The Free Text Questionnaire is a great feature that gives you the ability to add a survey, quiz, or test to your app! With it, you have the option to include a number of different question types such as Single Answer, Multiple Choice, and of course Free Text to your questionnaires.
In this article, we’ll go over some use cases of the feature, how to create a questionnaire, the different settings you can use, your users’ experience when taking your questionnaire, as well as some pro tips we think will help you when using this feature.
What are some use cases of the Free Text Questionnaire?
Be it surveys, quizzes, or practice tests there are plenty of ways you can use this feature! Some use cases of this feature include:
Opinion Surveys - Let’s say you have a bakery and you want to see what people think about your latest addition to the menu. You can use this feature to ask your customers their opinion of your newest offering.
Practice Tests - If you have an Educational App you can use this feature to provide your students with a way to practice for tests, prepare for upcoming classes, or help them remember what they learned in the previous semester.
Personality Quizzes - Want to add some flair to your Lifestyle App? You can use the Free Text Questionnaire to give your users fun quizzes such as personality tests, beauty supply recommendations, and lifestyle tips. You can also use Action Items to direct users to different areas of your app based on their answers which helps them feel a more personal connection to your app.
Field Trip Activities - With this feature users have the ability to upload photos and their own custom answers to questions which can help you add an additional level of interaction for people who visit your Museum or Zoo!
HR Questionnaires - If you’ve built an app for your company you can use this feature to help vet potential employees. With the Free Text Questionnaire your HR department can see people’s responses.
What is the Free Text Questionnaire’s primary function and what are the steps to accomplish it?
The main function of the Free Text Questionnaire is to gather information from your users. Be it their favorite color, their opinion on something, or how well they’re doing in your class, the more information you can gather, the easier it is to keep your users engaged with your app!
Now that you have some ideas on how to use the Free Text Questionnaire let’s go over how to create a questionnaire.
Updates to the FTQ:
Data validation updates for Free text questionnaire :
The new updates includes :
Entry limit: The app owner will be able to specify the minimum and maximum value that can be entered. in case the user adds a higher or lower value they will get an error and will not be able to go to the next question, if left empty there will be no limit
Precision: Specify the number of decimals allowed , if left empty it will give flexibility to the user.
Unit: Specify the unit used for example euro, feet, km
Optional: The app owner can specify if the question is optional or required
Text:
Character limit allows the app owner to specify the amount of characters allowed
If the user adds more they will get an error message and will not be able to answer the next question
Optional: allow the app owner to make the question optional or required
How To Set Up Your Questionnaire
What’s a questionnaire without questions? Not much! So let’s go over how to create your first questionnaire. But before we do that, we’ll take a look at the global options you have available to you.
Step 1: Give Your Questionnaire A Title
When you create a new instance of the Free Text Questionnaire you’ll see some options that you can set up before creating your first question:
The Test Title is where you specify what you’re going to call the questionnaire. The text that you enter here is what will appear on your questionnaire’s title screen. You can either give your questionnaire a simple title or use this field to give your users a short description of what the questionnaire is for.
Step 2: (Optional) Set Up A Maximum Score For Your Questionnaire
Below the Test Title field you’ll see the “Maximum Score” field. Here you can specify the maximum amount of points that a user can obtain when taking your questionnaire:
As you begin to set up answers with point values assigned to them you’ll see the number next to the “Maximum score of” text automatically update to match your total maximum score.
Step 3: (Optional) Enable Question Shuffling
If you check the box next to “Shuffle Questions” the order of your questions will be shuffled for each user that takes your questionnaire:
Step 4: Add Your First Question
Once you’re done setting up these settings click the “Add Question” button to add your first question which will take you to the Question Editor.
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Creating Your First Question
The Question Editor where you create new questions or edit existing ones. Let’s go over its different parts:
The Private Toggle
The Private Toggle is a feature that allows certain questions and answers you have set to be Private and blocked from normal viewing.
Question Type
The Question Type section is where you select the type of question you’re going to ask. The thirteen question types are:
Single Answer: A Single Answer question has your users select a single answer from the list of answers that you provide.
Multiple Answers: A Multiple Answers question allows your users to select multiple options from the answer list.
Text: allows users to type out written submissions in a free-form text box.
Number: will have your user enter a specific number for their answer.
Statement: this is not necessarily a question, but a slide that will allow you to provide the user with a statement or information.
List: has the user type and add their answers in order to create a list to address the question.
Duration: enter in a specific time in Hours, Minutes, and Seconds.
Calendar Date: this will provide a calendar drop-down for the user to select a date.
Time: will provide a clock drop-down for the user to enter a time.
Upload Image: An Upload Image question allows the user to upload an image as their answer.
Upload Image and Write Text: An Upload Image and Write Text question allows the user to upload an image along with the text as their answer.
Upload Files: this allows users to upload certain file types for their answers.
Location: this will provide the user with a map and the ability to enter a location as their answer.
Click on the drop-down menu to select the type of question you’d like to create:
Question Title
The Question Title relates to your question’s title in the App Dashboard. You can use this to help organize the questions in your questionnaire as their count grows.
Question Body
The Question Body is where you enter the question that you want to ask. You will enter the Question Body in the Text WYSIWYG box provided under the Question Title. This can be the same as the Question Title if you’d like, it’s up to you.
Note: Keep in mind that the Question Title is for you in the App Dashboard, and the Question Body is for your users taking the questionnaire.
Answers
The Answers section is where you create the answers for your question:
To add an answer to your question click the “Add Answer” button which opens the Answer Editor:
Enter the first answer that you want to offer as an option in the Answer Name field. You can assign a point value to it in the Answer Score field if you’d like.
If you decide to click the checkbox under Free Text that will give your users the option to tap on that answer to enter their own custom answer.
Depending on the type of question, you may see the option “Skip to Question” when adding an answer.
If you’ve set up multiple answers for your question you can choose to have them appear in a different order for each user by checking the box next to the Shuffle Answers option.
Note: You can add as many answers to a question as you’d like, but we recommend that you don’t overload your users with question options.
Answer Template
The Answer Template is an optional tool that you can use to integrate user’s answers with other features in your app such as Document Manager Stats, Loyalty, or Leaderboard. If you’re interested in learning more, please reach out to Support@BuildFire.com
Once you have completed setting up your first question and answers, click the Save Question button at the bottom of the question editor:
Note: You can always go back and edit a question and its answers later, just make sure you click the Save Question button after making any changes otherwise they won’t be saved.
As you create questions for your questionnaire you have additional options to adjust their order, edit them, and delete them with these buttons:
Next we’ll go over the advanced settings that you can use to tweak your questionnaire to your specific needs.
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Accessing The Advanced Questionnaire Settings
To access the advanced settings for your questionnaire click on the “Settings” Tab in the App Dashboard:
The advanced settings in the “Settings” Tab will give you additional control over your questionnaire and allows you to turn on and off various options for your users.
When you click on the “Settings” tab you’ll see seven options: General, Score and Review, Customization, Time Constraint, Location, Action Items, and Notifications.
There are a lot of different settings available, in this article, we will cover a few main points in the seven options. If you have any questions about these settings, reach out to Support@BuildFire.com
General:
Post To API
In order to use this you’ll need to have your own API integrated into our system. With this enabled, you can have our system send your questionnaire’s results to your API in the form of a JSON file. Simply input the API URL you would like the information to be sent.
To learn how to use Post to API - Please go here How to use API Post in FTQ
Score and Review:
Calculate Score
Enabling this displays the user's scores in the “Results” screen of the App Dashboard.
Customization:
Show Question Count In Header
Enabling this will display the total amount of questions in your questionnaire as well as how many of those questions users have answered so far.
Time Constraint:
Enabling this option allows you to set a time limit for your questionnaire. The time limit will display for users while they take your questionnaire.
Test Date Range
This option allows you to set a start and end date for your questionnaire.
Action Items:
In the Action section you can assign Action Items to the questionnaire using the Action Builder which are triggered based on the user’s score:
If you would like to learn more about the Action Builder and the different Action Items that you can use, we encourage you to check out our dedicated article here.
Notifications:
In the Notifications section you can set up notifications that are automatically sent out to users who decide to not complete or submit the questionnaire.
If you decide to create a notification the Notification Title is what will appear on the user's lock screen when they receive the notification and the Notification Text is what they see when they tap on the notification.
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How To View User’s Results
Click on the Sub-tab called “Results”
Here you’ll see information such as which users have taken your questionnaire, when they took it, and their score (if you have the “Calculate Score” setting enabled in the Settings Tab) as well as a link to view their answers:
Over time this list will get longer as more people take your questionnaire so we’ve provided you with the ability to filter results by date or user. You can filter results by checking the box next to “Filter by date” and entering a start and end date or by entering the user’s name or email in the search bar:
If you would like to view a user’s answers click on the user’s name:
This will bring you to a page where you’ll be able to see information about that user and their submitted answers:
You can export users’ results by utilizing the Bulk Actions function. Simply click on the Bulk Actions drop-down to see your export options.
Next, let’s go over your user’s experience when taking your questionnaire.
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User’s Experience
Knowing your user’s experience of going through your questionnaire is extremely integral to making it the best questionnaire it can be. Thankfully the Free Text Questionnaire Feature is extremely easy to use! Here’s how a user goes through a questionnaire in your app:
Step 1: The User Taps On “Start”
When the user opens up your questionnaire they’ll see its Title Screen. Once the user is ready to take the questionnaire they will tap on “Start”
Step 2: The User Goes Through Your Questions
We will cover the basics for a few of our question types. For a Single Answer question users will select one of the answers provided:
For a Multiple Answer question, the user can select as many answers as they want:
If you gave users the Free Text option all they need to do to enter their answer is to tap on the option that you enabled Free Text on:
Then they simply type in their answer and tap “Done”:
For an Upload Image question they tap on “Take Picture” which opens the image library on their phone. They can upload one or more images as their answer:
If you have enabled the option to Skip or go back to Previous questions in the Settings Tab, those options to do so will appear at the bottom of their screen as well.
Note: If you have any questions about the other question types, please reach out to Support@BuildFire.com
Step 3: The User Taps “Finish” To Submit Their Answers
Once the user is done going through your questions they’ll tap on “Finish” to submit their answers:
This sends their answers off to you and brings them to the End Tile of your questionnaire. Depending on which settings you enabled in the Settings Tab, users will be able to see their score, if they passed or failed, review their answers, retake the questionnaire, and more.
Once they’re done with your questionnaire, they’ll tap “Done” and are sent back to the feature that your questionnaire is housed in. That is unless you set up an Action Item. If you set up an Action Item, then that action will be triggered if they meet the required score for that action.
What Are Some Pro Tips That We Think Will Help You With The Free Text Questionnaire?
As you can see the Free Text Questionnaire is an extremely powerful feature! Here are some pro tips we think will help you make the best questionnaires that you can!
Pro Tip 1: Take advantage of the Advanced Settings
There’s a lot of options in the Settings Tab, but they can be crucial in implementing an effective questionnaire. When you’re creating a questionnaire, think about what you want to accomplish with it and which settings will work best in helping you achieve this. For example if you’re looking to create a score-based test then you should consider enabling settings such as Pass/Fail, Time Limit, Calculate Score, and Show Score.
Pro Tip 2: You can use this feature for more than just questionnaires
Thinking outside of the box is what makes our most popular apps stand out! We encourage you to think of creative ways to use the Free Text Questionnaire. For example: You can use the Upload Image and Write Text question to give people a way to submit insurance claims, and the Free Text option to give people a way to upload their information.
Pro Tip 3: Keep your Questions fresh
Consider giving the questionnaires in your app constant rotation. This can take the form of monthly option surveys or new practice tests every week. This not only lets your users know that you actively keep your app’s content updated, but it also helps keep them engaged!
Pro Tip 4: Test your Questionnaires out on others
Not all questionnaires are created equal. We recommend that you have other people outside of your organization periodically go through your questionnaires and give you feedback on what can be improved. Outside feedback can provide some great insights!
What are some related articles?
In addition to this article, we recommend checking out the following related articles so that you have a better insight into how to best use our system:
Still have questions? No problem! Reach out to Support@BuildFire.com and we’d be happy to help!