the web form.

   

2. Add the URL to the data file passed to Rant & Rave when you trigger the survey.

   Note: a new header will be configured in the project for this.

   Tip: you can also add a custom email subject line and introduction to the survey from within the data file, allowing you to apply context, set expectations, and explain the intended data usage.

3. With the data file updated, you can now trigger your survey in the same way as your standard solicitations. How you view the responses will depend on your survey configuration.

   For fixed meta data headers, information is viewed in the Fast Feedback dashboard or via the Discover module.

   For dynamic data fields, information is reported via the Discover module.

   Note: training for ad hoc surveys can be provided by Rant & Rave.