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How to create and distribute surveys

Last updated: 7 May 2026

What this does

Create custom surveys and questionnaires, distribute them through campaigns, and analyse responses. Surveys in IMPACT support versioning, scoring, scheduling, anonymity, and automated reminders.

Current access and functionality

  • Verified against the current impact-web, impact-client, and impact-marketplace code on 2026-05-07.
  • In impact-web, users must be signed in and working in an active workspace. Navigation and write actions are role-, permission-, and entitlement-aware; unavailable modules are hidden or disabled instead of being universally visible.
  • Survey and assessment setup is web-first for admins. Respondents can answer assigned surveys in web or mobile when the campaign or instance includes them.

Before you start

  • You must be an admin with survey management permissions.
  • Plan your survey: what questions to ask, who should respond, and how results will be scored.

Steps

Creating a questionnaire

  1. Navigate to the Questionnaire section.
  2. Click Create Questionnaire.
  3. Enter the questionnaire details:
    • Name — a clear title (e.g., "Employee Engagement Survey Q2 2026").
    • Type — general questionnaire, DISC, or competency assessment.
  4. Add questions:
    • Enter the question text and optional description.
    • Configure the editor type for each question (e.g., multiple choice, rating scale, free text).
    • Set the order of questions.
    • Create nested questions by setting a parent question for hierarchical surveys.
  5. Configure interpretation settings:
    • Score calculation — how individual question scores are aggregated.
    • Result presentation — how results are displayed to respondents and admins.
    • Categories — group questions into scoring categories with default scores.
  6. Click Save.

Versioning

  1. Questionnaires support versions — you can update questions without losing historical data.
  2. To create a new version, edit the questionnaire and save as a new version.
  3. Each version has its own set of questions and scoring configuration.
  4. Campaigns reference a specific version, so running campaigns are not affected by new versions.

Creating a survey campaign

  1. Go to the Survey section > Campaigns.
  2. Click Create Campaign.
  3. Configure the campaign:
    • Survey — select the questionnaire to distribute.
    • Name — campaign-specific name (e.g., "Q2 Engagement — Engineering Team").
    • Effective From / To — the window during which respondents can submit.
    • Duration — how long each respondent has to complete.
    • Scope — company-wide, team-specific, or individual.
    • Recipients — who should receive the survey. Can target by team or individual.
    • Anonymity — toggle anonymous responses (respondents' identities are hidden from results).
    • Public flag — whether results are visible to all or only admins.
  4. Set up reminders — automated follow-ups for non-respondents.
  5. Configure trigger rules — conditions that automatically launch survey instances.
  6. Set the result method and report method — how results are calculated and presented.
  7. Set recurring interval if the campaign should repeat periodically.
  8. Click Launch.

Responding to a survey (staff view)

  1. Respondents see pending surveys in their survey list or receive a notification.
  2. Open the survey and answer all questions.
  3. Submit the response. The submission timestamp is recorded.
  4. If the survey is not anonymous, the respondent can view their own results after submission.

Analysing results

  1. Open the campaign and go to Results.
  2. View results in multiple formats:
    • Summary — aggregate scores and response rates.
    • Individual — per-respondent results (not available for anonymous surveys).
    • Interpretation — scored and categorised results based on the questionnaire's scoring configuration.
    • Appreciation — feedback and recognition generated from results.
  3. Export results for further analysis.

Tips

  • Test your questionnaire with a small group before launching a company-wide campaign.
  • Use anonymous mode for sensitive topics (engagement, satisfaction, well-being) to get honest responses.
  • Set reminders — response rates drop significantly without follow-ups.
  • Use categories to group questions. This gives you sub-scores (e.g., "Communication: 4.2, Leadership: 3.8") rather than just an overall number.
  • Version your questionnaires when making changes so you can compare results across survey rounds.
  • The minimum population setting on recurring campaigns prevents surveys from launching when there are too few eligible respondents.

Common issues

  • Issue: Respondents cannot see the survey — Fix: Check that the campaign's effective period includes the current date and the recipients are correctly configured.
  • Issue: Results show 0 responses — Fix: Verify that the campaign has been launched (not just saved as draft). Check the campaign status.
  • Issue: Anonymous survey showing names — Fix: Verify the anonymity toggle is on in the campaign settings. Anonymity must be set before launch.

Related

Keywords: surveys