How to Build the Survey

The first step in creating a sequence is completing some basic settings:

1. Start by naming your sequence.
   
   
2. Then choose an activation trigger. You'll see we offer 3 options. The manual trigger allows you to start the survey whenever you're ready. The scheduled trigger allows you to pre program the survey to begin on a specific date, or select the automatic trigger that sets the sequence to launch a certain number of days after another one has ended. 
   
   
3. Next, you can choose a duration for the sequence, 30, 60, 90 days, or a custom time frame. We recommend 90 days in most cases, but this gives you flexibility to select another duration if that best fits your needs. Remember, our system evenly distributes survey invitations to your respondents over the duration of the sequence. 
   
   
4. Once you've saved your settings, you'll have access to the other steps in the process.

• You can easily customize the default intro and completion messages at any point, but the real fun begins when you start selecting questions. 

• Next, you'll select benchmark questions from our various categories. We always suggest selecting a few questions that align with your school's core values or mission. 
  
  
• These are questions you'll include in every survey sequence so you can start to gain longitudinal data on the areas most connected to your school's DNA. But you'll also want to measure some topical areas, maybe campus safety or technology. These can be swapped out after each survey sequence. 

• If you're stuck, try clicking the most popular questions link. It offers a curated list of commonly used high impact questions from across our question bank. A key benefit of using library questions is benchmarking. You'll be able to compare your school's results against other schools in our network directly on your dash board.

• Finally, you can create custom questions unique to your school. These won't be benchmarked, but they will allow you to address specific topics important to your community. 

• Perhaps you want to ask parents to rate their satisfaction with a recent dress code change, or maybe you you want to learn where parents are willing to volunteer, or because of the sequential nature of our surveys you can also use custom questions to follow-up on insights you've gathered from a prior sequence. Say for instance you had a subpar score in the area of discipline and wanted to follow-up.

• As you add questions, the survey preview section updates in real time. At the top and bottom of every survey, you'll notice a few system default questions. For example, every survey starts with the all important Net Promoter Score question. In each section, you can rearrange questions by dragging and dropping them, and each question also provides a set of options. 
  
  
• You can choose to make certain questions mandatory. By the way, that's the default setting for all of our questions except the open ended comment questions. 
  
  

• You can also create conditional questions. Maybe that dress code policy affects only high school students. We can easily set it up so that those parents are the only ones who see that question. Or that follow-up question about discipline? We can set that up to show only the parents who gave us low scores in that area. 
  
  
• You can even choose to create an optional comment button underneath any rating or multiple choice question. This allows your respondents to provide extra context if they wish. 

• Change your mind on a question? Just click remove, and the question will pop back over to the staging area.

• Once you're satisfied with your survey, give it a test run. You can view a sample in your browser or even send a test email to one or more colleagues. Or you can download a PDF if you want to share or review offline.

• Then, you're ready to launch. If you selected the manual start trigger, the sequence will go live as soon as you click start. 
  
  
• Your first batch of respondents will receive their survey invitation the next time 11 AM EST rolls around. If you selected the other triggers, the system logic will automatically start the survey based on the conditions you created. 
  
  
• And that's it. You're an expert now, and ready to build your first sequence. Have fun, and let us know how we can help!