TL;DR — A survey is a reusable set of questions your team asks at the door or on the phone. Each answer can also update the person’s record — adding a tag, setting their support level, and more.

What it is

A survey is a reusable set of questions you ask people during an activity. It’s the what we ask of a campaign — the script a volunteer follows at the door or on the phone.

A survey is built once and reused across as many activities as you like. The same survey can power a canvass, a phone bank, and a follow-up text.

graph TD
    A[Survey]

    subgraph Questions[" "]
        B[Question 1]
        C[Question 2]
        D[Question 3]
    end

    A --> Questions

    style A fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,stroke-width:3px
    style B fill:#fff4e6,stroke:#ff9800,stroke-width:2px
    style C fill:#fff4e6,stroke:#ff9800,stroke-width:2px
    style D fill:#fff4e6,stroke:#ff9800,stroke-width:2px
    style Questions fill:#f5f5f5,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px

Questions

A survey is made of questions. Each question is one of:

  • Single choice — the person picks exactly one option.
  • Multiple choice — the person can pick several options.
  • Essay — a free-text / open-ended answer.

Answers can do more than record a response

This is what makes surveys powerful: each option on a choice question can trigger an action that updates the person’s record automatically when it’s selected. The available actions are:

ActionWhat it does
NoneJust records the answer, no side effect.
TagAdds a tag to the person (e.g. volunteer-interested).
Support levelUpdates how strongly the person supports your campaign.
Do Not Call (DNC)Flags the person so they’re left out of future calling.
Lawn signRecords that the person wants a lawn sign.

So a single question like “Can we count on your support?” can both record the answer and set the person’s support level — no extra data entry needed.

graph LR
    Q["Question option<br/>(e.g. 'Strong yes')"] --> ACT[Action]
    ACT --> P[Person's record updated]

    style Q fill:#e1f5ff,stroke:#0066cc,stroke-width:2px
    style ACT fill:#fff4e6,stroke:#ff9800,stroke-width:3px
    style P fill:#f5f5f5,stroke:#666,stroke-width:2px

In the survey editor, each question has a type and a set of answer options — and every option carries an action selector that decides what happens to the person’s record when it’s chosen.

The survey editor showing a single-choice question with answer options, each with an action selector
The survey editor: a single-choice question whose answer options each carry an action selector.

Terms

  • Survey — a reusable set of questions.
  • Question — single choice, multiple choice, or essay.
  • Action — what selecting an option does to the person’s record (tag, support level, DNC, lawn sign).