You can build a link that opens your survey with one or more answers already filled in. Participants see the answer pre-selected, can change it, and finish the rest of the survey as normal.
This is useful whenever you already know part of the answer before the person arrives.
Finding out why vendors did not bid
A procurement or supplier-diversity team puts a solicitation on the street and gets two bids back. The useful question is not "how did we do" but "what stopped you", asked of the vendors who saw it and passed.
Those vendors will not open a blank survey. They will click one button in an email.
Build one link per barrier and put them in the email you send to the vendor list. A vendor clicks the one that applies, and lands on the survey with that answer already selected.
Even if they close the page immediately, you have the answer, because the question was answered by the click. If they stay, they can change it or add detail.
The value is in what you do with it. If most non-bidders say the insurance minimum was the barrier, that is a specific finding you can take back to the team and test, rather than a vague sense that small firms are not bidding.
Carrying a reference in from another system
Most procurement teams already have a system of record for solicitations and registered vendors. Pre-fill lets you carry the identifier across without asking the vendor to retype it.
Put the solicitation number, or the vendor's ID from your procurement database, into the link when you send it. It arrives with the response, so what comes back can be matched to the right solicitation and the right firm. This works the same way for permit numbers, case numbers and utility account numbers.
It also lets you reach people who are not in your procurement database at all. The vendors you met at an outreach event and added to a contact list can be surveyed with the solicitation reference attached, even though they never registered.
Build the link
Pre-fill links are built from your project's custom links, so create a custom link first if you do not have one. See How to create a custom Link.
Open your project and go to the Settings tab.
Find the link you want to use in the Custom Links table.
Select the speech-bubble icon on that row, labelled Pre-populate response in URL.
Choose the Question you want to pre-fill.
Set the Pre-set response. For a multiple-choice question you pick from that question's own answers. For an open comment question you type the text.
Select Add parameter to link.
Copy the Shareable link.
Repeat steps 4 to 6 to add more than one question to the same link. Clear values resets it back to the plain custom link.
Build one link per barrier by choosing a different pre-set response each time, then paste each into the matching button in your email. See Creating an email with the email editor for building the email itself.
What the participant sees
Without the parameter, the question opens unanswered, the way it always has.
Which questions can be pre-filled
Open comment and short comment questions, pre-filled with text.
Single-choice and multiple-choice questions, pre-filled with one of that question's answers.
Individual rows of a matrix question.
Ranking, map, slider, budget and demographic questions cannot be pre-filled. They will not appear in the question list.
Things worth knowing
Nothing is recorded until the participant submits. Opening a pre-fill link does not create a response. The answer is only counted when the survey is submitted, and it goes through the same moderation and duplicate checks as any other response.
The pre-set answer is visible and editable. The value sits in the address bar in plain sight, so anyone with the link can change it before submitting. Treat a pre-filled answer as a convenience, not as proof of anything. If a value has to be authoritative, such as which firm actually responded, confirm it against your own system rather than relying on what comes back.
Participants can always change the answer. A pre-filled choice is a starting point. It is not locked, and it does not skip the question.
Do not put anything sensitive in the link. Links get forwarded, logged and shared. A solicitation number or a permit number is fine. Anything you would not want in a forwarded email is not.
Availability
Pre-filled responses are available on the Engage Plus plan family. If you see the icon greyed out on your custom links with a note about Engage+, contact your account manager.
Related articles
Send participants to your own page after they submit — the other half of the round trip. Pre-fill brings people in with a reference attached; the redirect hands them back to your own system on the way out.
How to create a custom Link — the prerequisite. Pre-fill links are built on top of a custom link.
Creating a custom link/URL to segment participants — use a separate link per audience so you can tell the groups apart in the results.
Creating an email with the email editor — where the one-click buttons go.
Creating a Contact List — building the list you send the invitation to.
How can I track traffic to my survey? — seeing which links people actually arrived through.