How do I send a survey through SurveyMonkey's Email Invitation Collector?

This collector enables you to add a list of emails into SurveyMonkey and send a unique survey link through a message delivered by our mail server. You can then track who has responded, who has not responded, who opted out, etc.

To learn more about our list upload and list size policy, please view the following: Invitation Usage
 If you've already gotten started, to just send the invitation see our section here.

How the Invitation Links Work:

When our mail server delivers the message, the system automatically generates unique links. Each unique link is tied to a specific email address in the list via the tags included in the default message.

Only the recipient will know his/her unique link. As the survey creator, you will not be able to see each assigned link inside the collector.

EXAMPLE: You have 10 email addresses in the list. Ten messages and links will be delivered. As a person responds, his or her email is populated on the response in the Analyze section and tracked by status in the collector.

How to Add Email Addresses and Send the Survey:

I. Choose the Email Invitation Collector Type:

1. Click the on the Collect Responses icon  on the My Surveys page next to the survey. This opens the collector summary page and allows you to create and store collectors. (Choose Add Collector if previous collectors have been created.)
2. Pick Email; 
3. Name the collector and click Next Step to progress.

II. Create the Email List:

1. After you've chosen to send an email, you'll need to define who should receive invitations to take the survey.
2. You'll land on the Add Recipients prompt, so choose one of the below options:

• Add Manually: Add email addresses and contacts manually, formatted as following, and then click Add Recipients:
  • Email address, First name, Last Name, Custom Data
  • EX: tomjones@email.com, Tom, Jones, Neighbor
  • EX: sting@thepolice.com, Sting, , Superstar 
• From Address Book: Choose a list from the drop-down and click Add Recipients
• From Collector: If you've sent an invite any other time, pick the survey from the drop-down menu; tick the checkbox for the appropriate collectors, and click Add Recipients from Selected Collector(s).

3. Click Save & Continue to move forward, or Save and Resume Later if you need to come back and finish at a different time.
4. Choose New/Unsent and click Save & Continue

• Use Custom Criteria to use just a segment of your list ("*" acts as a wildcard).

  Want to learn more about creating lists? How to import email addresses.

III. Create the message and send it:

NOTE: If you're coming back to create a message after navigating away from the collector, click Messages from the left-hand pane and then Resume from the right.

1. After clicking Resume, enter a valid email address for the From section and a Subject.  
2. Customize  the message, and use the placeholders [SurveyLink] and [RemoveLink].  We'll fill these in for you with custom links when we go to actually send the invite. Or, re-use a previously sent message.
3. Click Save & Continue
4. Click Send Now to have the message sent in about 5 minutes (gives you ample time to configure the Settings & Restrictions on the link); or click Schedule to pick a date and time in the future.

• Change Settings is where you can determine your thank you page options, whether or not respondents can come back later to finish the survey, if you'd like the survey results displayed, or other survey completion options.
• Change Restrictions is where you can decide to set a cutoff date and time to close the survey, a max response count, add a password to access the survey, or enable IP blocking.

Key questions to remember:

Q. Can I add multiple links or collect multiple responses? 

Only one [SurveyLink] tag is allowed in the body content. 

• No one can forward their assigned link to others or use that link to submit multiple responses.
• If a person is to respond multiple times, view the following option: Answering an invitation multiple times

NOTE: If you want others who are not uploaded into the list to take the survey, consider adding a Web Link collector into the bottom of the message. Label it as a link that can be forwarded to others who may want to respond. These new responses will not be tracked as they will use this anonymous Web Link. 

Q. Can I send this invitation to one single distribution email address or a list-serv?

Unfortunately not.  Only one survey will be completed for each email address, so if 10 people are on a list-serv, only 1 can fill it out.  You'll need to obtain and upload the individual email addresses.

Additional Features:

Once lists are created and/or messages have been delivered, the Message Manager section enables you to do the following:

• Track respondents: Check the status of the emails in the Edit Recipient section. Check how many Responded, Unresponded, or Opted Outs are currently recorded. 
• Search for specific email addresses: Display the entire list or select to view only those of a certain status (e.g. All Unsent/New, Responded, etc.)
• Add/Remove/Download emails: Add emails, remove them, or export a list within the Edit Recipients section.
• Manually add responses: Manually add a response for a participant on his or her behalf.
• Check the send status: Check the status of a delivery. If necessary, cancel messages that are still in queue.
• Manage Messages: View any message currently in a draft mode. Verify the number of "scheduled" or "in progress" messages.