Build your first survey

You don't need to know anything about survey design to start. wrkflow asks what you want to learn, suggests who should answer and how, and gives you a draft that fits. Every question can be changed before anyone sees it, and nothing reaches anyone until you publish and share the survey.

Start from a goal

Open Surveys and choose New survey. The guided page has two screens:

1. 1What do you want to learn? Pick the closest match, each with an example question: employee engagement, pulse check, onboarding, exit interview, manager feedback, training feedback, customer satisfaction (CSAT), Net Promoter Score (NPS), product feedback, event feedback, a registration or request form, or start from scratch. The goal decides the questions we suggest, not what you can do later.
2. 2Set it up. Everything else is on one screen, already filled in from your goal: the name and the language you write in, who will answer (employees, customers, event attendees or anyone with the link), and a starting point. Who answers recommends how people get the survey (personal links or one public link) and whether to make it anonymous, each with a one-line reason, and you can change both. The recommended template comes first, with a preview of its questions, how many there are and about how long it takes. Templates your organization saved that match the goal are listed too, and so is a blank survey. Then choose Create survey.

Already know what you want? Choose Skip to blank survey, or Use a template, at the top of the page. Both are one click. See Build and publish a survey for every question type and setting.

Personal links or a public link?

• Personal links: each invited person gets their own link. They answer once, you see who hasn't answered yet, and details such as department or location come with their answers. Best for employees.
• Public link: one link anyone who has it can use, in an email, an app, a poster or a QR code. Best for customers and event attendees.

Choosing personal links limits the survey to invited people. You can switch in the survey's Settings, under Responses.

Anonymous or named?

In an anonymous survey, answers aren't linked to names or emails. Details such as department can still split results, but only for groups of 5 or more, so nobody can be picked out. People answer more honestly about their manager, pay or health when it's anonymous. A named survey lets you follow up with people. Anonymity can be changed in Settings until the first response arrives and is locked after that. See Anonymous surveys.

Shape the draft in the builder

• Add question opens the question types, each with when to use it, a small picture of what respondents see and an example. Change a question's type at any time from its type menu.
• Write an introduction under the title (why you're asking, how long it takes and who sees the answers) and a thank-you message at the end.
• Display logic shows a question only after certain answers, and skip logic jumps ahead. Both sit under each question. Words such as Likert, matrix, piping and hidden fields have a small ? or a dotted underline: choose it for a plain-words definition.
• The builder saves as you go. Watch for Saved next to the toolbar. Preview opens the survey in a new tab, exactly as respondents will see it. Try it on your phone too.

Check it with the checklist

Choose Checklist in the builder toolbar. It reads your draft and explains, in plain words, what could make answers less honest, less complete or harder to compare, with a Show me button that jumps to the question or setting. It never stops you from publishing. Each suggestion is explained in Writing good questions.

Review and publish

Choose Publish. A short review shows who can answer and how, whether the survey is anonymous and what that means, the languages, the schedule, how long it takes and any checklist suggestions still open. Choose Publish survey to make it live, or Keep editing to go back. If something blocks publishing, such as a choice question with fewer than two options, the builder lists what to fix first.

Share it and watch the answers

After publishing, a What's next panel offers four things, each linking to the right place:

• Copy the link: the public link and its QR code are on the Share tab. Surveys limited to invited people have no public link to copy, so start with participants.
• Invite people: the Participants tab adds people from Contacts or pasted emails, and sends each their personal link.
• Set reminders: nudge people who haven't answered, automatically after a few days or by hand. People who answered are never reminded.
• Watch results: the Results tab fills in as responses arrive, with a chart for every question.