Effortlessly collect and report on external or internal participant data through highly customizable surveys and quizzes, directly within your Salesforce instance using SurveyVista – a 100% native Salesforce solution.
Highlights
- Easy-to-use, Salesforce-native survey builder facilitates quick and easy creation of mobile-friendly and branded surveys, with options to display different questions according to the viewer attributes or answers.
- Scoring logic can be configured for any Survey and Question, with predefined ranges and dedicated Quiz options.
- Forms and Surveys can be distributed across a wide variety of channels, while ensuring all responses will be safely stored within your Salesforce org.
- Readily available Salesforce Reports and Dashboards offer accessible insights into results, allowing your business users to quickly analyze their Survey performance metrics.
The chances are, you have completed at least one recent survey or form sent out to your email or perhaps phone. As we know, surveys can be a very easy way to gather information about a problem, or perhaps assess your satisfaction about the last takeaway you ordered. How great would it be if you could design and build such surveys with ease and speed, exactly as you’d like?
Built and supported by experienced Salesforce professionals, Ardira’s SurveyVista product is not only 100% Salesforce-native, but highly configurable & customizable to address your Salesforce Data Collection challenges to the very last detail, making SurveyVista an excellent choice for optimizing your data collection processes. On top of this, if you think the surveys can only be used in Sales or Service Cloud, you’re in for a treat – regardless of whether you’re using SMS, emails, Salesforce Pardot (Account Engagement), or Marketing Cloud’s Journey Builder, this is a tool worth exploring.
This in-depth overview will showcase the main features SurveyVista brings to the table, as well as ideal use cases, and the setup effort. Let’s take a look at how fast your users can (and will) adopt this new way of building forms and surveys.
Features
As we dive into SurveyVista’s functionality, note that this tool is not specific for one single department; it can be used across all departments in an organization, either internally or externally – the use cases for SurveyVista are extensive, and we’ll cover just a few later on in the article.
Additionally, SurveyVista supports all the languages which are supported by Salesforce, along with right to left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.
How Do You Ask the Questions?
Of course, the most important part of the tool, as well as the gateway to the entire functionality, is the Surveys. Ultimately, this is how your questions will reach your customers – you will need to make sure it looks and works exactly how you want it to.
Survey Builder
The Survey Builder is where all the action happens. This screen below, along with the in-app guidance, will appear as soon as you hit “Save” on your first Survey record. I know it may look complicated now, and there are a lot of buttons and possibilities involved, but you will soon see that it is exactly the opposite.
Within the Survey Builder, you will be able to make the survey your own; branding, custom colors, standard or custom fonts… every single button your responders see on screen can be renamed. You will notice there are three tiles available to choose from on the left-hand side:
- Main Survey tile: This contains all Survey Settings, Response Mapping and Question Dependency, as well as Language options, for example.
- Landing Page tile: This represents the main entry point for what your participants will have to complete. You will create Survey sections (aka Pages) and all Questions from here.
- Thank You Page tile: This allows you to configure the message, buttons, and forwarding links presented to a participant when a Survey is completed.
As there is a lot of ground to cover, with numerous settings and possibilities to choose from (covered over the next two pages), let’s create a survey and take a tour of the amazing configuration options available within the Survey Builder – even before adding any question!
Adding Questions
Now that the Survey is created and we are familiar with at least part of the Survey Builder, let’s add a few simple questions. Keep in mind that the landing page is fully configurable, with its own details, as well as specific Design Options. The + sign will allow you to go ahead and create questions.
Note: Whenever you see the { } sign available under a text section, it means that you can use merge fields to properly personalize the survey – for example, with the recipient’s first name. This option is available right from the start, even for the welcome message, survey questions, and thank you message, should you choose to display it.
If you were under the impression that you will have to create everything yourself the first time around, you’re in for a nice surprise. SurveyVista allows you to choose between the most common types of questions and answer formats you can think of. From the get-go, I was surprised that Document Upload was an option!
Note: There are more than 30+ Question Types to choose from, including ‘Text Based Question Types’, ‘Choice Based Question Types’, ‘CSAT’, ‘NPS’, ‘Grid Question Types’, ‘Consent’, ‘Signature’, ‘Video’, and ‘Salesforce Dynamic Data Question Types’ – just to name a few. There are many more to come with future releases!
One of the unique features is the “Unsubscribe Question” type. You can easily add an “Unsubscribe Question” to your survey, which allows participants to opt out and provide feedback on why they no longer wish to receive your content.
To make it even more convenient for participants, the “Unsubscribe Question” hyperlink can be included in the initial survey notification email, such as in the footer. This ensures that participants can easily opt-out of your content if they choose to do so, while also providing you with valuable feedback to improve your content in the future.
After choosing the type of question you would like to use, the next step is configuring it exactly to your requirements and preferences. Each question has its very own Design Options tab, where different attributes, including borders, can be set. In addition, you can take full control with custom CSS to brand your surveys with your organization branding.
For this example, I chose to use the out-of-the-box Net Promoter option – as you will notice in the screenshot below, you can add a help text, and (if needed) merge fields to personalize the individual question text, alongside a few other settings.
Additionally, as you define your design options, the real-time Question Preview will always be on the right-hand side so that you can see what the question will look like to your Survey respondents.
For a second question (because we Salesforce Admins ‘like’ to hear about multi-select), I chose the Multi-Select question type. The purpose of this question is to get more insight into why the responder chose a certain answer in the previous question (more about how that is achieved below).
Another user experience aspect that can be set at this question’s level is the alignment, as well as allowing for an “Other” option to prompt responders to complete a text field with their own option. The only things you have to do here are check the box and select a title for the text field to pop up.
Additionally, you can choose between a few different formats for the multiple choices that will appear on screen – this becomes especially useful when more than ten choices are available, let’s say, and you don’t have to keep them all in one column.
Even though I created just a couple of questions for this example, in a more complex real-life scenario, you can go ahead and create as many questions as needed, with the possibility of reusing the same question type multiple times.
Dynamically Control Question Visibility (Skip/Show-Hide Logic)
Within any survey you build, you’ll have the ability to create rules for controlling when exactly questions are presented (or not) to the responder, as well as an option for the survey to be automatically submitted. You will find this option when navigating to the Question Dependency tab within the main survey tile.
When configuring the journey, you will create rules for choosing between three logic types:
- Answer To: A dependency will be executed based on a previous question response provided by a responder (e.g. answer to a question Q1 equals Yes, then show an additional question Q2).
- Score Of: A dependency will be executed based on a previous question score calculated using the response provided by a responder (e.g. score of a question Q1 equals 10, then show an additional question Q2).
- Salesforce Data: A dependency will be executed based on your Salesforce Data (e.g. Your responder’s Contact record Title field equals CEO, then show an additional question Q2). Note that any standard or custom field can be used to define criteria.
You can also choose between three dependency types:
- Show a question when the criteria for the previous question’s answer is met.
- Branch to a question when the criteria for the previous question’s answer is met. In this case, all questions between the previous question and the branch to questions will be skipped.
- Submit Survey to automatically submit the survey as soon as the criteria for the previous question’s answer is met.
You can check out this list of example use cases, which goes through combinations between all logic types, as well as dependency types.
One of SurveyVista’s key differentiators is the ability to dynamically condition the behavior of the questions based on Salesforce data. Not only can you use fields from the custom object the survey is stored in, but you can also narrow down the filter to one of the chosen Object’s fields, in our example Lead fields (providing you know you are sending the survey to a list of Leads), such as Status in the screenshot below.
On top of this, you can combine the conditions, as needed – for example, if you would like to add a filter for the Lead recipient, along with the Lead company size.
Depending on the use case at hand, you can have as many rules as needed, so make sure you map out your survey, especially if it is a longer one with multiple questions and possible branches.
Choice Randomization
A setting that can prove quite useful, especially when leveraging surveys as quizzes for your team, is the ability to ensure that the answers will be randomized every time the survey is accessed. This randomization also works within the preview, so you will be able to test this aspect in advance.
Response Mapping (Data Mapper)
One of the most utilized features of SurveyVista is the option to either create or update Salesforce records directly after the responses are submitted. You can configure the mapping in such a way that only certain fields will be updated with data from the responses.
Within the Response Mapping tab, you will be able to create mapping rules to create or update records. You can choose the desired behavior (for example, the Reverse Mapping allows values from the Salesforce record to be used to pre-fill the responses), Action Type, and for the mapping to be executed synchronously.
In this scenario, I started to map a question’s answers to a field on the Lead record – this is where the data should be stored following the survey response.
You can configure the Match Field for the Create & Update response mapping action while setting up the Response Mapping Rule to find a record based on the configured Match Field and automatically update the existing record.
Make sure to go over the use cases for response mapping, which is collated in SurveyVista’s knowledge base.
Distribute Your Survey
Before diving into how your survey can reach potential respondents, it’s important to highlight the fact that it can be previewed for the main form factors the questions will be answered on: computer, tablet, or phone. This way, you’ll know exactly what the recipient will receive and how the user interface will behave.
As the previews have indicated that the survey looks and behaves as intended, it’s time to distribute it. If there’s a way you can think of to send out a survey, it’s likely that SurveyVista supports it. We will explore a few of the options below.
A survey respondent can click a link in a Survey notification (email or SMS) or a public link hosted on your internet/intranet site and effortlessly complete surveys with the help of a user-friendly survey responder interface that exactly looks like what you have seen in the preview above.
As well as being able to expose the survey to authenticated or unauthenticated users, Surveys can be sent out automatically by using a Salesforce Flow – check out this example to automatically trigger a survey when a Case is closed.
Once the Survey is ready to be sent out, make sure the Status field on the record is updated to “Open”. In this case, I chose to distribute it internally for users to get a glimpse of the new functionality – of course, the survey can be sent out to Leads and Contacts, as well as email addresses. You can either write a few email addresses manually, or import them using a .csv file.
Even if you prefer to send the survey to users using the Users tab, as noted below, you can also copy the survey link and share it within or outside your organization. As for a wow factor, you can also download the survey link QR code to include in a printed material and/or automatically publish on social media.
There are multiple ways to send out the survey, but there is one in particular I’d like to mention, and that is the ability to send via a Salesforce report (as shown below). Be sure to take a look over the step-by-step instructions.
Note: Ensure the report doesn’t return more than 1000 records, and that you apply as many filters as possible to narrow down the results.
Survey Notifications
Since the notification aspect of the tool could absolutely not go unmentioned, it is important to note how much customization control you have over this part as well, which can be used with either Salesforce Classic or Lightning email templates. There are four notification options available for each Survey:
- Do not send email: No email notification will be sent out.
- This Survey Settings: SurveyVista app will send survey email notifications programmatically.
- Process: Ardira Survey Assignment – Notify Participant: Out-of-the-box process provided in the SurveyVista managed package.
- Process: Custom: SurveyVista app will not send any survey email notifications – it will allow you to define your own custom process to notify recipients using Salesforce Flow, Journey Builder, or Pardot.
Another thing worth zooming in on is the ability to embed the first question directly within the email notification. This means that when the respondent clicks the answer, it will be saved and the survey will continue with the remaining questions.
Advanced Features
In addition to the key features previously discussed, SurveyVista also offers several advanced features that can help to enhance your survey and feedback collection process. Features include:
- Pre-filling surveys using URL parameters and using existing data from Salesforce.
- Post-Chat Survey support to quickly collect feedback following a chat session with your customers.
- Surveys as Web-Forms, which can be hosted on your website (outside the Salesforce platform).
- Embedding the survey responder interface (LWC component) in custom apps and digital experience site pages.
- Generation of customized QR codes, with URL parameters to link survey responses with your target/subjects and publishing on printed materials.
- Data Review and Correction Workflow allows you to utilize survey data review and correction workflow to streamline and automate business processes that require data collection, data review, and data approval/rejection/correction from multiple different stakeholders at various workflow stages.
Survey Analytics
As a Salesforce Admin, I’m sure you have spent plenty of time building reports and dashboards. And, when something new comes in, you’ve probably had to start from scratch on occasion too – both you and I know that it’s not actually a five-minute job getting one ready, especially when a requirement becomes more complex.
Analytics with Built-in SurveyVista Interface
Survey Metrics Dashboard displays survey responses / results / statuses in graphical form such as pie-charts, bar-charts, line/dot charts, thus creating a visual look that is easy to study & understand. These graphs can be incorporated in management presentations via export to pdf or snipping tools.
The Tabular Report feature helps you display all the information of the survey in a clear and precise manner, in an excel-like view. Not only that, one click export is available to export the survey responses into excel, for further analysis.
Analytics with Salesforce Reports & Dashboards
Luckily for you and your users, SurveyVista comes with plenty of out-of-the-box reports to leverage, as well as Dashboards. You can, of course, use these as a starting point and make changes to them as needed. Or you can decide to build others from scratch based on the SurveyVista open data model. It’s definitely helpful not having to build everything yourself!
In the Net Promoter Score example Dashboard below, all of the important KPIs pertaining to the performance of your surveys are captured – ensuring that invested stakeholders have access to the important information at a glance.
Similarly, In the CSAT example dashboard below, all of the important KPIs pertaining to the performance of your surveys are captured – ensuring that invested stakeholders have access to the important information at a glance.
Migrate Surveys Between Salesforce Orgs
Depending on the release process from your org, you might want to build surveys in a sandbox to test them with other existing components or automations before getting them ready for production.
Although it’s not a deployment per se, note that you have the option to not duplicate the work or manually have to redo surveys in multiple instances. You can simply export the survey from the source org using the available list view button to import it into the target org. The steps required to successfully go through the process can be found here.
On top of this, the SurveyVista APIs or out-of-the-box Survey Result Import can be used to easily migrate any historical survey responses and related data from a legacy Survey tool to SurveyVista within your Salesforce org.
Roadmap
Now that we covered the already existing main functionality, let’s take a quick look at what Ardira has on the roadmap for future SurveyVista releases.
Ardira continues enhancing their product and making it more user-friendly by collaborating closely with their customers to implement new features and improvements, such as:
- Formula Question Type: Configure a formula to calculate response for a question.
- Archive and unarchive survey responses to reduce your Salesforce storage usage.
- Anonymous Responses: Participants’ responses will remain untraceable, regardless of whether they have established identities within your Salesforce org.
- Quickly and easily update Survey email notification templates.
- Survey Common Labels Translations out-of-the-box.
To stay updated and connected, you can become a part of the SurveyVista Trailblazer Community and engage with the Ardira SurveyVista team.
Stay tuned for the release of these exciting new features!
Use Cases
By now you’ll be familiar with the main functionalities of SurveyVista. While there are unlimited use cases to discuss across countless industries to satisfy your Salesforce Data Collection needs, it’s useful to zoom in on a couple of the more straightforward ones that can offer added value right from the start.
Customer Satisfaction
For my first example, I chose to use the NPS question type, simply because it is a very popular KPI that offers a key insight into the customer experience with just one question, and you can always add a follow-up question if further details are required.
Generally speaking, customer satisfaction is, I believe, the best use case for a survey. This kind of survey could result in a discount code for the customer if they complete it, or perhaps a bonus for the employee who assisted them. The advantage of SurveyVista is that you can choose to format the question whichever way you’d like, beginning with one of the templated question types, and combining them to ensure you receive the answers you’re looking for.
I have mentioned a few times how configurable and easy to use SurveyVista is, which resulted in me configuring and branding a survey of my own using the New Promoter question type, as well as a follow-up question and a simple thank you message. This took just a few minutes!
As the Customer Satisfaction Surveys are meant to be sent to an external audience, the preview is even more important to ensure all details are up to par. I used a dependency rule that meant the text question would show if the responder selected a score of less than 9, and I was curious to check the interaction, not only from a computer, but also on mobile. Check it out below!
Scoring
As you will have noticed already, with SurveyVista, surveys can be used exactly as needed, and not necessarily only as surveys. For example, they can be embedded on your website as a Web-to-Lead form, after which a Lead can be created or even used as a product quiz.
In both scenarios, scoring will be an important part of how the responses will be used, whether they are stored in the SurveyVista custom objects or on the related Salesforce record. Luckily, the scoring can be easily controlled at survey level, as well as with every question level [i.e. Question Scoring based on Answer Choice or Correct Answer]. You can change the scoring method and the ranges, alongside their labels and associated colors.
Additionally, You can configure to get a section/page and a category level aggregate scores.
If the Surveys will be used as Quizzes, there is a whole other section in the Score Level section that allows for granular behavior control, including the “retake” possibility, if required.
On top of the actual scoring possibilities, you also have the option to exclude any question from the scoring at any point in time. Once the scoring is enabled at survey level, the “Scoring Options” tab for each question also becomes available.
Check out the scoring knowledge article along with a specific example here.
Setup
Even though I installed and tested out SurveyVista in a developer sandbox, the setup itself is exactly the same for a sandbox or a production org. Similar to any other managed package, it has to be installed in each of the orgs you’d like to make use of.
Check out “Getting Started with SurveyVista” knowledge article.
One thing I am particularly fond of whenever I install a new managed package, is seeing that it comes with readily available permission sets for me to go ahead and assign to users. While the admin one is very obvious, make sure you check out the documentation for the others available, so you can leverage them accordingly.
As far as the setup goes, assigning packaged permission sets is the only thing I had to do. Other than that, I could immediately get started with my first survey – it doesn’t get any easier than that!
Of course, after testing the tool initially, additional setup is required if you decide to distribute your survey to unauthenticated respondents (i.e. your contacts, leads, direct email addresses etc.) through a Salesforce digital experience site guest user configuration, or perhaps allow your Salesforce users to send out surveys from record pages.
Note that you will not have to acquire/purchase any specific Salesforce site/community user licenses to enable response collection from unauthenticated users.
Support
When it comes to help, I am a firm believer that the best support any product can have is great documentation – SurveyVista’s knowledge base and Technical How-to Videos both live up to my expectations. With articles varying from the latest release notes to detailed step-by-step instructions, and even survey examples for you to easily implement, you have everything you need to get started right away.
Additionally, live support is readily available to ensure a seamless product experience, as demonstrated by the multiple 5-star reviews on Salesforce AppExchange.
In the event that your specific question isn’t covered in the detailed documentation (which is updated with every release, don’t worry!), there are multiple support options available depending on the plan you are on. Everything I searched for while testing out this product was within the knowledge base – I didn’t have to email support once!
Pricing
Starting with a free version, Ardira offers multiple packages and options for all of their products. While the key features are available in the free version, API access, for example, is part of SurveyVista’s Premium offering.
SurveyVista Pricing is non metered, that means, you get Unlimited Surveys & Unlimited Responses in addition to discounts available for non-profits.
Make sure you reach out to the team for a demo and more details about pricing. You can check the entire list of capabilities (as well as costs) for each plan and product here.
Summary
All things considered, SurveyVista is sure to be one of those tools that inspires your imagination when designing and building internal quizzes or external customer satisfaction surveys – all while knowing you can create a working prototype in no time and everything is 100% native to Salesforce – you never have to worry about your data being at risk!
Get started with SurveyVista to see for yourself the endless possibilities across your Salesforce instances when it comes to utilizing this well-thought-out and very easy-to-use Salesforce Data Collection and surveying tool.
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