Back to Blog Listing
In this blog we look at the creation of surveys using the Dynamics CRM Voice of the Customer application. This is valuable tool for creating member and customer surveys and as it is fully integrated with Dynamics CRM it has significant advantages over stand alone tools such as Survey Monkey.
The following video demonstrates how to create and theme surveys. As there are a large number of question types available, this blog takes a deep dive into explaining each question type.
Editing options available on all question types
Once added to a Survey, Questions and Section Headers can be edited inline or via a new Form, which gives further editing options.
Editing Inline
-
You can make quick textual changes to Questions by clicking the Make Quick Edits inline icon. You can edit basic items like the Question Text and option set values.
Editing via the Question Form
The full question form can be opened by clicking on the pencil icon. This presents additional formatting options.
Some of the more complex Question Types automatically open the Question Form when placed on the Survey.
Each Question Type has two tabs – General and Advanced. The General and Advanced tabs are generally consistent across all Question types and are explored in more detail below.
Some Question Types also include a Validation tab.
The General Tab
This General Tab contains a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor giving access to basic editing functions. It also provides the ability to dynamically add data from CRM records. This allows personalisation of the survey e.g. adding the name of a Conference, or referring to the Respondent by name.
The WYSIWIG editor can also be toggled to HTML mode by clicking the ‘Toggle editor/ HTML button in the top right corner of the editor.
This tab also allows you to:
-
Enter Tooltip / Empty Text (on most Question Types) and Help prompts
- Define if a Response is required
- Define any Response Mapping
- Create and define Linked Questions
- Insert any Reporting Text
- Control the Question Layout and Visibility
The Advanced Tab
In the Advanced tab you can:
-
Change the Parent Question Group, or create new ones
- Pre-populate with dynamic data (on most question types). This works in the same way as it does with the WYSIWYG editor. More data options can be defined here though - you can type in new definitions with the use of vertical strokes.
- Pre-populate Query String (on most question types).
- Change the Question Ownership.
- Enter an Answer Tag (for relevant Question Types).
- Define if a response is required for a particular Survey – rather than making it Response Required in the General tab which will force a response in every Survey in which the Question appears.
Basic question types
Short Answer
This question type presents a small text box in which the Respondent can type their Answer.
Validation Options
You can define a Maximum Length, Regular Expression and Regular Expression Value for your Answer
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Long Answer
This question type inserts a large text box.
Validation
You can define a Maximum Length for your Long Answer Questions.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Rating
You can use this Question Type to gain a rating on a topic. Survey Respondents are presented with a graphic interface in which they can click on their choice. By default, 5 stars are presented to the Respondent.
Further General options
In the General tab there are 2 additional sections: RATINGS and SCORING.
RATINGS
• A new Image Type can be selected, as well as the Stars option, you can choose from Flags (in which case the number of ratings range will change to 1 – 3 and Smilies, with a choice of using sad to happy or neutral to happy emotions.
• Show Cancel Option allows Respondents to cancel their selection and reset the Rating, although they can change their choice by simply clicking another Rating.
• Number of Items allows you to change the number of Ratings available
• Allow Half-Ratings lets you set whether or not you wish to allow respondents this choice.
• Tooltips can be entered so that if a Respondent hovers the mouse over a Rating icon it defines what the Rating relates to, in our example hovering over a 1-star Rating gives a tooltip showing that this relates to Awful and a 5-star Rating corresponded to Brilliant.
SCORING
Scoring allows you to define a Scoring system for the Ratings Question which is very useful when analysing your Survey. You can choose from Auto-scoring 0-100 or 100-0 or define your own Scoring weightings, or to ignore Scoring (NB leaving this field blank also means Scoring will be ignored)
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Single Response
You can use Single Response Questions to give your Respondents a multiple choice question where only one single Answer can be given.
Further General options
As well as adding new options in the in-line editor, you can enter your option set values in the Responses field and the Single Response Type field defines the way the options are presented to the Respondent. You can select from Big buttons, Radio buttons, Drop down list or Scale.
Score Definition allows you to define Scoring for your Question.
Further Advanced options
In the Advanced tab, there also further options which allow you to
-
Pre-populate with dynamic data from CRM
- Pre Populate Query Strings
- Define the number of columns for Big Button Answers
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Multiple Responses
Multiple Responses Questions work in exactly the same manner as Single Response Questions, but your Respondents will be able to select more than one Answer. The only difference is that the Advanced Tab does not give options to pre-populate dynamics data or Query Strings.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Date
Date Questions allow you to enter Questions which are answered by selecting a Date from a Date Picker.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Descriptive Text
You can use this Question Type to type in text which requires no Answer, for example advice or placeholder text.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Numerical Response
Numerical Response Questions allow you to enter Questions which are answered by typing numerical characters only.
Further General options
You can use the Number Type field to define whether Respondents can only enter Whole Numbers or to allow them to provide decimals.
Validation Options
You can define any Minimum or Maximum values you wish to enforce.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Ranking
This question type places a list of values on the screen and the Respondent re-orders the items to create a Ranking.
Further General options
You can use the fields in the Ranking section to randomise the response options, insert Rank Header and Footer text and force users to highlight their responses before assigning their Ranking, rather than simply re-ordering the items (see screenshot below for further clarification).
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
With Pick Responses Enabled
Without Pick Responses Enabled
Fixed Sum
Fixed Sum questions can be used to insert Questions where Respondents answer the question by distributing 100 points across a range of available options.
Further Advanced options
Grid text can be edited in the Grid Text field.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Upload File
Respondents can answer this question type but uploading a file.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
There are also a number of question types which are extensions of the Single and Multiple Response question, with predefined ranges and scoring/weighting (which can be edited). These are discussed in the following section
Net Promoter Score®
This type of question is used to give Respondents a sliding scale of values to pick from. The Question Text is pre-populated to say ‘How likely is it that you would recommend [us / this product / this service] to a friend or colleague?’ but is easily changed.
Further General options
The Scoring System is also pre-defined but again, is editable to suit your needs, as is the Scale, which by default is a 1-10 scale. You can also choose if you wish to Enable Social Sharing for these questions in this tab.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Customer Effort Score
This question type is similar to the Net Promoter Score® with the exception of:
- The question text is pre-defined as ‘How much effort did you personally have to put forth to handle your request?’ which is easily edited.
- Scoring is also pre-defined to User Specified Range/ Weight with values from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 5.
- The Left and Right labels can be edited, as well as the number of items.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
CSAT
This question type is similar to the Net Promoter Score® and Customer Effort Score with the exception of:
-
The question text is pre-defined as ‘How would you rate your overall satisfaction with [us / this product / this service]?’ which is, again, editable.
- Scoring is also pre-defined to User Specified Range / Weight with values from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 6.
- The Left and Right labels can be edited as well as the number of items, with the default being 5
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Smilies Rating
This works in the same way as a Single Response but in place of option set values, Smilies are displayed. In the Responses field, you can edit the wording which corresponds to the Smilies available.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
List of Ratings
A list of Ratings question lets you add a series of rows, each containing a Ratings Question, the questions can be edited inline or by editing, adding or removing lines in the Questions field. Each Question can only have one answer.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Single Rating in Columns
This question type works in the same way as the List of Ratings, but the Questions are presented within a Grid where you can define the answers in Columns and enter a column header. The Respondents can only select one answer per line.
Further General options
The column headers can be defined in the Column Headers field.
Further Advanced options
Grid text can be edited in the Grid Text field.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Multiple Ratings in Columns
This question type is an extension of the Single Rating in Columns type, except Respondents can select more than one answer per row.
How it appears in the Survey Designer
How it appears to the Respondent
Contact Us today for more information on Voice of the Customer and Survey Features within Microsoft Dynamics CRM, alternatively you can visit C2’s Video Tutorial page.