Mini Surveys

Last modified: April 18, 2024

1 Introduction

The Mini Surveys feature is part of the Mendix App Insights collection of tools designed to help you collect and aggregate feedback from your customers.

The Mini Surveys feature consists of two parts:

A pop-up survey in your app for users to fill in
A back-end dashboard in the Developer Portal for you to create surveys and aggregate your survey results.

You begin by creating a mini survey in the Developer Portal, and then you implement the mini survey by configuring the Mendix Mini Surveys module in Studio Pro. After the mini survey is running, you can view responses that have been collected in Mini Surveys in the Developer Portal and export the responses to an XLSX file.

This document first describes all the pages in Mini Surveys in the Developer Portal, and then it describes the procedure for running a mini survey.

2 Mendix Mini Survey Configuration

2.1 Survey Overview

When you click Mini Surveys in the navigation pane for an app that already has existing mini surveys, the Survey Overview page opens first.

On the upper-left corner of the page, you can see the name of the app currently opened. Click the app name to open a drop-down list of other apps you can navigate to that have been previously opened for Mini Surveys.

The tabs of the Survey Overview page are described below.

2.1.1 Active Tab

The Active tab shows all the mini surveys that are active for the app with the following details:

Survey ID – This is the unique ID of the mini survey. You can also find this ID on the survey details page of the mini survey. You need to use the ID as input when you configure the Mendix Mini Surveys module in Studio Pro to implement the mini survey.
Name – This is the name of the mini survey.
Responses – This shows the number of responses that have been collected for the mini survey.
Status – This shows the status of the mini survey. For more information, see the Statuses of Mini Surveys section.
Start & End Dates – This shows the start and end dates of the mini survey.
Created on – This shows when the mini survey was created.

Click the mini survey in a row on the list to see its survey details page.

2.1.1.1 Statuses of Mini Surveys

A mini survey can have different statuses. You can check the status of a mini survey on the Active tab.

Along its lifecycle, a mini survey can have the following statuses:

Draft – This status means the mini survey is not finalized. You can still edit the survey and when you finalize it, you need to mark it as ready. Once you mark a survey as ready, its status changes to Ready to Implement.
Ready to Implement – This status means the mini survey is finalized, but its start time is not reached yet. Once the start time is reached, its status changes to Running.
Running – This status means the mini survey is currently running. Once the survey passes its end time, its status changes to Evaluate Responses.
Evaluate Responses – This status means the mini survey has ended.

When a mini survey has the status of Draft, you can still edit everything in the survey. When a mini survey has the status of Ready to Implement, Running, or Evaluate Responses, you can only edit the Settings section (for Runtime and Toaster Placement) in the survey.

2.1.2 Archived Tab

The Archived tab shows all the mini surveys that you are archived for the app.

The list on this tab contains the following information:

Survey ID – This is the unique ID of the mini survey.
Name – This is the name of the mini survey.
Responses – This shows the number of responses that were collected for the mini survey.
Start & End Dates – This shows the start and end dates of the mini survey.
Created on – This shows when the mini survey was created.

Clicking the mini survey in a row on the list shows its survey details page.

2.1.3 Settings Tab

On the Settings tab of Survey Overview, you can enable the test mode, and view or generate API keys.

Test Mode - For All Users – After you enable this test mode, all users will become the testers of your survey. They will see the survey every time it is triggered. Their responses will not be saved, and therefore will not pollute the true survey results. You can view their responses on the Test data tab of the survey details page.
- To enable this test mode, open your app in Studio Pro. In the App Explorer, go to Marketplace modules > AppInsights_MiniSurvey > _SETUP > 2. Set API Key & mode., and set the TEST_MODE constant to True.
Test Mode - For Project Members – After you enable this test mode, all team members of the app will become the testers of your survey. They will see the survey every time it is triggered. Their responses will not be saved, and therefore will not pollute the true survey results. You can view their responses on the Test data tab of the survey details page.

This test mode only works for app team members who are authenticated through Mendix SSO.
- To enable this test mode, select Yes for Test Mode - For Project Members here.
API Keys – You can view API keys here, or generate an API key if there is none available. You need to use the API key as input when you configure the Mendix Mini Surveys module in Studio Pro to implement the mini survey. You need only one API key per app.
- To generate an API key, click Generate API Key here.
- To view an existing API key, click the eye icon () in the View column in the table.

2.2 Survey Details

When you click a mini survey on the Survey Overview page, the survey details page of the mini survey opens.

On the upper-right corner, you can find the following buttons:

Share Link – Clicking Share Link copies the link to this page, which allows you to share the survey details with others.
Archive Survey – Clicking Archive Survey archives the survey. Once a survey is archived, you can find it on the Archived tab of the Survey Overview page.
Export Responses – Clicking Export Responses exports the responses that have been collected to an XLSX file.

Depending on the status of the mini survey, the survey details page may contain some or all of the following tabs: Settings, Implementation, Responses, and Test data.

2.2.1 Settings Tab

This tab is available for mini surveys with all the statuses. It gives an overview of the survey details, including Survey ID.

2.2.2 Implementation Tab

This tab is available for mini surveys with the status of Draft, Ready for Implement, or Running.

On this tab, you can find information about how to implement the mini survey in Studio Pro. For a more detailed procedure, see the Implement a Mini Survey section.

2.2.3 Responses Tab

This tab is available for mini surveys with the status of Running or Evaluating Responses.

On this tab, you can view all the responses that have been collected for the mini survey.

2.2.4 Test Data Tab

This tab is available for mini surveys with the status of Ready for Implement or Running.

This tab shows the test data that has been collected from testers in the test mode or Mendix SSO test users.

You can collect test data using two methods:

Change the value of the TEST_MODE constant in the Mendix Mini Surveys module. This will show [TEST_MODE] on the survey widget UI.
Select the Enable Mendix SSO test users" checkbox on the Settings tab of Survey Overview, which marks the app team members as testers. Note that if an app team member is not authenticated through Mendix SSO, this setting does not work for them. The survey widget will not show [TEST_MODE] on the UI.

3 Running a Mini Survey

3.1 Creating a Mini Survey

To create a mini survey, follow these steps:

Open the app in the Developer Portal and click Mini Surveys in the sidebar. What you see depends on whether there are existing mini surveys for the app:
- If there are existing mini surveys for the app, Survey Overview opens, which lists all the existing mini surveys and shows the Create New Survey button
- If there are no existing mini surveys for this app, you only see the Create New Survey button
Click Create New Survey.
Enter the following information for your mini survey:
- Background
  - Name – Give the mini survey a name.
  - Goal – Describe the goal of the mini survey.
- Conditions – The conditions you enter here do not affect the mini survey directly. You still need to configure these conditions later in Studio Pro.
  - Where – Describe the location where the mini survey appears.
  - When & How – Describe what can trigger the mini survey to appear.
  - Target User Group (Optional) – Describe the target user group you would like to reach. Leaving the text box empty means you would like to reach all users.
  - Attachments (Optional) – Add attachments if needed. Supported formats are Microsoft Office files, .pdf, .text, .png, and .jpeg.
- Settings – The settings in this section take effect immediately. You do not need to implement these settings later in Studio Pro.
  - Runtime – Set the start and end time of the mini survey.
  - Toaster Placement – Set on which corner of the page the mini survey appears.
- Questions – Set up to three questions per mini survey.
Click Preview to see how the mini survey looks once it is live.
If the preview looks good, click Mark as Ready to complete the creation of the survey. The survey details page opens and shows the Survey ID.
Copy the Survey ID and save it for later use. You will need it when you implement the mini survey.

Now you can implement the mini survey.

3.2 Editing a Mini Survey

To edit a mini survey, perform the following steps:

Open the app in the Developer Portal.
Click Mini Surveys in the sidebar. The Survey Overview page opens.
On the Active tab, click the mini survey that you want to edit. The survey details page opens.
Go to the Settings tab.
Depending on its status, you can edit different parts of the survey:
- If the mini survey has the status of Draft, you can edit everything in the mini survey. To edit the mini survey, click Edit Draft on the upper-right corner of the page, and then make changes.
- If the mini survey has the status of Ready to Implement, Running, or Evaluate Responses, you can only edit the Settings section (for Runtime and Toaster Placement) in the survey. Click Edit Settings and then make the changes.

3.3 Implementing a Mini Survey

Before the start time of the mini survey is reached, you should implement the survey in Studio Pro. Otherwise, users will not actually receive the mini survey, even if it has the Status of Running on the Survey Overview page. You can reset the start time in the Settings section if you need more time to implement the survey in Studio Pro.

3.3.1 Obtaining an API Key

To obtain an API key for the implementation, follow these steps:

On the Survey Overview page.
Go to the Setting tab.
Check the API Keys section:
- If there is already an active API key, it is shown on the table. If it is suitable to use, click View to show the API key, then copy it and save it for later use.
- If there is no active API key that you can use, generate one as follows:
  1. Click Generate API Key.
  2. In the Confirmation dialog box, click Proceed. The Generated Token pop-up window opens and shows the new API key.
  3. Copy the new API key and save it for later use.

3.3.2 Installing and Configuring the Module

To install the Mendix Mini Surveys module, follow these steps:

Open your app in Studio Pro.
Follow the instructions in Using Marketplace Content to import the module into your app.
Follow the instructions in the Configuration section in Mendix Mini Surveys to complete the implementation of the mini survey in Studio Pro.

3.4 Viewing/Exporting Responses

When the start time that you set for the mini survey is reached, the survey will start running automatically. Then you get notifications on how many responses have been collected.

To check the responses that have been collected, follow these steps::

Open the app in the Developer Portal.
Click Mini Surveys in the sidebar. The Survey Overview page opens.
On the Active tab, click the mini survey to open the survey details page.
Go to the Responses tab to see all the responses that have been collected.

To have a quick view of individual survey responses, click a response in the list at the bottom. A side panel opens and shows the details of the response.
To export the responses to an XLSX file, click Export Responses on the upper-right corner of the page.

3.5 Survey Opt-out Rules

A mini survey has the following opt-out rules:

If a user has closed a survey, without answering any questions, then the survey will not show again to this user .
If a user has answered one or more questions in a survey, but did not finished the survey, then the survey will show again. However, if the user has closed the survey before finishing for the second time, the survey will not show again to this user.
If the user has answered all questions, then the survey will not show again to the user.

Survey opt-out rule is a variable cached to your internet browser. You can reset and show a survey multiple times by clearing your browser cache. If you are testing, Mendix recommends using the TEST_MODE constant to avoid clearing every time.

In a future release, we will allow you to customize these opt-out rules from the App Insights portal.

3.6 Unfinished Surveys

If a user only answers one or two questions before they close the mini survey. The answers will be stored in your app. Every 15 minutes a scheduled event will submit all unfinished surveys collected in your app to the Mini Surveys in the Developer Portal. A survey answer must be more than one hour old before it is submitted by the scheduled event.

4 Troubleshooting & FAQ

For troubleshooting information and FAQ, see the Troubleshooting section and the FAQ section in Mendix Mini Surveys.

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