Who this is for: administrators and coaches who collect information from members, and members who are asked to fill in a survey. Permission required: Manage Surveys to create, send and manage surveys. None to answer a survey you were sent, or to view the results of a public survey.
Surveys let your organization ask members (and, optionally, the stakeholders on a group) a set of questions and collect the answers in one place. Typical uses are end-of-season feedback, regatta travel interest, uniform sizes or volunteer availability. Each recipient gets a personal link by email and can submit their answers once.
Surveys on this page are sent on demand. Post-practice surveys that go out automatically after a practice are covered in Coaching notes & post-practice surveys.
Where surveys live
| Page | Who sees it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks → Surveys | People with Manage Surveys | Every survey in the organization, with its status, recipients and responses. |
| Tasks → My Surveys | Every member | Surveys you have been sent, when they are open, and whether you have completed them. |
On Tasks → Surveys each survey shows one of four statuses:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Still being built. Nothing has been sent. |
| Scheduled | Marked Ready to Send, waiting for its send time. |
| In Progress | Sent, still open, and not everyone has responded. |
| Completed | Closed, or every recipient has responded. |
Create a survey
- Go to Tasks → Surveys and click the round + button at the top of the page.
- In New Survey, fill in:
- Survey Title and Survey Description — both appear at the top of the survey and in the invitation email.
- Are submissions anonymous? — choose Yes to hide respondents' names from the results.
- Will the results be public? — choose Yes to let members see the results.
- Click Create Survey. The survey appears in the table as a Draft.
- Click Edit next to the survey to build it.
Set the schedule
At the top of the edit page, under Survey Meta Data, you can change the title, description, anonymity and public settings, and set:
- What time should the survey be sent? — when the invitation emails go out.
- What time should the survey close? — after this time the link stops working and no more responses are accepted.
Changes save as soon as you leave each field.
Add elements
The Elements tab lists the survey's content in order. Click Add Element and choose a type:
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Description Box | Formatted text, such as instructions or a heading. Nothing to answer. |
| Text Input | A question with a free-text answer. Enter the question as the label. |
| Dropdown | A question with a list of choices. Enter the label and up to 20 items. |
Use Edit to change an element, X to delete it, and the up and down arrows to change the order. The Preview tab shows the survey as recipients will see it.
Choose recipients
On the Recipients tab:
- Add Group adds every member of a group. Tick Include stakeholders to add the group's stakeholders as well (see Stakeholders (parents & guardians)). Click Add Recipients.
- Add Individual adds one member of the organization. Click Add Recipient.
Each person is only added once, even if they belong to several of the groups you add. Before the survey is sent you can remove a recipient with the X next to their name.
Send the survey
- Check the elements on the Preview tab and the list on the Recipients tab.
- Click Ready to Send. The survey becomes Scheduled and is emailed to every recipient once the send time arrives. If the send time has already passed, it goes out right away.
The invitation email contains the survey title, description, closing date and a personal link. It is sent from your organization's confirmed sender signature if you have one, otherwise from a Boathouse Connect address; see Sender signatures & custom domains.
Before you click Ready to Send: once a survey has been sent, its title, description, settings and elements are locked. You can still change the send and close times and add recipients.
To delete a survey, use DELETE SURVEY on the edit page. It is only available before the survey is sent.
Manage a survey that has been sent
Click Manage next to the survey on Tasks → Surveys.
- Add more people. Use Add Group or Add Individual as before. New recipients are emailed the survey immediately.
- See who has responded. While the survey is open, the Recipients tab has a Submitted column.
- Chase non-respondents. Click Resend Email to … Non-Respondents to send the invitation again to everyone who has not submitted.
- Extend the deadline. Change What time should the survey close?
Click View on the survey list to see the survey itself, or the recipients count to see the list of names and emails.
Answer a survey
- Open the link in the survey email, or go to Tasks → My Surveys and click Take Survey.
- Answer the questions and click Submit Survey. You will see "Your responses have been recorded!".
My Surveys shows each survey's Survey Status, Timeframe (open to close) and when you Completed it. Once a public survey has closed, a View Results button appears.
View the results
- On Tasks → Surveys, click View … Responses next to the survey.
- Survey Responses lists each question with its Top Response. Click a question to see every answer.
- All Responses has one row per respondent with a column per question. Use the Excel or CSV buttons to export it.
People with Manage Surveys can see the results of any sent survey. Other members can see the results only when Will the results be public? is Yes.
In an anonymous survey, respondents are listed as Anonymous 1, Anonymous 2 and so on, and their answers are not linked to their names.
FAQ
Can I change a question after the survey has gone out? No. Elements, the title, the description and the anonymous and public settings are locked once the survey is sent. Create a new survey if a question needs to change.
A recipient says they never got the email. Click Manage, then Resend Email to … Non-Respondents. They can also find the survey under Tasks → My Surveys. If emails still do not arrive, see Not receiving emails or texts?
Can someone change their answers after submitting? No. Each recipient can submit once. Opening the link again shows a message that the survey has expired or has already been submitted.
Will members in two of the selected groups get the survey twice? No. Each person is added to the recipient list only once.
On an anonymous survey, can I see who has not responded? Yes. The Recipients tab still shows who has submitted so you can chase people, but the results do not show which answers belong to whom.
Who can create surveys? Anyone in a group with the Manage Surveys permission. See Roles & permissions.