Include Questions

Questions are an optional addition to your Action or LTE Alert. Entering a custom question enables your organization to collect additional data from advocates responding to an alert. You can use this information to tailor future communication with those individuals as registered constituents.

Note: To update a constituent profile with responses to a question, select a profile field to update. If a matching field does not exist, add the field in the profile. For example, you may need to add an appropriate field to the profile, such as a Mobile Phone Number, to match a custom Mobile Phone question.

On this page, create custom survey-type questions and add them to your alert. For each question, you can:

  • (Recommended use) Save the responses to constituent profiles, configuring the question to update (map the responses to) a profile field. For instance, you may wish to record a mobile phone number for advocates responding to your alert

  • Make the question optional or required

  • Set the display order of questions on the live page

  • Preview the question in a separate window

  • Make the question inactive or delete it permanently

Note: Because custom questions are often associated with both Constituent360 and Security Categories, individuals taking action on an alert are called "constituents" and "advocates" interchangeably.

Most of the Question Types used for custom questions in an alert are the same as those used in the Surveys application. You can use text fields, drop-down lists from which the advocate selects an option, and so on. However, the custom questions, along with their responses, are associated solely with the alert for which they are created (and with constituent profiles in Constituent360 if responses are saved to profile fields). They are not accessible from Surveys.

Most individual questions can be configured to update an existing field in the constituent Profile with responses to the question. You can also run a query in Constituent360 based on those fields, and create a group based on the query.

Assign each question its own security category, controlling which administrators and constituents can view or respond to the question. The security category you select must fall within the security category controlling who can view the overall alert. For example, for one question, you might select General to enable all constituents to answer that question. While for another question, you might want to make the question available only to users in a Board Members security category.

From the list of previously created custom questions on this page, you can click Edit or Delete to take those actions.

Warning: Deleting a question from this list is permanent. If you want to inactivate the question but keep it for future use, clear the Include a Question checkbox, but do not delete the question.

Add a custom question

  1. On the Include Questions page, click Add Question.

  2. Select a Question Type from the drop-down list.

  3. Click Next.

  4. Enter the Question Text as a question or statement to which the constituent will respond. (If the Question Type is Caption, enter the instruction or other information and use the Content (WYSIWYG) Editor as desired to create more complex HTML content.)

  5. (Interest Categories only) Select any Email or Website Interest Categories that you want to include as options for constituents acting on this alert.

  6. (Multiple Choice and Rating Scale only) Enter the Response Options, with one option per line. Press Enter/Return for each new option.

  7. (Optional) For the Answer Required field, select Yes, a response is requiredto make this a required question. Leave the box unchecked to make the question optional.

  8. (Optional) Select a Security Category to restrict the administrators or constituents who can view or respond to this question.

  9. (Not available for all question types) For Contact Record Field Update, specify whether to update constituent Profiles with responses to this question:

    • Do not update Profile (default) - Leave option selected if the question is not applicable to constituent Profile information. You can still view a report of question responses.

    • Select existing field - Select this option to update an existing field in the constituent Profile with responses to this question. From the drop-down menus, select a Field Type such as Biographical Information and then the specific Field such as Gender. (If an appropriate field does not exist, it must be added to the constituent Profile in Constituent360.)

  10. (Optional) Click Preview to view your new question in a separate browser window. When you are ready, close the Preview window and make further edits as needed.

  11. Click Finish. The Include Questions process page re-displays with your new question in the Questions List.

  12. (Optional; Action Alerts only) To view a report of all responses to custom questions in this alert, click View Question Responses under Related Actions in the left pane. For details, see Viewing Advocacy Reports. (This report is only accessible from this link; it is not accessible from Surveys or from Report Writer.)

  13. Click Next to save and go to the next process page: Configure Autoresponder.