{"id":3225,"date":"2019-02-15T15:01:01","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T15:01:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.survio.com\/?p=3225"},"modified":"2021-10-04T10:24:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-04T10:24:31","slug":"how-prepare-survey-invitations-directly-in-survio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-en.survio.com\/how-to-prepare-survey-invitations-directly-in-survio\/","title":{"rendered":"How to prepare survey invitations directly in Survio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have you finished creating your survey thinking the job is done? Not at all! Your effort and energy would get wasted if it stayed saved on your computer. It\u2019s about time to spread it out there<\/strong> and share it with your future respondents! There is, of course, an entire list of ways to do so. Today, we\u2019ll focus on how to do it by using Survio\u2019s distribution service. Other ways to distribute your survey are described in the article <\/span>6 Ways to spread your survey amongst people<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But before we start seeing you through the process step by step, let\u2019s explain why using our distribution service is even worthwhile. It\u2019s simple – it\u2019s an outstandingly effective solution that will give you the upper hand. Let\u2019s say you decide to distribute your survey from your e-mail. You will then for sure stumble on a whole lot of complications. Not only are there limits for daily amounts of outgoing emails – for instance, if you\u2019re using Gmail, it\u2019s 500 emails per day, for some offline email clients like Outlook it\u2019s even less than that, about 100. To avoid that, our distribution service really comes in handy<\/strong>. Through Survio, you can send out as many invitations as you wish, no limits applied.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another fundamental benefit is that with our distribution services, you will always stay posted about how many people have received your survey<\/strong>, who has opened<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>the survey<\/b>\u00a0or even completed the survey<\/strong>. Other services are typically not able to provide this kind of information. You will simply gain full control over the entire process of realizing your survey. <\/span><\/p>\n

Survio\u2019s distribution service is also very useful when you need to reach out to a specific group of people from your contact list<\/strong>. A typical example here is contacting all of company\u2019s employees who are supposed to fill out an employee satisfaction survey. The results could again be monitored easily by using our distribution service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, let\u2019s talk about how the distribution service should be set up and used.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

How to set up an invitation? <\/b><\/h2>\n

As soon as you\u2019re done building your survey, click on the Get Responses link in the top menu.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Get<\/p>\n

You will see a list of options you can choose from when distributing the link to your survey. Choose E-mail invitations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Invitations\"Information about how the invitations can be used will pop up. Click on Start Now.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Start<\/p>\n\n

Three ways of uploading your contacts to a list for distributing of invitations<\/b><\/h2>\n

Now, you can be adding individual e-mail addresses and create a list of contacts that will receive your invitations to fill out your survey. You can choose from three options to do so. Firstly, you can add them one by one, manually<\/strong>. Secondly, you can upload a CSV file<\/strong> containing these contacts. Finally, you can upload contacts from your Outlook e-mail client<\/strong>. Keep reading to find out more about each option.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Adding contacts manually or by using a simple copy-paste method<\/b><\/h3>\n

If you decide to add your contacts manually, this is the way to do it. On the left side, you fill in the \u201cE-mail\u201d and \u201cName\u201d fields with the actual data and confirm by clicking on the \u201cAdd\u201d button. The contact will get saved and displayed on the right side right away. It is of course most important to fill in the e-mail address but if you manage to take the time and fill in the name as well, it\u2019ll be of a significant help<\/strong> for you later when reviewing statistics of your invitations<\/strong>. It\u2019ll make it all a bit easier on the eye<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Manual<\/p>\n

The other option is to type the contacts directly to the right field or copy and paste<\/strong> them, from an Excel spreadsheet<\/strong> for example. If you copy and paste it directly from a spreadsheet, make sure to only use the column with e-mail addresses. To make the list more organized, you can even add the names. It is however very important to structure the data as follows:<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n

\u201cName Surname\u201d <<\/span>example@email.com<\/span><\/a>><\/span><\/p>\n

\"example@email.com\"<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

Each contact needs to be just one string per cell otherwise the contact won\u2019t be transferred correctly.<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as all your contacts are filled in, click on the \u201cContinue\u201d button.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Using a CSV file with contacts <\/b><\/h3>\n

Another solution is uploading a CSV file. It is a universal data format that could easily be created in various programs, MS Excel included. It is possible to generate it in pretty much any database or statistical program. Its data needs to have an exact form, like the one you will find in this <\/span>example of a CSV file<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>Don\u2019t forget that the file\u2019s first line has to be in the following format (which should not be changed or modified), heading included: <\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n

\n

Name;E-mail<\/p>\n

Peter Johnson; peter.johnson@survio.com<\/p>\n

Anne Albright; a.albright@survio.com<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n

The same rule applies again – one line, one contact. If you want your contacts to contain both first name and surname you need to separate them from the e-mail address <\/span>by a semicolon. If you don\u2019t want the name to be included, no need to include the semicolon, just copy and paste the column with the email, without the heading. However, if the e-mail addresses are all you wish to input, simply use ctrl+c, ctrl+v.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Upload<\/p>\n

After you\u2019ve uploaded the CSV file, you will see all the imported contacts, now in Survio\u2019s system. If you find out later that some of the contacts won\u2019t be used, you can simply remove them from the list by clicking at the bin icon next to the contact.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Upload<\/p>\n\n

Import contacts from Outlook<\/b><\/h3>\n

The third alternative for uploading your contacts is by using a file that you download from your Outlook. You can find more information about how to export the contacts on <\/span>Outlook\u2019s official helpdesk<\/span><\/a>. Technically, it\u2019s the same procedure as when uploading the CSV file. Don\u2019t make any changes<\/strong> in the file exported from Outlook, Survio will find all the needed information in it automatically – name and e-mail.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Outlook<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re done, click the \u201cContinue\u201d button. <\/span><\/p>\n\n

Text in the invitation<\/b><\/h3>\n

The next step leads to the very invitation that will be sent to the provided contacts via e-mail. The invitation can be edited as you wish. It is even possible to create a fully original invitation. The only thing that needs to be preserved is the \u201cStart Survey\u201d button because it leads to your survey. Although even its text and color can be adjusted.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Invitation<\/p>\n

Another thing that can be planned beforehand is the schedule for when the invitation will be sent. Just set up the exact date and time of when you wish for it to launch. That way, you can take your time to prepare your invitations properly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"When<\/p>\n\n

Setting up reminders<\/b><\/h3>\n

What you can do next is set up a Reminder<\/strong>. It is useful when you need the invitations to be sent again after a while to everyone who still hasn\u2019t filled out the survey<\/strong>. That is an effective way to increase the final number of completed surveys.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Reminder<\/p>\n

Click on the \u201cCreate Reminder\u201d button which will get you to the following window. There, you can edit the text of the reminder, in a similar way as in the previous case. You can keep the default text or add more arguments for why to fill out the survey<\/strong>. Make sure not to forget to specify after how long the reminder should be sent again to those who haven\u2019t completed your survey yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Reminder<\/p>\n

Finally, you will get well-arranged, summary information about how your invitation was set up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Summary<\/p>\n

Click the \u201cConfirm & Send\u201d<\/strong> button to send the invitations<\/strong>. The process of sending out could take a little while, especially if the amount of recipients is large, but at least you can always count on them being sent for sure, unlike regular e-mails.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Evaluate how successful your invitations were <\/b><\/h2>\n

Enter \u201cSettings\u201d again, the same way you did at the beginning. First, click on \u201cGet Responses\u201d and then on \u201cSend Invitations\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Get<\/p>\n

\"Invitations\"<\/p>\n

An overview of all your sent invitations<\/strong> will open as you enter the settings. You can, of course, create another one by clicking on \u201c+ New Invitation\u201d (1) and continue the same way as in the above chapters.<\/span><\/p>\n

We mentioned in the beginning that the main advantage of distributing invitations via Survio is in the possibility of their evaluation<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Email<\/p>\n

When you click the bar chart icon (2) you will be able to see a few interesting metrics. Both their relative (%) and absolute values are accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n\n