An Overview of Text Surveys
Text surveys are similar to any survey you’ve received, but it is sent to the user through an SMS text. Sending a survey through SMS texting is an effective method because up to 98% of texts are read in 3 minutes. This means that you will likely receive a higher response rate than through other sending methods. You can customize what will be written in the SMS text that goes along with the URL link to the survey. When the survey URL link is clicked on the mobile phone, it will open in the mobile browser. The survey that opens will be mobile friendly so that the survey questions and display settings are optimized for mobile phone screen sizes. The questions can be filled out by the user and their responses are automatically saved. The data from the responses is accessible through a portal or through APIs.
More about SMS Engage for Text Surveys
Benefits
- Higher open rates and response rates because up to 98% of texts are read in 3 minutes
- Engage customers immediately - no code required
- Ability to reach customers anywhere in the world with a reliable, fast global network that was built in Asia first, so it can handle complex cellular networks
- Get support anytime - it’s available to everyone 24/7
Benefits
- Higher open rates and response rates because up to 98% of texts are read in 3 minutes
- Engage customers immediately - no code required
- Ability to reach customers anywhere in the world with a reliable, fast global network that was built in Asia first, so it can handle complex cellular networks
- Get support anytime - it’s available to everyone 24/7
Common use cases for sending text surveys
- Customer satisfaction - gauge customer satisfaction on a quarterly basis or automatically send a survey after every Support interaction
- Net promoter score - send your Net promoter Score through a text survey to get a higher participation rate
- Market research - collect market data to identify company and user trends
- Employee engagement - send text surveys to your employees to track how engaged they are and what they'd like to see changed in your company
Common use cases for sending text surveys
- Customer satisfaction - gauge customer satisfaction on a quarterly basis or automatically send a survey after every Support interaction
- Net promoter score - send your Net promoter Score through a text survey to get a higher participation rate
- Market research - collect market data to identify company and user trends
- Employee engagement - send text surveys to your employees to track how engaged they are and what they'd like to see changed in your company
What to look for in a text survey provider
- Automatic URL shortening - Sometimes, survey URL links can become very long. However, long URLs may make the message go over the character limit for one SMS message, thereby making the text message spread across two or more SMS text messages. It’s better to keep your message to just one text message to keep costs down and make it a better experience for your users.
- Sending ability through APIs in addition to an online portal - For those that create a sophisticated setup, sending through an API is a much better option. It allows companies to programmatically send messages based on triggers rather than having to manually send the surveys. However, some may want to stick to sending text surveys through an online portal one at a time or through batch campaigns. Having the flexibility to do either is important.
- Response data accessible via an online portal and via API calls - Once you get responses, you will obviously want to analyze the data. In some instances, you may want to quickly go to a website and review the data. However, if there are many responses or you want to be able to programmatically retrieve the data, then ensure your provider has an API for reporting.
What to look for in a text survey provider
- Automatic URL shortening - Sometimes, survey URL links can become very long. However, long URLs may make the message go over the character limit for one SMS message, thereby making the text message spread across two or more SMS text messages. It’s better to keep your message to just one text message to keep costs down and make it a better experience for your users.
- Sending ability through APIs in addition to an online portal - For those that create a sophisticated setup, sending through an API is a much better option. It allows companies to programmatically send messages based on triggers rather than having to manually send the surveys. However, some may want to stick to sending text surveys through an online portal one at a time or through batch campaigns. Having the flexibility to do either is important.
- Response data accessible via an online portal and via API calls - Once you get responses, you will obviously want to analyze the data. In some instances, you may want to quickly go to a website and review the data. However, if there are many responses or you want to be able to programmatically retrieve the data, then ensure your provider has an API for reporting.
Features
| Core Features | |
| Single/Bulk Messaging | Send either single or bulk messages quickly, through individiual API endpoints. |
| Web-based Sender | Use the intuitive web-based Campaign Manager to send messages without needing to integrate any API into an external platform. |
| Sender/Caller ID | Customize the sender ID or caller ID that appear on users' devices. |
| Verified Sender | Get your brand's own verified account to improve the credibility of your messaging account after activating Google Verified SMS |
| Intelligent Routing | The system will automatically select the best available routes including automated fallbacks to other alternatives to ensure quality of service, deliverability and latency |
| Auto Adaptation | Messages, phone number formats and Sender IDs are automatically adapted to ensure successful delivery. For Chat Apps, rich media is adapted accordingly |
| Programmatic History Retrieval | Retrieve your API history programmatically to import your data and create your own reports |
| Customizable Fields in API | Specify custom fields such as contact name or order number in your messages via our API or Campaign Manager |
| Short URL | Survey URLs are short to ensure cost-savings with click-through rate performance tracking |
| 2-way Communication | Increase the quality of customer engagement by having 2-way conversations |
| Number Lookup | Clean your database and step up on anti-fraud measures by checking the validity of phone numbers and their current locations |
| No Download Required | Communicate with customers without needing them to download any additional apps |
| Content Localization Compatibility | SMS text message body can use special encodings to send messages containing local characters (e.g. Thai characters, European accents, etc.) |
| Virtual Phone Numbers | Virtual phone numbers allow communications to hspprn privately and securely, without revealing private information. |
| Reporting and Analytics | |
| Messages Sent | Observe trends on total messages sent on the Customer Portal or through API callbacks |
| Message and Call Status | Obtain message delivery/call status records of incoming or outgoing messages via Customer Portal or customized callback URLs |
| Click-through Rates | Obtain click-through rates for links and call to action buttons in messages through API callbacks |
| Individual Communication Logs | Easily access communication logs through the Customer Portal or API callbacks |
| Destination Countries | Analyze destination countries of messages through Customer Portal dashboard |
| Integrations | |
| Zendesk | Add SMS or Chat Apps messaging from within your Zendesk app |
| Zapier | Connect your apps on Zapier and create custom 8x8 Zaps |
| Workato | Integrate SMS messaging with Workato's workflows |
| Shortcuts | Add SMS messaging on your Apple Shortcuts |
| Security and Compliance | |
| Private Network | Private network, with 3 levels of restricted subnets |
| Limited Access | Strict permission policies, access only over secured methods |
| Encryption | All requests use HTTPS/TLS encryption (IPSec connection supported if needed) |
| Reliability | 99.993% uptime, with redundancy over multiple app-servers |
| Monitoring | Automated testing and alerting systems, with 24/7 monitoring by operations team |
| Subaccounts | Create secondary accounts to help you organize multiple applications or services |
| GDPR Compliance | Platform fully compliant with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements when handling personal data of clients and end users |
| Support | |
| 24/7/365 Support | Round the clock support to solve any issues you may face |
| Local Presence | Worldwide presence to ensure local reliability |
How to send SMS text surveys
It’s easy to start sending surveys through SMS texts. View a walkthrough below about how to send text surveys from the portal, or view our text survey documentation to see how to do so using an API to integrate it into your product.
To start sending text surveys in the portal today, follow the steps below:
Click on the Sender tab on the left side of the portal. Click the button SMS Engage under the question “How would you like to send your messages?”. Then choose the subaccount you want to use. Note: If you don’t yet have an account, you can sign up for text surveys here. Once signed up, chat us to activate the survey part of your account.
Click on the Sender tab on the left side of the portal. Click the button SMS Engage under the question “How would you like to send your messages?”. Then choose the subaccount you want to use. Note: If you don’t yet have an account, you can sign up for text surveys here. Once signed up, chat us to activate the survey part of your account.
Choose who you’d like to send the SMS survey to. You can upload a file of contacts, manually type in new ones, choose existing contacts that you’ve previously added.
Choose who you’d like to send the SMS survey to. You can upload a file of contacts, manually type in new ones, choose existing contacts that you’ve previously added.
Now you can compose the message you want to send. Choose who you want the message to be sent from in the Sender ID field. Depending on the country that the message is being sent to, it can be numeric or alphanumeric. You can type up a message from scratch and choose a form from the form picker, or you can choose a template message that prepopulates the message for you. In this example, I created a new message from scratch.
Now you can compose the message you want to send. Choose who you want the message to be sent from in the Sender ID field. Depending on the country that the message is being sent to, it can be numeric or alphanumeric. You can type up a message from scratch and choose a form from the form picker, or you can choose a template message that prepopulates the message for you. In this example, I created a new message from scratch.
Now we get to the fourth and final step. Name your campaign so that you can go reference it in the reporting and analytics later. You can optionally add a client message ID as well. If you want to send your text survey right then, click Send now. However, if you want to schedule it to be sent at a later date, then click Schedule for later and choose when you want it sent. Once you hit submit, you’re all done!
After it’s been sent, you can go into the various reports to see the click-through rates, the response rates, the average response time, the answers to the survey questions, and more.
Reach out to one of our product experts if you’d like to learn more.
Now we get to the fourth and final step. Name your campaign so that you can go reference it in the reporting and analytics later. You can optionally add a client message ID as well. If you want to send your text survey right then, click Send now. However, if you want to schedule it to be sent at a later date, then click Schedule for later and choose when you want it sent. Once you hit submit, you’re all done!
After it’s been sent, you can go into the various reports to see the click-through rates, the response rates, the average response time, the answers to the survey questions, and more.
Reach out to one of our product experts if you’d like to learn more.
Text Survey API Parameters
If you want to use the APIs rather than sending SMS surveys from the portal, you can get more advanced and integrate it into your product. It’s possible to send a simple request body that only contains a couple of fields. However, you can optionally add many more parameters to modify the standard message sent and its characteristics. Note that the below parameters are defined in code using camel case, but for the purposes of making them more legible on this web page, they are written in title case.
- Single or batch - determines whether the API request will send one SMS survey or many at once
- Destination - the phone number you’re sending to. It can be with or without the international prefix for the country of the phone number.
- Country - the country code of the phone number you’re sending to if the destination is specified without an international prefix
- Template Body - defines the message body template and can include variables
- Template Variables - the variables or pre-defined fields that are used inside the message body template
- Survey ID - the unique identifier for the survey form that will be used
- Scheduled - the date and time for sending the SMS text survey if you’d like to delay the sending of it until a future time
- Source - the from address that is used when delivering an SMS text survey. It can be alphanumeric or numeric, depending on the country.
- Encoding - the character set encoding to be used when sending an SMS text. The API can analyze the text message body and automatically choose the correct encoding, or GSM7 or UCS2 can be manually selected.
- Client Message ID - a unique reference ID that you can define and input
- Client Batch ID - a unique reference ID that you can define and input if sending a batch of SMS surveys at once
- dlr Callback URL - the webhook URL that delivery status for the SMS message will be posted
- Expiry - the date and time after which a message cannot be sent
- Include Message in Response - a boolean parameter that determines whether the response should include individual details for each message sent
- API Key - the specific API key from the portal that is to be used for the API request
- Subaccount ID - the specific subaccount ID from the portal that is to be used for the API request