Using Merge Fields to Track Responses

GetFeedback surveys are anonymous by default. If you want to track responses or participant details within your survey, you'll want to pull in merge field data. If you're not familiar with merge fields yet - here's an article to get you introduced.

Getting Started

Merge fields are a great way to track survey responses from specific individuals. A few examples of merge fields you can use to identify a respondent are Contact ID, Name, or Email Address.

If you have a GetFeedback plan which integrates with Salesforce or Pardot, you'll add merge fields to your email template, and we'll add the merge fields to your URL for you. We offer this feature for Automate in GetFeedback using Salesforce, HTML, Visualforce, or Pardot email templates.

If you'd prefer to use the GetFeedback link builder to add merge fields to your survey URL, GetFeedback can't fill merge fields dynamically, because we don't have access to your data. If you want to add merge fields to your URL, you'll need to build a URL for each individual survey recipient. (Which isn't very scalable, or fun.)

Format a Survey URL

GetFeedback doesn't recommend manually building merge fields for your survey URLs, but here’s a quick explanation of how merge fields work in a URL - to illustrate the basics of merge fields.

First, copy the survey link by navigating to Distribute > Link. The survey link will look something like this:

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI

Next, add your merge fields onto the end of the link. The first merge field must be separated from the base URL with a ? character. All of the following survey links use a different kind of merge field to identify a specific individual survey recipient:

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?ContactID=0003123456

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?Name=Jane

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?Email=jsmith@gmail.com

You can include more than one merge field in a survey URL. Separate each merge field from the previous one by using the & character, as shown here:

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?ContactID=0003123456&Name=Jane

Merge Field Syntax

To pull in a merge field like email, name, or ContactID, each email provider uses a specific merge field syntax. Here's a list of examples of merge field formatting for different email providers:

If you're using Campaign Monitor, your URL might look something like the following before it is sent out to your list of subscribers:

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?Email=[email]

If you're using Pardot and want to track your Prospects, it might look like this:

https://www.getfeedback.com/r/TLg32MsI?ProspectID=%%crm%%

Merge Fields when you Send to a List from GetFeedback

When you use GetFeedback Send to a List, you will enter in your merge field values alongside the recipient email addresses, separating each merge field with a comma, and separating each new recipient with a line break.

Enter each survey recipient on a new line, followed by their associated merge fields, separated by a comma. For each recipient you're adding to your list, be sure to order your merge field data in the same way. In the sending list below I've included the recipients email address, name, and company.

Next, save your list and assign a name for each of the columns of data you’ve entered. By doing this, you're assigning a merge field name to the entered values. This keeps your response data and personalization organized.

In this example, I've selected email from the merge field dropdown to the left of Sally's email address, name from the dropdown to the left of her name, and company from the dropdown menu to the left of her company name. When Sally responds to your survey, we'll include the email, name, and company data alongside the response. You can view all this information in the survey responses table.

Viewing Responses & Merge Field Info

Once responses are submitted, the results will be displayed in the Survey Responses table alongside their merge fields, which can be found under the Results tab of each Survey.

In this example, we’re looking at a survey responses table with the following merge fields: Region, Channel, and Agent. Each merge field will create a new column in your survey responses table so you can associate your response with each respondent.