What are Survey Questions?

Survey questions let you collect structured data from the people you're texting, such as their event interest, contact information, or level of support. Whether you're gathering demographics or tracking volunteer sign-ups, survey questions help you organize responses and identify trends in your campaign.


This guide walks you through how to create global survey questions and use them in your campaigns. To read more about how survey questions are used in your assignment, read our guide: Survey Questions for Message Senders.


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Campaign vs Global Survey Questions

There are two types of survey questions in ThruText. Understanding the difference helps you decide when to use a campaign-specific question or a global one.

  • Global surveys can be reused in any campaign in your account. They’re helpful for tracking consistent data across campaigns, such as volunteer interest, support levels, or demographic information.
  • Campaign surveys are specific to one campaign. They’re useful for collecting information about a single event or issue. These questions are only available in the campaign where they were created.


How to Create Global Survey Questions in your Account

To create a global survey question, go to the global surveys page. In the left sidebar navigation menu, under ThruText, expand ThruText Tools, and click on Surveys.


This image shows the global surveys page and highlights where to find that page in the sidebar navigation menu


For Yes/No and Freeform types, responses are fixed, so you'll only write the Question text.


This image shows a global yes/no survey question and highlights the question form.


For Multiple Choice and Checkbox types, enter your survey responses under Choices as a comma-separated list. For example: "Strong Support, Lean Support, Neutral, Lean Oppose, Strong Oppose"


This image shows a global multiple choice question and highlights the choices form, where you can add a comma separated list of responses.


After creating a global survey, you can Delete it if it hasn't been added to a campaign. Once a survey is used in a campaign, you can only Archive it, which will hide it from your list of existing global surveys in campaigns.


This image shows two global survey questions and highlights the delete and archive buttons for each question.


Using Global Survey Questions on a Campaign


You can add a global survey question to your campaign during the Surveys step of campaign creation. You can see the steps for getting to this page in the section How to Create Survey Questions in your Campaign below.


This shows the surveys step in campaign creation and highlights where to add global surveys to a campaign.


As pictured above, click Global in the Surveys step to see a dropdown where you can select and add Global Surveys. After you create a global survey, it will appear with (Global) next to the question name, as pictured below..


This image shows global survey questions after they've been added to a campaign and highlights (Global) in the title.


You can also add global surveys to an active campaign. 


How to Create Survey Questions in your Campaign

To begin, create a campaign in ThruText. In the left sidebar navigation menu, go to the ThruText section, expand Campaigns, and click Create New Campaign. To read more about campaign creation, check out our guide here: Launching a ThruText Campaign.


This image shows the Surveys page on the campaign creation wizard. It also shows where you can create a new campaign in the sidebar navigation menu.


After completing the first 5 steps of campaign creation, you'll reach the Surveys page. Click Create New Question to get started. To create a brand new question for your campaign, click New Question. To add an existing global question to your campaign, click Global.


This image shows the full survey questions page in the campaign creation wizard. It highlights where you select new questions versus global questions.


To create a new question, select a Survey Type from the dropdown menu. ThruText has four types of survey questions: 

  • Yes/No: a yes/no question (e.g., "Will you go to the event?") 
  • Multiple Choice (pick one): Contacts choose one answer from a list (e.g., Which issue matters most to you?). 
  • Freeform: Allows open-ended responses (e.g., "Notes" or "Email Address").
  • Checkboxes (pick many): Allows more than one answer to be selected from a list (e.g., Which days are you available to volunteer?).


For Yes/No and Freeform types, responses are fixed, so you'll write the Question text.


This image shows an example of a Yes/No Survey question being created


For Multiple Choice and Checkbox types, enter survey responses under Choices. Click Add another choice to add more survey responses.


This image shows an example multiple choice survey question being created.


For Global Questions, select a question from the dropdown to add it to the campaign.


This shows the global survey question selector.


Make sure to click Add Question to save your question.


Adding and Editing Surveys in Active Campaigns

To add or edit surveys in an active campaign, go to the Campaign Summary page and click Surveys.


This image shows the campaign summary page for an active campaign and highlights where to navigate to the Surveys page.


Survey questions can’t be deleted from active campaigns to prevent the loss of existing response data. However, these questions can be edited, so you can add instructions to the title such as "Do not use" if you wish to replace a question.


Survey Exports

After you collect responses from your recipients, you can generate an export of the survey responses. You can create account-level or campaign survey exports


Campaign Surveys Export

To do that, navigate to the Campaign Summary page and click Export.


This image shows the campaign summary page and highlights the export action button.


This will take you to the Campaign Export page, where you can select Surveys from the dropdown to generate the export. Read more about campaign exports here: ThruText Campaign Exports.


This image shows the campaign exports page and highlights the dropdown where you can select surveys exports.


Account Surveys Export

To create an account level surveys export go to the Exports page. In the sidebar navigation menu, under ThruText, expand ThruText Tools, and click on Exports.


This image shows the ThruText Account-level Exports page, and highlights where it can be found in the sidebar navigation menu.


Select Account surveys from the Export Type dropdown and set the Start and End Date. For more information about account level surveyquestions, read our guide: Account-Level ThruText Exports.


Best Practices and Tips

  • Comma Separated Responses: You can add responses one-by-one by clicking Add another choice, or you can add a comma separated list of responses and that will create multiple distinct responses when you click Add Question.

This image shows the multiple choice survey question creator and highlights the comma separated list in the Choices form.


  • Create a fallback option: You can’t unselect a response in a multiple choice question, but you can select a different one. Add an extra option like "No Answer" or "Undecided" in case someone needs to change their answer.
  • Reorder surveys: You can drag and drop questions to reorder them. Place the most important questions near the top to make it easier for message senders.

This gif demonstrates how to reorder survey questions by dragging and dropping survey questions.


Example Survey Questions

  • Global Survey Questions
    • Wrong Number?: Type: Yes/No
    • Notes: Type: Freeform
    • Response: Response Options: Interested, Not interested, Neutral
  • Campaign Survey Questions
    • Are you registered to vote?: Type: Yes/No
    • Can they attend the event?: Type: Yes/No
    • Would you like to add your e-mail address to the newsletter?: Freeform
    • What is your level of Support for Jane for Congress?: Response Options: Strong Support, Lean Support, Neutral, Lean Oppose, Strong Oppose.
    • Which issue matters most to you?: Response Options: Healthcare, Jobs, Climate, Education, Other
    • Interested in Volunteering?: Response Options: Yes, No, Maybe
    • What days are you available to volunteer? (checkbox): Response Options: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
    • What volunteer activities are you interested in?: Response Options: Phone banking, texting, canvassing, hosting events