Embed Survey in an Email

Example embedded survey question

When using a SurveyGizmo Email Campaign to send out your survey you can choose to embed the first question from your survey into the body of your email message.

Your email recipients can click to select an answer from within the email message. Respondents will then be taken to the survey to respond to any remaining survey questions.

If you are integrating SurveyGizmo with a third-party application (Salesforce, MailChimp, or HubSpot), consider exploring an alternate method for embedding a survey question in an email message.

Compatible Questions

• Radio Button Question
• Dropdown Menu Question
• Rating (Likert Scale)
• Net Promoter Score®

Only the first question in your survey can be embedded using this method. As long as the first question in your survey is one of the above-listed question types, it will be available for embed in your email message.

Setup

1. Use one of the compatible questions as the first question in your survey. 
2. Navigate to your survey's Share tab and create an email campaign by clicking on the Send an Email Campaign link. Please refer to the Send Your Survey Via Email article for more detailed instructions about email campaigns.
3. Within the Campaign Designer step, click Edit Message .
   
4. At the top of the Message tab, you will see the Embed Survey Question option. Select the checkbox to have your first question inserted in the email message.
   
5. Customize the content of your Message Body. The embedded question will not be visible within the Message Body. Feel free to remove or update the default body text as needed. Any text you add in the Message Body field will appear above the embedded survey question when recipients open their email. At this time, there is no way to add text that will appear below the embedded survey question.
   
   Since the embedded question also serves as a link to your survey, you might elect to remove the text link that is inserted into the message by default. To see how the embedded question will be displayed within the email, click on the message's Style & Preview tab.
   
6. Once you have finished updating the content of your email message, make sure to Save Message.

Customize Your Embedded Question

If you wish to customize the look and feel of your embedded question go to the Style & Preview tab of the message.

You have the option to customize the colors of the following email message components:

• Background - controls the color of the message background
• Body - controls the color of the message body - the background for your email text
• Body Text - controls the color of the body text - the text input via the Message tab
• Link Text - controls the text of the "link" as well as the color of the embedded question's answer options.
• Footer Text - controls the text of the email footer, found below the message Body and placed over the Background

To change colors click on the color swatch to update the color using either the color wheel or HEX Code field. Not sure where to find a Hex Code? Check out our documentation in Hex Code Tools.

Make sure to click Save Message when you are done updating the look and feel.

Incompatible Question Settings

There are several question settings that will be ignored or stripped if the question is embedded within the email campaign message:

• Logic - If the question is triggered via Question Logic or is on a page triggered with Page Logic, that logic will be ignored if the question is embedded in the email. Logic will function normally if the survey is not taken via the email embed.
• Answer Option Randomization - If the embedded question is using answer option randomization, the randomization will be ignored if the question is embedded in the email. Randomization will function normally if the survey is not taken via the email embed.
• Randomly Flip Scales - If the embedded question is using the setting to Flip Scales Randomly, this setting will be ignored. The setting will work normally if the survey is not taken via the email embed.
• Merge codes and Formatting - If merge codes or formatting (such as bolding, bullets, images, etc.) are being used within the question title or answer option text, these items will be stripped from the text in the embedded version of the question. These items will be rendered normally if the survey is not taken via the email embed.
• Hide by default - The Logic Rule to Hide this question by default will be ignored if applied to the first question.

FAQ

How will this work for my recipients?

When respondents receive your email they will be able to click an answer option within their email. Upon clicking, the respondent will be directed to the survey. 

Depending on whether their email is a web-based service (e.g. Gmail) or a desktop client (sometimes Outlook) their experience will be a little different. For web-based email clients, the survey will open a new tab in their browser. If they are using a desktop client, the browser will be opened (if not already open). If the respondent's browser is already open it will direct them to a new tab in their browser.

Can I prevent the respondent from redirecting to the survey?

No. Respondents need to be navigated to the survey in order for us to record their responses. 

How will this look on mobile devices?

On smaller screens, the options of the question will be listed vertically.

Can I hide the first question from displaying when they are redirected to the survey?

You can! 

How to hide your embedded question in the survey if you have other survey questions on the first page

You can hide the embedded question from displaying when the respondent is redirected to the survey by going to the Layout tab of the embedded question and entering sg-hide in the CSS Class Name field. If you have other questions on the page this is all you need to do.

How to hide your embedded question in the survey if you only have the one question (the embedded question) on the first page

If you only have one survey question (the embedded question) on the first page of the survey and you wish to hide the embedded question you'll need to take an extra step in order to ensure responses are recorded. 

Start by going to the Layout tab of the embedded question and entering sg-hide in the CSS Class Name field.

Next, you'll need to add Page Timer Action to the page with the embedded survey question you are hiding. This gives the survey enough time to populate the question before the page is submitted. 

1. Click the Action link on the first page and select Page Timer from the list. 
2. On the Primary Setup tab of the Page Timer select Timer is only for the time spent on this page under Timer Functions.
3. Under Additional Options select Automatically proceed to next page after timer is up.
4. Under If required questions are unanswered when timer is up select Ignore unanswered questions and proceed to next page.
5. Set a time limit of at least 1 second in the Time Limit field and Save Action.
   
6. Finally, in order to hide the page timer from displaying, copy the below CSS code and go to the Style tab of your survey. Scroll to the bottom of the survey preview to access the link for the HTML/CSS Editor. Paste the code into the Custom CSS tab.

.sg-timer-bar {
display: none;
}

 Alternative Method: Embed Survey In Email

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