A Glossary of Survey Terms

Do you find it difficult to understand the meaning and functionality of some terms you see in Zoho Survey? To help you out, we've come up with a glossary of all those terms you should know when using an online survey tool. Read on to learn about essential terms and features commonly found in Zoho Survey.

A | C | D | E | F | H | I | K | L | N | O | P | R | S | T | U | V | W | Z |

A

Anonymous Responses

Respondent variables (i.e., personal identifying information from automated sources like Zoho CRM, Zoho Campaigns, email distribution and private groups) will not be recorded under reports when you collect responses anonymously.

Autofill/Prepopulate

Autofill allows you to prepopulate single variable survey responses automatically before sending the survey to respondents. Learn more about autofill.

C

Collectors

Use the collectors feature when you want to send out the same survey to different sets of audiences. Collectors allow you to customize the survey-taking experience for different sets of respondents. Learn how to set collectors in your survey.

Cross-tab Report

Cross-tab reports allow you to compare two survey questions and analyze how they are interrelated. Learn how to create a cross tab report.

Custom Report

Customize your reports by selecting only the questions you need. Learn how to customize your reports.

Custom Variables

Custom variables store and pass on additional information to the survey without requiring a response. This helps you track your respondents' data and streamlines reporting. Read more about custom variables.

D

Department

Departments, or groups, are specifically designed for teams. They allow organizations to collaborate on surveys. With Zoho Survey, you can create and maintain departments and user accounts, and share surveys and reports with the organization members.

Domain Mapping

Domain mapping allows you to configure your survey's live form URL so that you can publish the survey from a URL that belongs to your own domain. Read more about domain mapping.

E

Email Campaigns

Campaigns include two integrations: Zoho Campaigns and MailChimp. They can help you send out bulk emails containing your survey's link to your audience, Learn how to use email campaigns.

Embed

Embed your surveys in web pages or on social media sites by using the embed codes generated when a survey is published. In addition to a QR code, Zoho Survey generates embed codes for HTML, JavaScript, and iframe. Read more about embed codes.

F

Favicon

You can upload your own custom favicon when you use white label. A favicon is the small icon which appears on your browser tab and is associated with a particular website or a web page.

Forced Ranking

If you think a respondent will follow a pattern and choose the same ranking for multiple variables in a matrix question, enable the forced ranking option. This prevents your respondent from choosing the same ranking for more than one variable. Read more on forced ranking.

H

Hub

The Hub is where Zoho Survey’s external actions and workflows can be setup. Integrations with Zoho CRM, Sheet, SalesIQ and Google Sheets can be setup here, as well as the various triggers for email, functions, and webhook.

I

Initial Value

Initial value is a constant value for a particular field. If you're running a survey for a particular organization, say XYZ Inc, you can autofill the Organization field with XYZ Inc with the Initial Value option. Learn about setting initial values.

In-mail Survey

These are single question surveys that can be directly embedded into your emails. They can work with any email marketing software and are always closed ended questions (without the option to answer the question in writing).

Integration

Zoho Survey has been integrated with various apps to optimize the surveying experience—Zoho CRM, Zoho SalesIQ, Zoho Sheet, Zoho Campaigns, Google Sheets, and Mail Chimp, to name a few. Learn more about integrations.

K

Kiosk Mode

Load the offline survey multiple times on the same device using kiosk mode. In the kiosk mode, the survey can be setup to reload when it detects inactivity or survey completion.

L

Launch

The final and most important step in survey creation is publishing—this is how you reach your survey audience. On publishing, a live form URL for your survey is created that can be emailed to your contacts, posted to your web page, or posted on social media site. Learn about the many ways to distribute the link to your published survey.

Likert Point Scale

With this kind of rating scale, you define what you're trying to measure and create a rating scale for it. For example, the rating can be from 0 to 10 with "0" being Strongly Disagree and "10" being Strongly Agree. Learn how to use a likert scale.

Logic

Zoho Survey uses two kinds of logic: question logic and page logic. Using question logic in a survey helps you define how your respondents move through the survey. By applying If and Then conditions to your questions, you can route respondents to questions on a different page or to only questions that pertain to them. This shortens the survey for respondents who don't fit the criteria you set. Page logic is similar to question logic, but it directs users to specific pages instead of specific questions. Read more about logic.

N

NPS

Net Promoter Score (NPS) questions measure the willingness of a customer to recommend a product or a service to others on a fixed scale (0-10). NPS is increasingly used to measure customer satisfaction. Learn how to add an NPS question to your survey.

O

Offline Survey

With the Offline Survey feature, you can collect responses even without an internet connection and then upload the responses when you're back online. Learn how to use Zoho Survey offline.

P

Partial Responses

When a respondent completes at least one page of your multi-page survey but does not click submit on the final page the response counts as a partial response. For example, if your survey has 3 pages and a respondent closes the survey after answering 2 pages, the response gets recorded as partial.

Piping

The piping feature in Zoho Survey helps customize questions based on custom variables or the variables you've added to previous questions. This feature makes creating surveys a breeze and also helps respondents feel more comfortable as they answer your survey. Learn how to pipe in a known parameter and add piping to a follow-up question.

R

Randomization

Randomization allows you to randomize the answer choices and is available for all question types. This prevents people from selecting a choice purely from memory and will result in a more accurate survey.

Reports

Interpret and study survey results with data reports. You can view summary reports and individual responses, and slice data using filters. You can also get feedback on reports by sharing them with others. Read more about reports.

Respondent Variables

When you use Zoho CRM, Zoho Campaigns, email distribution or private groups to send your surveys, the parameters you append to the survey’s URL (like first name, last name and email address) automatically turn up as respondent variables in your reports.

Restriction

Set restrictions on your survey to get the answers you're looking for during a set period of time or from a limited number of respondents. You can set a cut-off date or a maximum response count, and enable password protection for your survey. Read more on restrictions.

Reviewers

Use the Invite Reviewers option to get an opinion on your surveys from peers and experts. Reviewers can comment on your survey, but they can't edit it. They can leave their comments without signing up to Zoho Survey. Learn about adding reviewers.

S

Scheduled Report

You can now set up a schedule to deliver your reports on a regular basis with Zoho Survey's Scheduled Report feature. All you have to do is set your preferences to schedule a report to run daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. The report can be emailed to specific users too. Read more about scheduled reports.

Scoring

The scoring feature in Zoho Survey helps weight responses by giving them a score. The score can be displayed to the respondent at the end of the survey, or can be sent in an email. Learn how to set scores for survey responses.

SSL Protection

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is an industry standard used to protect websites and the transactions that occur in them. It ensures that all data passed between the web server and the browser remains private. All surveys created on Zoho Survey come with an SSL protection as a standard.

T

Tags

Add tags or labels to your surveys and search and filter them easily. Read more about tags.

Transfer

Transfer Survey refers to the ability to copy or move your survey to another account or department. The Copy option sends a copy of the survey, excluding the reports, to an account or department. The original, with its reports, stays in your account. The Move option sends the original survey, including its reports, to the account or department. No copies will be retained in your account. Learn about the transfer survey option.

Trend Report

Custom trend reports allow you to analyze trends in your survey responses over a period of time. Read more about trend reports.

U

URL Parameter

Use a URL parameter to pass along information with the survey. A unique URL includes the URL, a parameter, and the parameter value. For example, in the URL https://asdfghj.com/poiu?name=qwerty, anything after the question mark (?) is the parameter and anything after the equal to (=) is the value assigned to the parameter. This value is passed along with the survey. Learn more about URL paramaters.

V

Visibility

Changing a survey's visility settings allows you to target a specific audience for your survey. You can set your survey's visibility to public or make it private. When you share the survey with private groups, only the members of that particular group can respond to your survey. Learn about visibility settings.

W

Weighted Choice

With this kind of rating scale, you can define what you're trying to measure and then assign weight to each of the choices of the scale. For example, the rating can be from 0 to 10 with "0" being Strongly Disagree, and you can assign it a weight of 1. Learn more about weighting choices.

White Label

White label refers to a couple of options which includes custom favicon and domain mapping.

Z

ZSC Key

A Zoho Service Communication (ZSC) key allows other Zoho services to access your Zoho Survey module. Learn how to generate and use the ZSC key.