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Generating scheduled email invitations from Snap WebHost

Snap WebHost can send out email invitations and reminders automatically. It keeps a record of which respondents have completed the questionnaire, and reminds those who have still to complete it.

Background

To generate scheduled emails from Snap WebHost, you need to have respondents' email addresses, the text of the invitation messages you wish to send, and the times that you want to send them.

To generate automatic reminders from Snap WebHost you need to have a way of identifying the respondents. This is known as their login ID, and it must be unique for each respondent. Respondents will not necessarily have to log in to the survey, as you can set up the link to the survey to log them in automatically, but they do need to be identified when they start the survey, so Snap WebHost knows not to send them reminders.

Email addresses

In Snap WebHost you upload the upload respondents' email addresses to Snap WebHost. This is done by creating a database link within Snap ProNet that links the survey to a database containing the email addresses. The database field containing the address is identified in the database link, and when the survey is published, the information is uploaded with the survey.

LoginId

The unique Id for each respondent should also be provided in the database. You identify this as the login variable when creating the database link. You must also add the Respondent Id to your survey using the Paradata option in the Questionnaire Properties dialog. If you include it, but hide it, the respondent will be logged in automatically.

Message text

The text of the email invitations and reminders can be created within Snap WebHost or within Snap ProNet. For this worksheet the email texts will be created within Snap ProNet.

Scheduled times

After uploading the survey to Snap WebHost, you set up the intervals between the survey starting and the messages being sent. Snap WebHost will automatically send the messages when those times are reached.

Summary of steps

Step 1: Setting up the database link

Step 2: Putting the respondent ID in the survey

Step 3: Publishing the survey

Step 4: Uploading the survey to Snap WebHost

Step 5: Setting up the email schedule

Step 6: Specifying the survey start date

Step 1: Setting up the database link

  1. Open the survey in Snap ProNet and click the button in the main toolbar.
  2. Select File | Database Link to display the Database Linkage dialog box.
  3. Click [New...] to create a new database link. The Database Wizard dialog is displayed.
  4. Click on the Online Survey radio button.
  5. Click [Next>].The Database linkage dialog is displayed.
  6. Click [Select Database File...] and browse to the Excel or MS Access file containing the respondent IDs and data

    OR

    Click [Build Data Link...] to build a link to an SQL Database with the same information.

  1. If you wish to filter the respondents so that this survey is only available to some members of the database, set an appropriate filter in the Where condition box. Click [Next>].

  2. Check the Send Email Invites and Login with optional password options.
  3. Select the unique identifier for your respondents from the dropdown list by the Login: and click [Next>].Note that this must be a field that contains a unique entry for each respondent.

  4. Click [Next>] and select the Email address field from the drop down menu.

  5. Create your email reminder and message text in the normal way, ensuring that you Insert... the Survey Location field somewhere within the email to enable automatic login using the link. For example

Step 2: Putting the respondent ID in the survey

  1. Click to go to Questionnaire design mode.
  2. Select Paradata in the left-hand panel of the Questionnaire Properties dialog box.
    • To include the respondent identifier paradata variable, click Respondent and check the Use in survey box.

    The Respondent variable will be inserted at the top of the questionnaire.

  3. Click [OK] to retain settings and close the dialog box.

    The respondent variables will now appear at the top of your survey.

  4. Select the variable and right-click to get the context menu.

  5. Select Hide Variables from the menu.

This ensures that respondents will be identified when they start the survey but they will not have to complete a login.

Step 3: Publishing the survey

  1. Select File|Publish or [Ctrl] [Shift] W to open the publish dialog.
  2. Select the Data link section in the left-hand panel. (Note that this is only available for a Snap WebHost edition.)
  3. Select the previously created link to the respondent database in the Database link drop-down list.

  4. Click [Publish].

Step 4: Uploading the survey to Snap WebHost

  1. Log in to your main researcher account in Snap WebHost and click . You will see a list of survey projects that you currently have uploaded to Snap WebHost. If you are about to upload your first survey the list will be empty.
  2. Click on the link . A new window opens.

  3. Set the upload type to zip.
  4. Click and navigate to the folder containing the published survey. This folder was specified when the questionnaire was published from Snap ProNet as the "Output path" in the "Output" section of the Questionnaire properties dialog set.
  5. Select the .zip file with the same name as the "Access name" (as specified in the "Output" section of the Questionnaire Properties dialog). Click .
  6. Click and the questionnaire will be uploaded. When complete the new project will appear in the list of projects.

Step 5: Setting up the email schedule

  1. Click the title of the survey to go into the survey details.
  2. Click the Messages tab to schedule your messages.

    The example below shows an invitation and reminder uploaded from Snap ProNet. Because the Respondent ID field was hidden in the survey, the Survey Location field has been converted to a surveylinkauto field, enabling respondents to be automatically logged in and identified to Snap WebHost.

  3. By default, the invitation will be scheduled to go out immediately (an interval of 0) and the reminder will be scheduled to go after seven days. To change these times, click the edit link by the email you wish to reschedule.

  4. Type the new number of days to wait in the Interval box and click Save. You can also make edits to the email text if you wish.

    The first message will be sent as soon after midnight as possible on the day the survey is started. The second message will be sent as soon after midnight as possible on the seventh day after the survey has started.

    Note that schedule will be followed for every respondent. For example, for a large survey, the first respondent might receive their invitation on day one, whereas the last respondent receives it on day two. In this case the reminders for the first person will be sent seven days after the invitation (day eight) and the reminder for the last person will go out on day nine (seven days after their invitation), even if those are the only reminders sent.

You can check the state of messages by clicking the Schedule tab. This shows what messages are associated with a survey and which ones have been sent.

Step 6: Specifying the survey start date

The email schedule starts from the survey start date. You can either start a survey immediately, or schedule the survey start.

  • To start the survey immediately, click the Summary tab, then click the link Start Survey now
  • To start the survey at a specified time, click the Settings tab and set the Project Start Date

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