Skip to main content
The email channel sends a survey to your contacts by email. The email shows the survey’s first question, and when a recipient selects an answer in the email, the survey page opens at question 2 with that answer filled in. The answer is recorded with the rest of the response when the recipient submits the survey. When the survey’s first question changed after the email was sent, the page asks the new first question instead of filling it in.

​
Design the email

In the editor’s Channel step, select Email. The Email step then builds the message:
  • Inbox sets the Subject and the Preheader, the preview line shown after the subject in the inbox.
  • Body holds the blocks. Add block adds Text (bold, italic, links, lists, a heading and fields), Media (an image or video from your media library, with an optional link), Button (a label and link, filled or outline) or Divider. Every block can be dragged to reorder it.
  • The Question block always shows the survey’s first question and can’t be removed. Show answers puts the answer options in the email, and Button only shows a button with its own Button label. A question type that can’t be answered from an inbox always shows a button. To change the question, reorder the questions in the Survey step.
  • Footer holds your own text. Below it, Usertick adds an unsubscribe link and, unless the survey’s branding hides it, the Powered by Usertick badge.
Email apps can’t play video, so a video is sent as a still frame with a play icon that links to it.

​
Insert contact fields

Insert field adds a contact field to the subject, the preheader, a text block or a button label. The text after | is the fallback for contacts without a value:
  • {{name|there}} inserts the contact’s name, or “there” when the contact has no name.
  • {{email}} inserts the contact’s email address.
  • {{attr.company|your team}} inserts the contact’s extra field company, or “your team” when it is empty.
A field without a fallback inserts nothing for a contact without a value, and the send window lists such fields before sending.

​
Set up the sender

Survey emails go out through the sender in Email → Sender. A member whose role has the Manage organization permission, such as the owner, chooses one of these options:
  • Usertick sends the emails, with no email provider to set up. Recipients see your display name followed by “via Usertick”, replies go to a person in your organization, and the footer shows your legal name and postal address, followed by “Sent with Usertick.” and a Report abuse link that opens Usertick’s report form about the survey. Each plan includes a number of these emails a month: 100 on Free, 1,000 on Starter, 5,000 on Pro and 20,000 on Business, with a daily limit during the first 14 days. These emails can contain links and web addresses only for your survey and for websites where your Usertick widget runs.
  • Custom SMTP, Resend, Mailgun or SendGrid sends through your own provider, with no monthly limit from Usertick. The provider sends survey emails after its test email goes through.
Until the sender is set up, and while your own provider isn’t verified, a send can’t go out and the send window says why. See Email sending for each option’s settings.

​
Contacts and lists

Emails go to the people in Email → Contacts:
  • Add contact adds one person, with optional lists and extra fields that emails can insert, such as company or plan.
  • Import CSV adds people from a file with one address per line, optionally followed by a name (email,name). A file of any length can be imported: Usertick shows how many rows are in while it works, then how many people were added and how many rows repeated an address already in the file. If the import stops partway, the people added so far stay, and importing the same file again skips them.
  • New list creates a list, and one person can be on many lists. The row above the contacts shows the largest lists, and More lists finds any other list by name.
  • Every email carries an unsubscribe link. The link opens a page where the person confirms with Unsubscribe, and a mail app that shows its own unsubscribe button unsubscribes the person directly. A person who unsubscribes shows as Unsubscribed and is skipped by every later send.

​
Send a survey

A send starts from New send in the Email area, or from Send on the last step of the survey editor, which publishes the survey and then opens the same window. Sending needs the Send email surveys permission.
1

Select the survey

Under Survey, select a live email survey.
2

Select the language

If the survey has more than one language, select the email’s language in the menu beside the survey.
3

Select the recipients

Under To, add lists, people or email addresses, or select Everyone in Contacts.
4

Skip earlier recipients

To reach only people who haven’t received this survey yet, select Skip people who already received this survey.
5

Send a test

To check the email first, select Send test at the bottom of the window, enter an address and select Send test again.
6

Choose the time

To send later, select Schedule at the bottom of the window and select a time within the next 30 days.
7

Send

Select the send button and confirm.
Emails use the published version, so unpublished changes must be published in the editor first. A pasted address that isn’t a contact yet is added to your contacts, and the window shows how many people will receive the email. The email is written in the selected language, which starts as the survey’s default language, and its links open the survey page in the same language. A text that isn’t translated into the selected language yet goes out in the survey’s default language, and the window warns about it before sending. Test emails are marked [Test], and their links open the survey in test mode, where nothing is saved. When the sender is Usertick, tests go only to people in your organization. Send test works once the survey is live and the sender is ready. The send button shows how many people will receive the email, such as Send to 120 people. With a time set, it reads Schedule for and the date, and Cancel schedule removes the time again. A scheduled email keeps the content it had when it was scheduled. The send can’t be undone after it goes out. A send can include any number of lists, up to 5,000 people picked one by one, and up to 2,000 pasted addresses at a time.

​
Follow a send

The Email area lists sends under All sends, Scheduled and Needs attention, with how many people each one reached and how many answered. The search finds a send by its subject, its survey or the name of a list it went to, and Sort orders sends by when they go out, by survey, by recipients or by how many people answered. A send’s page shows each recipient’s result, such as delivered, failed, skipped because they unsubscribed or already received the survey, bounced or marked as spam. From there, a send can go out again to the same people or a list, and failed messages can be retried, up to 5,000 people in one retry. A scheduled send can be canceled before it goes out. Responses arrive in the same inbox as every other channel, linked to the contact the email went to.

​
Send through another email tool

To send from another email tool, put the survey’s link from the Share step in that tool’s message. A response from that link isn’t tied to a send, so it is linked to a contact only through a Contact question or an identity. When your system knows each person’s user ID, the link can carry uid and its hash uh to identify them; see Identify your users.