Create the email question

The first step is to create a short, engaging question in your questionnaire. This is usually the first question, but you may choose any question in the questionnaire.

Some examples can be an emoji style question or a thumbs up or down. Using an image-based question, created using the Show As Buttons feature, provides a visually appealing question that’s easy for the participant to answer.

When the participant responds to the question, the full questionnaire opens for them to complete and submit.

Using single response questions gives the best result, because the questionnaire opens as soon as the participant selects an answer. A map control or slider cannot be used.

Upload Participants

In order to create the email invitation and reminders, you must upload the list of participants.

Create the invitation

You can select the question to show in the email invitation in Snap XMP Online.

1. Open the survey and in the Summary tab, click the Collect link.
2. Select the Participants side menu.
3. Click on the Invitations menu item to view the invitations.
4. Click Edit for an existing invitation or click Add invitation to create a new invitation.
5. Update or create the invitation in the Invitation editor.
6. Position the cursor where you would like to display the question and click Add Question.

4. Select the edition with the question design that you want to use. Then select the language, question and type of survey link.

5. Click Add. This adds an entry in the email body for the question in email.

6. Click Save to save the invitation.

Responding to the Question in email

When the participant answers the question in email they are shown the full questionnaire in their browser. They complete the questionnaire by navigating through the pages and submitting their response.

The post Question in an email invitation appeared first on SnapSurveys.

This tutorial describes how to set up the participants data then upload the participants using Snap XMP Online and create email invitations and reminders using Snap XMP Online that enable the participants to access the survey directly from the SMS message.

There is also a video demonstrating how to send SMS invitations that can be found at SMS Invitations from Snap Surveys on Vimeo.

Email to SMS service pre-requisite

To provide SMS survey invitations you will need a custom email address, provided by Snap Surveys, that is associated with your Snap XMP Online account. Please contact our sales team about enabling this feature on your account. This email address will be used for sending all future invitations from your Snap XMP Online account and is used by your chosen SMS provider to authenticate your messages as they are sent.

Prior to sending SMS survey invitations you need an account with an SMS messaging service provider. This is a service provided by a third party that sends bulk SMS messages from your organisation, for purposes such as invitations, reminders and alerts. Your organisation may already have an existing account with an SMS messaging service provider. If this is not the case, you need to sign up for an account with an SMS message service provider. Snap Surveys does not provide recommendations for any service providers. However, the provider that you decide to use must provide an Email to SMS service to be able to send SMS survey invitations.

Step 1: Create an Email to SMS service account

Make sure that you have an account set up with a SMS messaging service provider and a custom email address provided by Snap Surveys. Once an account is set up, register the Snap XMP Online custom email address as a valid sending address within the SMS messaging service account. Please refer to your SMS messaging service provider’s documentation for further details on how to set up the Email to SMS service.

Step 2: Create and publish the survey

In Snap XMP Desktop, create the survey making sure that you include mobile editions as the participants are likely to access the survey directly from the SMS message on their smart phones.

Publish the survey in Snap XMP Desktop at Publishing the online editions or Snap XMP Online at Publishing your survey.

Step 3: Set up the participant data file

The data file containing the participant details must contain the unique participant email address required by the SMS messaging service. This email address is usually configured in the format

International mobile phone number of the participant @ SMS service provider domain name

For example 447712345678@smsprovider.com where 447712345678 is a participant’s UK mobile phone number in international format and smsprovider.com is the domain of the SMS service provider.

Check that this is the required format in the documentation provided by your SMS messaging service provider.

An example Excel spreadsheet is shown below, containing login information (ID); SMS email (Email) and first name (Name).

The data file may also contain other login and seeding information.

Step 4: Upload the participants in Snap XMP Online

In Snap XMP Online, you can upload participants to the survey prior to sending out invitations.

1. Open your survey in Snap XMP Online and in the survey’s Summary click the Collect link.

2. Select the Participants side menu to view the participants and invitations. The Participants Overview is selected by default

3. Click on the Participant list menu item to view the participants.
4. Click on Upload Participants to open the Upload Participants Wizard, which guides you through the steps to add the participants to your survey.
5. On the first page, click Select file to add the file with the participants’ data. The accepted formats are CSV and XLSX.

6. Click Next. The next page shows the survey options for sending email invitations and logging into the questionnaire. In this tutorial, email invitations are sent (converted to SMS format by the SMS messaging service provider) and the participants are going to log into the survey automatically. The email invitations are going to contain the participant’s name. For this the following survey options are selected:
   • Select Send email invites/reminders to be able to send emails.
   • In the Email address field, select the spreadsheet column that contains the email address for the participants. This field is required and this defaults to match the most likely column. In this tutorial, it is set to email to match the spreadsheet column.
   • Select the Seed data into invites/reminders checkbox so that the invitations can contain the participant’s name.
   • Select Allow Snap Online to track your respondents, which requires the participants to log in.
   • In the Login field, select id to match the spreadsheet column

7. Click Next and complete the invitation seeding. Select the field name and click Add to make the name information available when you create the invitations and reminders.

8. Click Next to show the overview page then click Upload to upload the participants to the survey. The results are displayed when the upload is complete. Click Finish.

Questionnaire seeding is also available when adding participants, but is not shown in this tutorial. Further details on how to set these options can be found at Uploading participants from a spreadsheet.

Step 5: Create plain text invitations in Snap XMP Online

The invitations must be created as plain text emails because the SMS messages cannot contain HTML.

1. Click on the Invitations menu item to view the invitations.

2. Click the Add plain text invitation button to display the invitation email editor where you can compose the email you wish to send to your participants.
   • In the Title field, enter the name that describes the invitation or reminder.
   • In the Subject field, enter the email subject that the participants will see. There are two tags available in Insert tag into subject. These are Survey Title and Username.
   • Enter the SMS message text, by overtyping [Add your text here], in the email message field. Click Insert tag into body and select name to add the name field in your email message greeting.
   • You must include the survey link in the message for participants to access the survey from the SMS message. In Insert tag into body, click SurveyLinkAuto to add a link that automatically logs the participant in and shows the survey. If you want the participant to enter the log in details then use SurveyLink.

3. When you have completed the SMS invitation click Save to save your changes.

When creating the SMS invitation, consider the length of the message. A standard text message length is 160 characters. The link in the message is replaced with the full web address of the survey which you need to include in the message length. Multiple messages will increase the cost of sending the invitations to participants.

Step 6: Test the invitation

Before you send the email invitations to your participants you can check the format of the invitations by using the test functionality.

1. In the Invitations section, click the Test button.

2. This displays the Test invitation dialog. Enter an email address that is available for testing.

3. Click Send test email. A test email invitation is sent to the test email address.
4. When the email arrives check that the format is as you expected. The email will substitute one of the participants in your list to test the invitation seeding is correct. Check that the survey link opens the survey.
5. Once the invitations are ready to send you can start interviewing. Further details on starting interviewing can be found at Collecting your survey data.

To test that the SMS message is delivered, you will need to upload a database containing your own email address i.e. 447712345678@smsprovider.com (where 07712345678 is your UK mobile phone number).

To manage the load on our email relays, as well as the subsequent load as respondents complete their survey, we limit the speed at which emails are sent, this is primarily to make sure that each respondent has a good experience and fast response times, to encourage them to finish the survey. As per the technical specifications on our website (https://www.snapsurveys.com/survey-software/technical-specifications/) , please consider how long it will take for your emails to be sent.

Finally, please consider the number of characters in your survey URL as multiple SMS messages will incur greater costs from your SMS provider.

The post Sending SMS invitations appeared first on SnapSurveys.

Adding a plain text invitation

1. Open your survey in Snap XMP Online and in the survey’s Summary click the Collect link.

2. Select the Participants side menu to view the participants and invitations. The Participants Overview shows by default
3. Click on the Invitations menu item to view the invitations.

4. Click the Add plain text invitation button to display the invitation email editor where you can compose the email you wish to send to your participants.
   • In the Title field, enter the name that describes the invitation or reminder.
   • In a reminder, set the Days to wait before sending to the number of days to wait since the sent time of the previous invitation or reminder.
   • In the Subject field, enter the email subject that the participants will see. There are two tags available in Insert tag into subject. These are Survey Title and Username.
   • Enter the email message text, by overtyping [Add your text here], in the email message field.
   • Any invitation seeding is available in the Insert tag into body list. Click Insert tag into body and select the seeded field into the email message at the cursor position. In the example shown, name is a seeded field that inserts the participant’s name in the email message. Tags are shown inside braces or curly brackets, for example {name}.
   • You must include the survey link in the message for participants to access the survey from the email message. In Insert tag into body, click SurveyLinkAuto to add a link that automatically logs the participant in and opens the survey. If you want the participant to enter their log in details then use SurveyLink.

5. When you have completed the plain text email invitation click Save to save your changes.
6. The list of invitations now contains the new invitation.

The post Creating plain text invitations appeared first on SnapSurveys.

When you are ready to start sending the emails to invite the participants to your survey you will need to activate the invitation schedule.

1. Navigate to the Invitations menu item in the Participants side menu to view the invitations.
2. Click Start sending invitations to start sending invitations for the current survey.

3. A message will be displayed asking you to confirm this action.

4. Click Start to proceed with the action. This will activate sending invitations for the selected survey.

Pause invitations

The invitation schedule is activated when you start sending invitations. You may want to stop the invitation schedule in order to update the participant list or invitation format.

1. Navigate to the Invitations menu item in the Participants side menu to view the invitations.
2. Click Pause Invitations to pause the invitations for the current survey.

3. A message will be displayed asking you to confirm this action.

4. Click Pause to proceed with the action. This will stop sending invitations for the current survey.
5. When you want to restart sending invitations click Start sending invitations again.

The post Sending email invitations to your participants appeared first on SnapSurveys.

There are two ways to open the invitation email editor:

• Click on the Add Invitation button in the main invitations menu
• Click on the Edit button next to the invitation that you wish to change.

The email editor dialog is displayed and is titled Add Invitation or Edit Invitation depending on the operation that started the dialog.

• The Title field contains the name that identifies the invitation or reminder. This is not included in the email. The Title is a required field.
• The Days to wait before sending is the number of days to wait. If this is the first invitation then this is the number of days from the time of activation until the email is sent. For subsequent invitations or reminders it is the number of days to wait from the time the previous invitation or reminder email was sent.
• The Subject field contains the invitation or reminder subject text that is used in the email sent to the survey’s participants. The Subject must be entered for an invitation.
• The Insert tag is used to insert participant or survey information into either the subject text or the main email text. The inserted tags are shown enclosed in { }. When the email is sent the participant or survey data will be substituted where the tag is inserted. The invitation body text must contain either the SurveyLink or SurveyLinkAuto tag to allow the participant to complete the survey.

• The Insert hyperlink function can be used to change the text of the SurveyLink and the SurveyLinkAuto tags. This is available in the main email text but not the Subject.

• The email editor contains functions to
  • Alter the font
  • Alter the text and background color
  • Alter the text alignment
  • Add bullet points
  • Add an image
  • Add a link
  • Undo and Redo
  • Insert an image

• The View HTML function opens the main email text in an HTML plain text editor. Here you can change the underlying HTML. Click Update to save the changes to the email text.

• When you have completed your email click Save to add or update the invitation.

The Snap XMP Online email editor toolbar

Button	Description
Format	Select the format for the current text. E.g. Heading, Paragraph and Quotation.
	Cleans or removes the formatting from the selected text.
	Changes selected text to the specified format. Within the selection, new text will be entered in the specified format
	Changes selected text to the alignment you click on
	Changes selected paragraph(s) to a numbered or bulleted list, or indents them
	Apply a link to the selected text. Opens a pane for you to enter any acceptable HTML link (normally http:// web address or mailto: email address). You can specify if the link opens in another window and what ALT text appears.
	Insert an image. The image must be in the published zip file you have uploaded or already be on the internet. You can specify the image size in pixels. The description gives the ALT text (displayed if you place your mouse over the image or if the image is not available).
	Undo and Redo the previous action.
	Opens a pane to enter raw HTML code. Note that Snap XMP does not support or provide instruction on writing HTML.
Font family	Select a font to apply to the selected text
Font size	Select an HTML font-size to apply to the selected text
	Set color of selected text
	Set background color of selected text
Insert Tag	Insert an active tag into the email (e.g. a link to the survey or a database field)

Inserting images

You can insert any image that is already on the Internet via its URL.

1. Create the graphic that you want to use in your email. Check that it is a suitable size (small) and resolution to be in an email. Save it as a png, gif or jpg format.
2. When editing the email message in Snap XMP Online click in the email at the place where you would like the graphic and then click the insert image button on the toolbar.
3. The Insert image dialog appears.

4. Enter the URL of the image in the Web address box.
5. Enter some text that describes the image in the Alternate text field. This will be displayed if the image is not downloaded in the email.
6. Leave the Width and Height boxes blank.
7. Click Insert to insert your image.

Putting links in your email

You can create a link so that your participant can easily go to a given website address.

1. Navigate to the Invitations section in the Participants side menu.
2. Open the invitation in the email editor using either the Add invitation or Edit button.
3. Select the text that you wish to add a link to or position the cursor at the point you wish to insert the link.
4. Click the link button . The Insert hyperlink dialog opens.

5. Enter the URL that you wish to link to as the address.
6. If you have selected text this will appear in the Text box otherwise enter the text you would like to describe the hyperlink.
7. Enter the ToolTip text that will appear when the respondent hovers over the image.
8. Click Insert to create the hyperlink.

Hiding the survey address behind clickable link text

Your invitations need to contain a link that your participants can use to access and complete your survey. You can replace the survey link text with something more meaningful to your participants that will help them know what the survey is about.

1. Navigate to the Invitations section in the Participants side menu.
2. Open the invitation in the email editor using either the Add invitation or Edit button.
3. Click at the point you would like the survey link to be placed in your invitation.
4. Expand the Insert tag dropdown and select SurveyLinkAuto or SurveyLink.

5. This will insert a link with the text {SurveyLinkAuto} or {SurveyLink}.

6. Select or click in the SurveyLinkAuto link text that will take your participants to the survey.
7. Click the hyperlink button  to open the Insert hyperlink dialog. The text {SurveyLinkAuto} appears in the Web address field and this provides the link to the survey. Enter your replacement text in the Text field and your tool tip text in the ToolTip field.

8. Click Insert to update the link text.

9. When the participants receive the email they can easily join the survey by clicking on the link.

Inserting tags into your email

There are two types of field that you can insert into your email invitations

• System defined data in Snap XMP Online such as Survey Title or Opt out
• Seeded data uploaded with the participant details in the Upload Participants wizard.

Example: Using the {OptOut} insertable tag as a link

1. Navigate to the Invitations section in the Participants side menu.
2. Open the invitation in the email editor using either the Add invitation or Edit button.
3. Click at the point you would like the opt out link to be placed in your invitation.
4. Expand the Insert tag dropdown and select OptOut.

5. This will insert a link with the text {OptOut}.This link will take the participants to a webpage where they can opt out.

6. Select or click in this link text and click the hyperlink button  to open the Insert hyperlink dialog. Type the replacement Text and ToolTip.

7. Click Insert to update the link text.

The post Creating invitations using the email editor appeared first on SnapSurveys.

1. Open your survey in Snap XMP Online and from the survey’s Summary navigate to the Collect section.
2. Select the Participants side menu to view the participants and invitations. The Participants Overview is selected by default.

3. The main overview area shows the Invitation settings. These can be changed in the Invitation Settings dialog. An example of the overview is shown below.

Change the invitation settings

1. Open your survey in Snap XMP Online and from the survey’s Summary navigate to the Collect section.
2. Select the Participants side menu to view the participants and invitations. The Participants Overview is selected by default.

3. Click the Change invitation settings button to show the Invitation settings dialog.

4. The settings for invitations can be changed and are described in the table.

5. Click Save to update the invitation settings.

Viewing your invitations

The invitations are the templates for the emails that are distributed to the participants in the questionnaire. They can be viewed and edited in the Invitations section of the Participants side menu.

1. Open your questionnaire and navigate to the Collect section.
2. Select the Participants side menu. The Overview is selected by default.
3. Click on the Invitations menu item to view the invitations.

4. The Invitations are displayed in the overview area.

Add invitations

You can create additional invitations and reminders in Snap XMP Online.

1. Navigate to the Invitations menu item in the Participants side menu to view the invitations.
2. Click the Add Invitation button will display an invitation email editor where you can compose the email you wish to send to your participants.
3. This displays the Add invitation dialog where you can create your invitation or reminder.

4. A default Title is entered but this can be changed and is used to identify the email invitation.
5. The invitation email editor is covered in more detail in the section Add or edit your invitation and reminder emails.
6. When you are happy with your new invitation click Save to save your changes.

Test an invitation

Before you send the email invitations to your participants you can check the format of the invitations by using the test functionality.

1. Click the Test button.

2. This displays the Test invitation dialog. You will need to enter an email address that you have access to so that you can view the email and check that the format and seeding are correct.

3. Click Send test email. This will send a test email invitation to the test email address.
4. When the email arrives check that the format is as you expected. The email will substitute one of the participants in your list to test the invitation seeding is correct.

Edit an invitation

1. Click the Edit button to make changes to your invitations and reminders.

2. This displays the Edit invitation dialog where you can change the invitation or reminder.
3. The invitation editor is covered in more detail in Add or edit your invitation and reminder emails.

4. Click Save to save your changes.

Delete an invitation

1. Click the Delete button to remove the invitation.

2. This displays the Delete invitation confirmation.
3. Click Delete to continue with the deletion or Cancel to cancel the operation.

Change the order the invitations are sent

The invitations for the current survey are sent out in the order they are listed on the Invitations page. The order that the invitations are sent out can be changed.

1. Before you start to reorder make sure that the invitations are not being sent. Click Pause Invitations to stop the invitations.
2. Click the  button to move the invitation down the list of invitations.
3. Click the  button to move the invitation up the list of invitations.
4. When the order is as desired then you can start sending invitations.

The post Managing your invitations appeared first on SnapSurveys.