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Use Surveys to collect feedback from clients with Net Promoter Score (NPS) surveys and custom questionnaires. This guide is for MSP staff who build, send and manage surveys. Company users who answer a survey should read Complete a questionnaire or Respond to an NPS survey.

Before you start

  • Surveys must appear in your sidebar. That needs a role with Surveys read access.
  • To create, edit or send a survey, you need Surveys write access. The New Survey button and the Survey Groups menu item appear only with write access.
  • To delete a survey or a group, or to open Configure and Activity Log, you need Surveys manage access.
  • You need at least one company or contact to send a survey to.
  • Ask your MSP administrator to change roles in Settings > Users & Roles. The Surveys section of the role editor also has opt-in choices for All surveys or Own surveys only, All responses or Own responses only, Edit submitted responses and View CSAT dashboards.

Find your way around

  1. Click Surveys in the sidebar. The list of surveys opens.
  2. Click the Surveys Menu button in the page header to jump to other areas.

Create a survey

Every survey goes through a three-step wizard. The steps are Create, Share and Review. The footer shows Step 1 of 3 and so on, and says what is still missing whenever Next is unavailable, for example “Add a survey title to continue.” Use Next and Back to move, or click a completed step at the top.
1

Open the wizard

On the Surveys list, click New Survey.
2

Choose the survey type

Pick one tile.
  • NPS Survey (Recommended) measures loyalty with the Net Promoter Score (0-10 scale).
  • General Survey lets you build your own questions.
  • CSAT Campaign appears only when CSAT is available for your portal. It collects a rating per ticket through a snippet in your PSA’s resolution email. Fill in Campaign name and click Create Campaign. The campaign skips the Share and Review steps and opens its CSAT dashboard.
3

Fill in the survey details

Enter a Survey Title (required), a Description and optional Introduction Text. The introduction appears at the top of the survey, above the title. Leave it blank to hide it.
4

Design the questions

Follow Set up an NPS survey or Set up a general survey below, then click Next.
5

Choose how people get the survey

Follow Choose how to share below, then click Next.
6

Review and send

Follow Review, send or schedule below.

Set up an NPS survey

1

Write the NPS question

Edit NPS Question. The default is “How likely are you to recommend us to a friend or colleague?” Recipients answer it on a 0-10 scale.
2

Pick a rating style

Under Rating Style, choose Numeric Scale (0-10), 5 Stars, Satisfaction Faces or Happy Dogs. Each tile shows a preview.
3

Write the thank-you message

Edit Thank You Message. Recipients see it after they submit.
4

Optional: add review links

Expand Review Link Prompts and turn on Show review links. Choose a Score threshold and enter the Review platform URLs you want to show.
  • Promoters only (9-10) is the default and the safest choice.
  • Passives & promoters (7-10) and All respondents (0-10) also show the links to less happy clients.
The platforms are Google Reviews, Yelp, Facebook Reviews, Trustpilot, G2, Capterra and one custom platform. Defaults for all new surveys live in Change survey defaults.

Set up a general survey

1

Add a question

Click Add Question. A new question card opens.
2

Fill in the question

Enter the Question Text (required) and choose a Type.The types are Short Text, Long Text, Single Choice, Multiple Choice, Rating, NPS Score, Yes/No, Date, Email, Phone and Number.
3

Add options for choice questions

For Single Choice and Multiple Choice, type each option on its own line in Options.
4

Mark required questions

Turn on Required to make respondents answer the question. Add Help Text (Optional) for extra guidance.
5

Reorder or remove questions

Use Move up and Move down to change the order. Click the arrow on a card to expand or collapse it. Click the trash icon to delete a question.

Design questions with the AI Survey Designer

The designer works on the Create step.
1

Open the designer

Click the sparkle tab on the right edge of the page. It is labeled Open assistant, or AI Survey Designer on portals without the shared assistant. The assistant opens in survey design mode and works on the survey in the wizard.
2

Describe what you want

Type a request in plain language, or pick one of the prompt helpers under the input. For example, “Add questions about service quality and response times.”
3

Review the suggested changes

Open Review Survey Changes. Accept all changes, accept or reject single changes, or refine your request.
4

Apply the changes

Apply the accepted changes. They update the draft in the wizard and nothing is sent. Use Undo last changes if you change your mind.

Choose how to share

The Share step asks How will people get this survey? It has two panels, each with its own switch. Turn on either, both or neither.
Share step with an Email invitations panel showing four audience choices and a Share link panel

The Share step: email invitations to a survey group, with the share link option below.

Share step on a phone
Email invitations sends each person their own invitation, so you can see who answered and send reminders. Under Who gets an invitation, pick one: The line at the bottom of the panel shows how many people get an invitation. Only the choice you select is used; anything you picked under another choice while comparing is not sent. Share link creates one link you can post in a newsletter, on your website or in the client portal. People answer without being invited first. Choose Who can respond: Anyone who gives their email or Signed-in clients only. The link is created when you save the survey, and the survey’s page then opens with the link ready to copy. See Share a survey link.
Share step with Email invitations off and the Share link panel on, showing who can respond

A survey shared only by link: email invitations off, share link on.

With both switches off, Nothing will be sent. The survey is created without invitations or a link, for use in onboarding templates and automations. Turn either option on later by editing the survey.

Review, send or schedule

On the Review step, the Survey Summary shows the title, type, question count, Email invitations (how many recipients and who) and Share link (on or off, and who can respond). Click Preview to see the survey as respondents will. When email invitations are off, the step is Review and create and shows only the summary, because there is no email to write or schedule. Click Create Survey. When email invitations are on, the step is Review & Send; follow the steps below.
Review and create step with Email invitations off and Share link on

Reviewing a survey shared only by link.

1

Set the email subject

Edit Email Subject (required). The default is “We’d love your feedback.”
2

Pick an email template

Choose an Email Template, or choose Create New Template. Use Preview template to see the email.
3

Choose when to send

Under When to send, pick one option.
  • Send Now sends the survey immediately.
  • Schedule sends it at the Date and Time you set.
  • Recurring repeats it at a Frequency of Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly or Annually. Set an optional End Date (Optional).
4

Set reminders

Under Reminders, turn on Automatic reminders to nudge people who have not responded. Set Days between reminders and Maximum reminders. Reminders stop after a response, and reminders more than 7 days overdue are skipped.
5

Send, schedule or create

Click the main button in the footer. It reads Send Survey for Send Now, Schedule Survey for scheduled or recurring surveys, and Create Survey when email invitations are off. For Send Now, confirm Send this survey now? with Send now. If the share link is on, the survey’s page opens with the Share link dialog so you can copy it.
To keep your work without sending, click Save Draft on any step. When you edit an existing survey, the button reads Save and saves your changes to that survey.

Create a survey group

Survey groups let you reuse the same recipients. They need write access.
1

Open Survey Groups

Open the Surveys Menu and click Survey Groups.
2

Start a group

Click Create Group. The Create Survey Group dialog opens on the Details tab.
3

Fill in the details

Enter a Group Name (required) and a description. Pick a Group Color. Keep Group is active on so the group can be used in survey targeting. Choose Tenant-Wide (available to all companies) or select a company.
4

Optional: add rules

Open the Rules tab to add members automatically.
  1. Under Rule Logic, choose Match ALL rules (AND) or Match ANY rule (OR).
  2. Click Add Rule. Pick Include or Exclude, then a field and a value.
  3. Click Preview Matching Users to see who matches.
  4. Turn on Auto-Update Membership to add and remove members automatically when the rules match.
5

Create the group

Click Create Group.
6

Add people by hand

Open the group again from its row menu with Edit Group. On the Manual Members tab, tick the people to include and click Save Members.
With auto-update on, members are added or removed based on the rules. Existing manual members may be removed if they do not match the rules.
To delete a group, open its row menu and choose Delete. That needs manage access and removes all members from the group.

Read results

Click a survey title, or open its row menu.

Run AI analysis

AI analysis summarizes the answers to a questionnaire. It needs at least one response.
1

Open the survey results

Open a general survey from the list. Use the Analysis tab.
2

Set a date range

Optional. Use the start and end date pickers above the table to narrow the answers.
3

Run the analysis

Click Run now. Large surveys can take 30 to 60 seconds. The tab then shows Overall Sentiment, Key Themes with weight and evidence, Follow-up Questions and a Word Map.
4

Turn a theme into a goal

Optional. Click Create Goal next to a theme to start a follow-up goal. The button shows only when one company is selected and your role can create goals.
When AI is enabled for your portal, the page header also has an Analyze menu. Analyze all responses runs the analysis and opens the Analysis tab. Analyze selected respondents opens the Analysis tab.

Response notifications

Email your account team each time a questionnaire survey receives a response. The setup copies a built-in automation rule. You review and enable it in Settings > Automation. The Response notifications button shows in a survey’s page header when your role has write or manage access to Automation Rules settings.
1

Open the setup

Open a questionnaire’s results page and click Response notifications. The Import automation dialog opens with the Survey response email rule set chosen and the current survey selected.
2

Choose which surveys notify

Keep the selected Survey, or pick another active survey. Tick All surveys to send the notification for every current and future survey.
3

Choose the team role

In Team role, pick the company role to email, such as vCIO. MSPortal emails the members assigned to that role for the company of each response.
4

Set a fallback recipient

In Fallback recipient, choose MSPortal team member and select a person, or choose Email address and enter one address. A fallback is required. Only active staff with an email address are listed.
5

Import and enable the rule

Click Import rule set. MSPortal creates the rule disabled and opens it in the rule editor. Check the recipients, subject and body, then enable the rule.
The rule is named Survey response email notification, followed by the survey title and the role name. Rules for All surveys leave out the survey title. If a rule with that name exists, the import stops. Rename or remove the old rule first. The fallback receives the email only when no active member of the selected role has a valid email for the response’s company, or when the response has no company. See Send Email for how fallbacks work in any rule. You can also import the same rule set from Settings > Automation with the Import button.

Change survey defaults

Open the Surveys Menu and click Configure. This needs manage access. The Survey Settings page has the tabs NPS, CSAT (when CSAT is available) and Email Templates.

Set NPS defaults

1

Open the NPS tab

The Survey Behavior Defaults card applies to new NPS surveys. You can override each setting per survey.
2

Choose the behavior

Set Automatic Survey Sending, Require Comment for Detractors (scores 0-6), Default Follow-up Delay (hours) and Default Thank You Message.
3

Set default review links

In Default Review Platform Links, turn on Show Review Links for High Scores, set the Default Score Threshold and enter the platform URLs.
4

Save

Click Save Defaults at the top right.
The Webhook Notifications card is marked Coming Soon and does nothing yet.

Turn on low NPS alerts

The Low NPS Alerts card emails people when an NPS response comes in at or below the detractor threshold. It has its own save button.
1

Enable alerts

Turn on Enable low-NPS alerts.
2

Set the threshold

Under Threshold (NPS score ≤), choose a score from 0 to 10. The default is 6 of 10 or below.
3

Add recipients

Type addresses into Notify emails (comma-separated), for example alerts@msp.com, manager@msp.com.
4

Save

Click Save NPS Alerts.
Each alert email names the company, the score, the respondent, the time submitted and the comment. It says “No comment left” when there is none.

Turn on built-in CSAT

Built-in CSAT asks a client to rate their support when a ticket closes. You add a rating snippet to your PSA’s ticket-closed email or to technician signatures, and the ratings appear in your CSAT dashboard and reports. It is off until you turn it on.
1

Open the CSAT tab

On the Survey Settings page, select CSAT.
2

Turn it on

In the Built-in CSAT surveys section, turn on Use built-in CSAT surveys. It applies to all campaigns. The campaign settings appear on the same tab, and CSAT Campaign becomes a survey type when you create a survey.
The switch is offered to MSP staff whose role can manage surveys and change tenant settings. If the CSAT tab or the switch is missing, check your role first. Built-in CSAT may also not be available for your portal yet. To stop using it, turn off Use built-in CSAT surveys on the same CSAT tab. Rating links in emails you have already sent stop accepting ratings. Your campaigns and collected ratings are kept, and turning it back on restores them. CSAT imported from HaloPSA, Autotask, Simplesat, CrewHu or SmileBack is not affected.

Create an email template

1

Open the Email Templates tab

Click Create Template.
2

Fill in the template

Enter the Template Name, Subject Line and Email Content (HTML). Add an optional Plain Text Version. Click a variable on the right to insert it at your cursor, for example {{recipient_name}} or {{survey_url}}.
3

Save

Save the template. Use Preview, Duplicate or delete on a template row later. Tick Set as default template for survey emails to make it the default.

Manage surveys

Open a row’s menu (three dots) on the Surveys list. The list starts with the Active status filter. Change the Status filter to see inactive surveys.

See and add recipients

1

Open the Recipients modal

From the survey’s row menu, choose Recipients. The Survey Recipients modal opens.
2

Filter and search

Use the status filter to show Completed, Sent, Expired or Pending invitations. Search by name, email or company. Click a column header to sort.
3

Copy or resend a link

For invitations that are not completed, click the copy button to copy that person’s survey link, or Resend invitation to email it again.
4

Add a recipient

Click Add recipient and use Manual, Search user or From group. Add & send and Add all & send email the survey immediately.
The table shows Recipient, Company, Status, Score and Date. In the same modal, the Email template field changes the template used for this survey’s sends.

Versions

Surveys with several versions are grouped in the list as v1, v2 and so on. Click the arrow beside the title to expand them. The latest version shows a green badge. The row menu on a group offers Edit Latest Version, Share link for the latest version, and All Versions.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

No. Accepted changes update the wizard draft only. Nothing is sent until you use the button on the Review step.
No. Save Draft keeps your work without sending. Use Schedule Survey on the Review step to activate a scheduled or recurring send.
Scheduled and recurring surveys are saved active and sent at the time you set. Only Send Now emails immediately.
The wizard saves your edits to the same survey. Older version groups in the list come from earlier versions of that survey.
No. With Auto-Update Membership on, people who no longer match can be removed, including people you added by hand.
No. Sent means the invitation went out. Completed means the person submitted a response.
It starts a goal from an AI theme or from the answers you select. It does not change the survey.
No. Reminders go to people who have not responded. Low NPS alerts go to the internal addresses you list when a low score arrives.