In-App Surveys: The Ultimate Guide
Learn how to collect real-time user feedback, boost customer satisfaction, and make data-driven decisions. Discover the benefits, best practices, and examples of in-app surveys.
There’s a reason you see in-app surveys popping up every now and then in your favorite mobile apps.
(And before you ask, no, it’s not to distract you, or disturb your user journey. Far from it.)
You see - People behind these apps understand two things very well.
They know that there is an incredible opportunity in collecting user feedback in-the-moment, exactly as you’re engaging with the very product they want to get your opinions about.
They also understand that in-app surveys are the best possible way to collect it.
Hence all those surveys you see in your apps.
Good news for you - After reading this guide, you’ll have the exact same knowledge as they do.
You’ll know exactly why in-app surveys are at the core of a strong user research strategy. You’ll also understand how in-app surveys work, and have the knowledge to start launching your very own in-app feedback programs.
Believe me, the only thing left for you to do will be to start building your in-app surveys.
Bold promise, I know, and we have a lot of information to cover to fulfill it.
So, let’s get started.
In-App Surveys: What they are and what you do with them
When we talk about in-app surveys we mean any feedback mechanism (survey, questionnaire, etc.) that’s integrated directly into a mobile or web application to make it easy to collect feedback from customers - their responses, opinions, or insights - while they’re using the app.
Two elements of this definition are crucial to understand:
The type of collected feedback. When it comes to what they do, in-app surveys work just like any other survey type and serve the exact same purpose. In-app surveys deliver invaluable insights to help you understand why users churn, for example, and make data-driven decisions to boost growth and customer satisfaction.
The “in-the-moment” approach. This is, by far, the most important aspect of in-app surveys. These surveys trigger directly within the product, display as a person is interacting with it, and collect the most relevant, contextual feedback about it.
That’s because of that laser-focus on users engaging with the app right now, in-app surveys deliver a staggering 38% response rate. This is far beyond what any other survey type could ever achieve.
💡Advanced in-app survey tools like 1Flow let you trigger those surveys not just for all app users but also target them by operating system, ensuring that you can truly reach the people that matter to your research project.
(Platform selection for an in-app survey in 1Flow)
What feedback in-app surveys are good for?
Because in-app surveys serve the same purpose as any other survey type, they can be used in a whole range of projects and scenarios. Here are just some research objectives these types of surveys can help you achieve:
Measuring customer satisfaction. You can easily run NPS surveys, CSAT, or CES surveys within the app. In fact, asking users to evaluate their experience with your product exactly as they are interacting with it is, by far, the most effective way to get high-quality feedback.
(Example of an in-app CSAT survey.)
Understanding why users churn. In-app surveys can trigger as people cancel their subscriptions to collect real-time insights about their product experience. Because this feedback happens at the exact moment of the cancellation, it provides the most relevant insights to help product teams understand and address key issues which will directly result in higher revenue retention.
(Example churn survey created with 1Flow)
Fixing retention. Exploring user frustrations with the product will also help you uncover the real reasons for them not renewing their subscriptions. And it’s all thanks to collecting that feedback in-the-moment, of course.
Post-update feedback. Any major change you make to the product is bound to affect users. With in-app surveys, you can quickly discover how easy it was for them to get accustomed to it, and what they think about the most recent update.
New user qualification. In-app surveys can help you learn more about new people signing up. With their direct feedback, you can uncover the type of audience your marketing and growth efforts attract, uncover their motivations for signing up, and more.
(In-app signup motivation survey)
Finding product market fit. You can also use in-app surveys to get a sense of how close you are to reaching PMF with every audience segment, and more.
(Product market fit in-app survey)
Sounds incredible, right?
Well, let’s talk about why bother with it all, then…
In-app surveys: Key benefits and why you should really use them
We’ve talked a lot about what in-app surveys are, how they work, and what you could use them for.
It all sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
But let’s turn this up a little, and also discuss what exactly you could get by utilizing this type of user feedback instead of more common ones, you know, like email surveys, website widgets, or shareable links.
Well … compared to the rest, in-app surveys offer some quite amazing benefits.
For one, in-app surveys achieve much higher response rates.
What’s more, they’re not a fad. Most of our clients see far higher response rates from in-app surveys than emails or widgets month after month after month.
On average, email surveys deliver about 1-5% response rate. It’s a wide range, I admit, but there are also countless factors, many beyond your control, that affect it. You can’t tell what the person’s doing as they receive the survey. You have no control over the context in which they see your email, and so on. And needless to say, all these factors will affect whether the person decides to hit the “take the survey” button or not.
In comparison, in-app surveys can deliver a staggering 38% response rate.
Yes, you heard it right. Nearly 4 out of ten people you display the survey to within the app will respond to it. That’s compared to just one out of ten with emails, and that's if you’re lucky.
I’m sure you’ll agree - It’s an incredible response rate, and one that guarantees a large volume of data and insights for your teams to use.
With in-app surveys, you can be highly specific about whom you display the survey to.
Remember, in-app surveys trigger for people who are actively using the app. That means you have all their usage data at your disposal for precise segmentation.
You could segment whom you’d like to target with events. Or you could use user attributes to identify the best people for your research. You could retarget users based on past behavior or past survey responses, too, and more.
All this gives you incredible control over who’s providing the insights, and what type of feedback you collect.
This brings us to the next benefit…
In-app surveys deliver more precise data.
In-app surveys are all about the in-the-moment feedback. You actually CAN’T collect generic, rarely helpful feedback this way. There is no muddy data in in-app survey results, either.
Every insight you collect happens in the context of your product. It’s highly precise. It happens when the person thinks and experiences what they share feedback on. There is no bias. The person doesn’t make any assumptions based on what they remember about the experience.
They tell you everything as it actually is. That’s because the survey happens simultaneously with that experience.
Again, incredible, isn’t it?
But let’s dig even deeper.
Three core elements of an in-app survey
The last bit of theory behind in-app surveys that I want you to know is what exactly you need to a.) focus on, and b.) optimize when you’re launching an in-app survey.
So, these three elements are:
#1. Design Customization
Usually, design - basically, how your in-app survey looks - isn’t something we focus on first when creating surveys. And yet, it’s often the factor that can determine user engagement, and affect the response rate.
Think about it, a survey that doesn’t look native to your brand, might end up looking like a pesky ad to users. In such a case, they’d, most likely, click it off without thinking, ultimately ending your survey run.
Engaging design, on the other hand, a one that a.) matches your brand, and also b.) makes the survey immediately noticeable within the app is bound to have the opposite effect - Entice users into providing you with feedback and insights instantly.
Several aspects go into customizing your in-app survey’s design:
Text and background colors that match your brand.
A position where the survey appears on the user’s screen.
Fonts that you use, and more.
(Design customization settings in 1Flow)
#2. Survey setup
When we talk about survey setup, we mean all the factors that relate to how the survey works:
The questions you ask,
Audience segments that you plan to survey,
The skip logic you use to display a follow-up question to relevant users,
When you trigger the survey for users,
Or what happens after someone has completed the survey.
Naturally, your survey questions will depend on the survey type.
If you plan to run a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, you’re going to ask about the person’s likelihood of recommending your product to others.
If you plan to uncover reasons for churn, you might be inquiring about reasons for canceling the subscription, and so on.
(Example of an NPS survey)
The audience segments you display the survey to will depend on the goals of your campaign.
Dedicated in-app survey tools, like 1Flow, offer robust options to target the right users at the right moment. You can specify triggering events, and match those to custom audience segments based on different criteria, etc.
All this means that you can collect the most relevant and insightful feedback directly from the most relevant users.
In this example, I’ve segmented my audience based on two criteria - their location and completion of a specific event (in this case, clicking on a button).
(Audience targeting options in 1Flow)
Survey logic, on the other hand, allows you to display follow-up questions to specific users only.
For example, you could inquire with NPS detractors about their reasons for scoring you so low. Or target Promoters to better understand what specific aspects of your product deliver such an incredible value to them.
Here’s an example of such skip logic in an in-app survey created with 1Flow. In this case, I specified the follow-up question to show only to users who have selected a score of 9.
(Skip logic in 1Flow)
Finally, triggers allow you to specify when the survey launches in the app. With this feature, you can ensure that your users will always see the survey in context of their actions within the app, further increasing the quality of the data you receive.
(Survey trigger options in 1Flow showing two triggers - Event and Page URL.)
#3. User Experience (UX)
It’s an unfortunate fact but we rarely consider UX when designing surveys. Questions, follow-up, or integrations usually take the front seat.
The thing is - The overall survey experience users have will greatly affect their likelihood of wanting to complete it.
Luckily, in-app survey platforms offer a range of features to ensure that completing a survey is a smooth experience, and does not take anything away from the overall UX in your app.
Global throttling to ensure that the same user won’t see several different surveys your teams have running simultaneously.
The ability to display a progress bar to tell a person how much effort is involved in completing the survey.
Survey frequency that defines how often, and in what interval, a person would see the same survey.
Close button to help them click the survey off, if needed, and more.
(Survey frequency options in 1Flow)
But how does it all work together?
Let’s see by turning all the knowledge we’ve gained into practice.
How to set up an in-app survey - Best practices to follow
I decided that the best way to show you how to set up an in-app survey is by offering something that’s a mix of two things: A walkthrough of the process of setting up an in-app survey, and an overview of the best practices to always keep in mind when doing so.
In other words, what follows is all the information you need to know to launch the first survey within your app.
So, let’s do it.
#1. Set clear goals for your survey
I know, you’ve probably heard the term “goals” enough for a lifetime while working on your product. But stick with me, please. Even though it may sound cliche, setting up clear goals really is the prerequisite for a successful survey.
You see, the most common thing we do when launching a survey is to pick a survey type. So, we log in to our in-app survey app of choice and we choose a template - NPS, CSAT, CES, or whatever else.
The thing is - That survey type might not be ideal to collect the insights we seek. And that’s not because there is something wrong with it! Not at all. It’s because without having clear goals, we don’t actually know what insights we need to collect.
Sure, we know what information surveys like NPS or CSAT deliver. But unless we’re absolutely certain that we can turn these insights into actionable data, our survey efforts will be in vain.
And again, the only way to know is to understand upfront why we want to run the survey.
Here are just some examples of goals our customers set for themselves, and use surveys to achieve:
To understand why their users churn
To fix user retention
To optimize user onboarding
To prioritize feature roadmap by user preferences
To learn how to enhance user engagement
To evaluate customer satisfaction and the potential for word-of-mouth growth,
To discover bugs or issues within the product, and more.
#2. Optimize survey design to match your brand
We’ve talked about the importance of survey design already but it being such an important element, it’s worth reiterating.
Your survey should always (and I do stress it, always) match your brand.
It might be tempting to style it with different colors, ones that contrast with your brand. It might be equally tempting to use different fonts, and change your tone of voice in the survey copy.
But the only thing that all of those changes will do is confuse your users, and make them more likely to click your survey off.
#3. Put effort into creating survey questions
I always tell our customers that the secret to writing in-app survey questions is simple - Your questions need to be relevant and in-context of the user experience to collect highly actionable insights.
Of course, this is only simple in theory. The situation is different when you sit down to write specific questions for your survey. Suddenly, your head fills in with questions like:
How specific should my question be?
How many words should I include?
Should I provide background information behind why I’m asking?
What tone of voice should I use?
Is jargon OK?
As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all approach here. You need to approach each survey differently, and match the question to your objectives, and the specific audience segment.
Luckily, there is a workaround…
You see - You can also get Ai to help speed the process up.
Full disclaimer - This option isn’t available in most in-app survey tools.
But it is in 1Flow (disclaimer - as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, this is our product)
1Flow features the 1Flow AI, a feature that uses AI to automatically generate personalized surveys tailored to your specific needs.
With just a few clicks, you can create a survey containing multiple questions using the best-fit question type based on your objective and detailed needs for this survey. 1Flow AI will also tailor the language of the survey to a tone you select.
In short, with 1Flow AI, you can generate an in-app survey that follows all the best practices I describe in this article in just 5 seconds.
No joke. You can see it for yourself here:
#4. Target specific users that match your survey goals
We’ve briefly talked about segmentation already. But let me share some tips with you to help you make the most of this feature.
Typically, audience segmentation allows you to create a segment based on a specific criteria.
So, you can target users in a specific country. Or focus on new users only, and so on.
In 1Flow, however, you can go far beyond that and create segments that combine several criteria. So, your segment might not only contain people within a specific location. It can also filter that list further by events they performed within the app, or other traits.
(An example of additional criteria being added to an audience segment in 1Flow)
You can also combine that with other criteria, like a mobile operating system. In the example below, I’ve specified iOS as the operating system for the above segment.
#5. Set up precise triggers
Naturally, there is nothing wrong with launching the in-app survey right when a user opens up your app. But unless you want to collect general data, and perhaps achieve lower response rates, it’s rarely a good practice.
Instead, you need to plan when and where the user sees the survey. This way, you can match the survey objective to the context of the person’s actions within the app, and collect highly-relevant insights.
To do that, you need to specify a trigger that defines when and where the survey will launch.
For example, you could use an Event, such as a person visiting a specific page within the app (see the screenshot below).
Or you could launch a no-code trigger using the Page URL rule. In this case, the survey will launch when page loaded will match a URL pattern; or when the system detects an exit intent.
#6. Keep the whole survey short
I realize that this advice might sound like a no-brainer. That said, I constantly see companies launching long surveys and wondering why their response rates are so low. Hence me mentioning it here as well.
The rule of thumb is that the shorter your survey is, the more likely users are to complete it.
But naturally, short surveys aren’t always possible. Sometimes, meeting survey objectives require you to ask a couple of questions.
Luckily, there is a way to overcome this, boost the survey UX, and ensure that more users get to the end of the survey, and that way is to add a progress bar to the widget.
A progress bar is a visual indication of the effort required to complete the survey. It tells a user where they are, and how many steps are left for them to complete.
It looks like this:
In-app tools like 1Flow have this feature built in, and triggered on by default. Other tools might require you to trigger it manually in the survey settings.
(Progress bar setting in 1Flow)
What’s next?
We’ve covered everything there is to know about in-app surveys. So, naturally, if you’re interested in collecting user feedback from within the product, the next step is to launch your first survey.
Our product - 1Flow - has been built from ground up to help companies run even the most advanced in-app survey campaigns, and features an incredible set of capabilities for that:
Easy to use, no-code survey builder. Launch in-app surveys without needing a developer.
A whole library of templates, ready to use out-of-the-box
1Flow AI to help you automate survey creation with Ai
Follow-up questions and advanced survey logic
Reporting dashboard
Robust design customization
Audience segmentation, triggers, and advanced user targeting options, and more.
(Survey reporting dashboard in 1Flow)
Looking for an in-app survey solution?
Collecting customer insights for your product is important and will have significant impact on your business’s growth and retention – when done right.
You should take a look at all your options and go with what’s best for your business.
1Flow is free to start, with no credit card required and you can invite your entire team to explore this together.
We believe we’ve built the best tool in this space. If you are a product-focused company, we can confidently say 1Flow is likely the right choice.
There’s a reason you see in-app surveys popping up every now and then in your favorite mobile apps.
(And before you ask, no, it’s not to distract you, or disturb your user journey. Far from it.)
You see - People behind these apps understand two things very well.
They know that there is an incredible opportunity in collecting user feedback in-the-moment, exactly as you’re engaging with the very product they want to get your opinions about.
They also understand that in-app surveys are the best possible way to collect it.
Hence all those surveys you see in your apps.
Good news for you - After reading this guide, you’ll have the exact same knowledge as they do.
You’ll know exactly why in-app surveys are at the core of a strong user research strategy. You’ll also understand how in-app surveys work, and have the knowledge to start launching your very own in-app feedback programs.
Believe me, the only thing left for you to do will be to start building your in-app surveys.
Bold promise, I know, and we have a lot of information to cover to fulfill it.
So, let’s get started.
In-App Surveys: What they are and what you do with them
When we talk about in-app surveys we mean any feedback mechanism (survey, questionnaire, etc.) that’s integrated directly into a mobile or web application to make it easy to collect feedback from customers - their responses, opinions, or insights - while they’re using the app.
Two elements of this definition are crucial to understand:
The type of collected feedback. When it comes to what they do, in-app surveys work just like any other survey type and serve the exact same purpose. In-app surveys deliver invaluable insights to help you understand why users churn, for example, and make data-driven decisions to boost growth and customer satisfaction.
The “in-the-moment” approach. This is, by far, the most important aspect of in-app surveys. These surveys trigger directly within the product, display as a person is interacting with it, and collect the most relevant, contextual feedback about it.
That’s because of that laser-focus on users engaging with the app right now, in-app surveys deliver a staggering 38% response rate. This is far beyond what any other survey type could ever achieve.
💡Advanced in-app survey tools like 1Flow let you trigger those surveys not just for all app users but also target them by operating system, ensuring that you can truly reach the people that matter to your research project.
(Platform selection for an in-app survey in 1Flow)
What feedback in-app surveys are good for?
Because in-app surveys serve the same purpose as any other survey type, they can be used in a whole range of projects and scenarios. Here are just some research objectives these types of surveys can help you achieve:
Measuring customer satisfaction. You can easily run NPS surveys, CSAT, or CES surveys within the app. In fact, asking users to evaluate their experience with your product exactly as they are interacting with it is, by far, the most effective way to get high-quality feedback.
(Example of an in-app CSAT survey.)
Understanding why users churn. In-app surveys can trigger as people cancel their subscriptions to collect real-time insights about their product experience. Because this feedback happens at the exact moment of the cancellation, it provides the most relevant insights to help product teams understand and address key issues which will directly result in higher revenue retention.
(Example churn survey created with 1Flow)
Fixing retention. Exploring user frustrations with the product will also help you uncover the real reasons for them not renewing their subscriptions. And it’s all thanks to collecting that feedback in-the-moment, of course.
Post-update feedback. Any major change you make to the product is bound to affect users. With in-app surveys, you can quickly discover how easy it was for them to get accustomed to it, and what they think about the most recent update.
New user qualification. In-app surveys can help you learn more about new people signing up. With their direct feedback, you can uncover the type of audience your marketing and growth efforts attract, uncover their motivations for signing up, and more.
(In-app signup motivation survey)
Finding product market fit. You can also use in-app surveys to get a sense of how close you are to reaching PMF with every audience segment, and more.
(Product market fit in-app survey)
Sounds incredible, right?
Well, let’s talk about why bother with it all, then…
In-app surveys: Key benefits and why you should really use them
We’ve talked a lot about what in-app surveys are, how they work, and what you could use them for.
It all sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
But let’s turn this up a little, and also discuss what exactly you could get by utilizing this type of user feedback instead of more common ones, you know, like email surveys, website widgets, or shareable links.
Well … compared to the rest, in-app surveys offer some quite amazing benefits.
For one, in-app surveys achieve much higher response rates.
What’s more, they’re not a fad. Most of our clients see far higher response rates from in-app surveys than emails or widgets month after month after month.
On average, email surveys deliver about 1-5% response rate. It’s a wide range, I admit, but there are also countless factors, many beyond your control, that affect it. You can’t tell what the person’s doing as they receive the survey. You have no control over the context in which they see your email, and so on. And needless to say, all these factors will affect whether the person decides to hit the “take the survey” button or not.
In comparison, in-app surveys can deliver a staggering 38% response rate.
Yes, you heard it right. Nearly 4 out of ten people you display the survey to within the app will respond to it. That’s compared to just one out of ten with emails, and that's if you’re lucky.
I’m sure you’ll agree - It’s an incredible response rate, and one that guarantees a large volume of data and insights for your teams to use.
With in-app surveys, you can be highly specific about whom you display the survey to.
Remember, in-app surveys trigger for people who are actively using the app. That means you have all their usage data at your disposal for precise segmentation.
You could segment whom you’d like to target with events. Or you could use user attributes to identify the best people for your research. You could retarget users based on past behavior or past survey responses, too, and more.
All this gives you incredible control over who’s providing the insights, and what type of feedback you collect.
This brings us to the next benefit…
In-app surveys deliver more precise data.
In-app surveys are all about the in-the-moment feedback. You actually CAN’T collect generic, rarely helpful feedback this way. There is no muddy data in in-app survey results, either.
Every insight you collect happens in the context of your product. It’s highly precise. It happens when the person thinks and experiences what they share feedback on. There is no bias. The person doesn’t make any assumptions based on what they remember about the experience.
They tell you everything as it actually is. That’s because the survey happens simultaneously with that experience.
Again, incredible, isn’t it?
But let’s dig even deeper.
Three core elements of an in-app survey
The last bit of theory behind in-app surveys that I want you to know is what exactly you need to a.) focus on, and b.) optimize when you’re launching an in-app survey.
So, these three elements are:
#1. Design Customization
Usually, design - basically, how your in-app survey looks - isn’t something we focus on first when creating surveys. And yet, it’s often the factor that can determine user engagement, and affect the response rate.
Think about it, a survey that doesn’t look native to your brand, might end up looking like a pesky ad to users. In such a case, they’d, most likely, click it off without thinking, ultimately ending your survey run.
Engaging design, on the other hand, a one that a.) matches your brand, and also b.) makes the survey immediately noticeable within the app is bound to have the opposite effect - Entice users into providing you with feedback and insights instantly.
Several aspects go into customizing your in-app survey’s design:
Text and background colors that match your brand.
A position where the survey appears on the user’s screen.
Fonts that you use, and more.
(Design customization settings in 1Flow)
#2. Survey setup
When we talk about survey setup, we mean all the factors that relate to how the survey works:
The questions you ask,
Audience segments that you plan to survey,
The skip logic you use to display a follow-up question to relevant users,
When you trigger the survey for users,
Or what happens after someone has completed the survey.
Naturally, your survey questions will depend on the survey type.
If you plan to run a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, you’re going to ask about the person’s likelihood of recommending your product to others.
If you plan to uncover reasons for churn, you might be inquiring about reasons for canceling the subscription, and so on.
(Example of an NPS survey)
The audience segments you display the survey to will depend on the goals of your campaign.
Dedicated in-app survey tools, like 1Flow, offer robust options to target the right users at the right moment. You can specify triggering events, and match those to custom audience segments based on different criteria, etc.
All this means that you can collect the most relevant and insightful feedback directly from the most relevant users.
In this example, I’ve segmented my audience based on two criteria - their location and completion of a specific event (in this case, clicking on a button).
(Audience targeting options in 1Flow)
Survey logic, on the other hand, allows you to display follow-up questions to specific users only.
For example, you could inquire with NPS detractors about their reasons for scoring you so low. Or target Promoters to better understand what specific aspects of your product deliver such an incredible value to them.
Here’s an example of such skip logic in an in-app survey created with 1Flow. In this case, I specified the follow-up question to show only to users who have selected a score of 9.
(Skip logic in 1Flow)
Finally, triggers allow you to specify when the survey launches in the app. With this feature, you can ensure that your users will always see the survey in context of their actions within the app, further increasing the quality of the data you receive.
(Survey trigger options in 1Flow showing two triggers - Event and Page URL.)
#3. User Experience (UX)
It’s an unfortunate fact but we rarely consider UX when designing surveys. Questions, follow-up, or integrations usually take the front seat.
The thing is - The overall survey experience users have will greatly affect their likelihood of wanting to complete it.
Luckily, in-app survey platforms offer a range of features to ensure that completing a survey is a smooth experience, and does not take anything away from the overall UX in your app.
Global throttling to ensure that the same user won’t see several different surveys your teams have running simultaneously.
The ability to display a progress bar to tell a person how much effort is involved in completing the survey.
Survey frequency that defines how often, and in what interval, a person would see the same survey.
Close button to help them click the survey off, if needed, and more.
(Survey frequency options in 1Flow)
But how does it all work together?
Let’s see by turning all the knowledge we’ve gained into practice.
How to set up an in-app survey - Best practices to follow
I decided that the best way to show you how to set up an in-app survey is by offering something that’s a mix of two things: A walkthrough of the process of setting up an in-app survey, and an overview of the best practices to always keep in mind when doing so.
In other words, what follows is all the information you need to know to launch the first survey within your app.
So, let’s do it.
#1. Set clear goals for your survey
I know, you’ve probably heard the term “goals” enough for a lifetime while working on your product. But stick with me, please. Even though it may sound cliche, setting up clear goals really is the prerequisite for a successful survey.
You see, the most common thing we do when launching a survey is to pick a survey type. So, we log in to our in-app survey app of choice and we choose a template - NPS, CSAT, CES, or whatever else.
The thing is - That survey type might not be ideal to collect the insights we seek. And that’s not because there is something wrong with it! Not at all. It’s because without having clear goals, we don’t actually know what insights we need to collect.
Sure, we know what information surveys like NPS or CSAT deliver. But unless we’re absolutely certain that we can turn these insights into actionable data, our survey efforts will be in vain.
And again, the only way to know is to understand upfront why we want to run the survey.
Here are just some examples of goals our customers set for themselves, and use surveys to achieve:
To understand why their users churn
To fix user retention
To optimize user onboarding
To prioritize feature roadmap by user preferences
To learn how to enhance user engagement
To evaluate customer satisfaction and the potential for word-of-mouth growth,
To discover bugs or issues within the product, and more.
#2. Optimize survey design to match your brand
We’ve talked about the importance of survey design already but it being such an important element, it’s worth reiterating.
Your survey should always (and I do stress it, always) match your brand.
It might be tempting to style it with different colors, ones that contrast with your brand. It might be equally tempting to use different fonts, and change your tone of voice in the survey copy.
But the only thing that all of those changes will do is confuse your users, and make them more likely to click your survey off.
#3. Put effort into creating survey questions
I always tell our customers that the secret to writing in-app survey questions is simple - Your questions need to be relevant and in-context of the user experience to collect highly actionable insights.
Of course, this is only simple in theory. The situation is different when you sit down to write specific questions for your survey. Suddenly, your head fills in with questions like:
How specific should my question be?
How many words should I include?
Should I provide background information behind why I’m asking?
What tone of voice should I use?
Is jargon OK?
As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all approach here. You need to approach each survey differently, and match the question to your objectives, and the specific audience segment.
Luckily, there is a workaround…
You see - You can also get Ai to help speed the process up.
Full disclaimer - This option isn’t available in most in-app survey tools.
But it is in 1Flow (disclaimer - as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, this is our product)
1Flow features the 1Flow AI, a feature that uses AI to automatically generate personalized surveys tailored to your specific needs.
With just a few clicks, you can create a survey containing multiple questions using the best-fit question type based on your objective and detailed needs for this survey. 1Flow AI will also tailor the language of the survey to a tone you select.
In short, with 1Flow AI, you can generate an in-app survey that follows all the best practices I describe in this article in just 5 seconds.
No joke. You can see it for yourself here:
#4. Target specific users that match your survey goals
We’ve briefly talked about segmentation already. But let me share some tips with you to help you make the most of this feature.
Typically, audience segmentation allows you to create a segment based on a specific criteria.
So, you can target users in a specific country. Or focus on new users only, and so on.
In 1Flow, however, you can go far beyond that and create segments that combine several criteria. So, your segment might not only contain people within a specific location. It can also filter that list further by events they performed within the app, or other traits.
(An example of additional criteria being added to an audience segment in 1Flow)
You can also combine that with other criteria, like a mobile operating system. In the example below, I’ve specified iOS as the operating system for the above segment.
#5. Set up precise triggers
Naturally, there is nothing wrong with launching the in-app survey right when a user opens up your app. But unless you want to collect general data, and perhaps achieve lower response rates, it’s rarely a good practice.
Instead, you need to plan when and where the user sees the survey. This way, you can match the survey objective to the context of the person’s actions within the app, and collect highly-relevant insights.
To do that, you need to specify a trigger that defines when and where the survey will launch.
For example, you could use an Event, such as a person visiting a specific page within the app (see the screenshot below).
Or you could launch a no-code trigger using the Page URL rule. In this case, the survey will launch when page loaded will match a URL pattern; or when the system detects an exit intent.
#6. Keep the whole survey short
I realize that this advice might sound like a no-brainer. That said, I constantly see companies launching long surveys and wondering why their response rates are so low. Hence me mentioning it here as well.
The rule of thumb is that the shorter your survey is, the more likely users are to complete it.
But naturally, short surveys aren’t always possible. Sometimes, meeting survey objectives require you to ask a couple of questions.
Luckily, there is a way to overcome this, boost the survey UX, and ensure that more users get to the end of the survey, and that way is to add a progress bar to the widget.
A progress bar is a visual indication of the effort required to complete the survey. It tells a user where they are, and how many steps are left for them to complete.
It looks like this:
In-app tools like 1Flow have this feature built in, and triggered on by default. Other tools might require you to trigger it manually in the survey settings.
(Progress bar setting in 1Flow)
What’s next?
We’ve covered everything there is to know about in-app surveys. So, naturally, if you’re interested in collecting user feedback from within the product, the next step is to launch your first survey.
Our product - 1Flow - has been built from ground up to help companies run even the most advanced in-app survey campaigns, and features an incredible set of capabilities for that:
Easy to use, no-code survey builder. Launch in-app surveys without needing a developer.
A whole library of templates, ready to use out-of-the-box
1Flow AI to help you automate survey creation with Ai
Follow-up questions and advanced survey logic
Reporting dashboard
Robust design customization
Audience segmentation, triggers, and advanced user targeting options, and more.
(Survey reporting dashboard in 1Flow)
Looking for an in-app survey solution?
Collecting customer insights for your product is important and will have significant impact on your business’s growth and retention – when done right.
You should take a look at all your options and go with what’s best for your business.
1Flow is free to start, with no credit card required and you can invite your entire team to explore this together.
We believe we’ve built the best tool in this space. If you are a product-focused company, we can confidently say 1Flow is likely the right choice.
There’s a reason you see in-app surveys popping up every now and then in your favorite mobile apps.
(And before you ask, no, it’s not to distract you, or disturb your user journey. Far from it.)
You see - People behind these apps understand two things very well.
They know that there is an incredible opportunity in collecting user feedback in-the-moment, exactly as you’re engaging with the very product they want to get your opinions about.
They also understand that in-app surveys are the best possible way to collect it.
Hence all those surveys you see in your apps.
Good news for you - After reading this guide, you’ll have the exact same knowledge as they do.
You’ll know exactly why in-app surveys are at the core of a strong user research strategy. You’ll also understand how in-app surveys work, and have the knowledge to start launching your very own in-app feedback programs.
Believe me, the only thing left for you to do will be to start building your in-app surveys.
Bold promise, I know, and we have a lot of information to cover to fulfill it.
So, let’s get started.
In-App Surveys: What they are and what you do with them
When we talk about in-app surveys we mean any feedback mechanism (survey, questionnaire, etc.) that’s integrated directly into a mobile or web application to make it easy to collect feedback from customers - their responses, opinions, or insights - while they’re using the app.
Two elements of this definition are crucial to understand:
The type of collected feedback. When it comes to what they do, in-app surveys work just like any other survey type and serve the exact same purpose. In-app surveys deliver invaluable insights to help you understand why users churn, for example, and make data-driven decisions to boost growth and customer satisfaction.
The “in-the-moment” approach. This is, by far, the most important aspect of in-app surveys. These surveys trigger directly within the product, display as a person is interacting with it, and collect the most relevant, contextual feedback about it.
That’s because of that laser-focus on users engaging with the app right now, in-app surveys deliver a staggering 38% response rate. This is far beyond what any other survey type could ever achieve.
💡Advanced in-app survey tools like 1Flow let you trigger those surveys not just for all app users but also target them by operating system, ensuring that you can truly reach the people that matter to your research project.
(Platform selection for an in-app survey in 1Flow)
What feedback in-app surveys are good for?
Because in-app surveys serve the same purpose as any other survey type, they can be used in a whole range of projects and scenarios. Here are just some research objectives these types of surveys can help you achieve:
Measuring customer satisfaction. You can easily run NPS surveys, CSAT, or CES surveys within the app. In fact, asking users to evaluate their experience with your product exactly as they are interacting with it is, by far, the most effective way to get high-quality feedback.
(Example of an in-app CSAT survey.)
Understanding why users churn. In-app surveys can trigger as people cancel their subscriptions to collect real-time insights about their product experience. Because this feedback happens at the exact moment of the cancellation, it provides the most relevant insights to help product teams understand and address key issues which will directly result in higher revenue retention.
(Example churn survey created with 1Flow)
Fixing retention. Exploring user frustrations with the product will also help you uncover the real reasons for them not renewing their subscriptions. And it’s all thanks to collecting that feedback in-the-moment, of course.
Post-update feedback. Any major change you make to the product is bound to affect users. With in-app surveys, you can quickly discover how easy it was for them to get accustomed to it, and what they think about the most recent update.
New user qualification. In-app surveys can help you learn more about new people signing up. With their direct feedback, you can uncover the type of audience your marketing and growth efforts attract, uncover their motivations for signing up, and more.
(In-app signup motivation survey)
Finding product market fit. You can also use in-app surveys to get a sense of how close you are to reaching PMF with every audience segment, and more.
(Product market fit in-app survey)
Sounds incredible, right?
Well, let’s talk about why bother with it all, then…
In-app surveys: Key benefits and why you should really use them
We’ve talked a lot about what in-app surveys are, how they work, and what you could use them for.
It all sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
But let’s turn this up a little, and also discuss what exactly you could get by utilizing this type of user feedback instead of more common ones, you know, like email surveys, website widgets, or shareable links.
Well … compared to the rest, in-app surveys offer some quite amazing benefits.
For one, in-app surveys achieve much higher response rates.
What’s more, they’re not a fad. Most of our clients see far higher response rates from in-app surveys than emails or widgets month after month after month.
On average, email surveys deliver about 1-5% response rate. It’s a wide range, I admit, but there are also countless factors, many beyond your control, that affect it. You can’t tell what the person’s doing as they receive the survey. You have no control over the context in which they see your email, and so on. And needless to say, all these factors will affect whether the person decides to hit the “take the survey” button or not.
In comparison, in-app surveys can deliver a staggering 38% response rate.
Yes, you heard it right. Nearly 4 out of ten people you display the survey to within the app will respond to it. That’s compared to just one out of ten with emails, and that's if you’re lucky.
I’m sure you’ll agree - It’s an incredible response rate, and one that guarantees a large volume of data and insights for your teams to use.
With in-app surveys, you can be highly specific about whom you display the survey to.
Remember, in-app surveys trigger for people who are actively using the app. That means you have all their usage data at your disposal for precise segmentation.
You could segment whom you’d like to target with events. Or you could use user attributes to identify the best people for your research. You could retarget users based on past behavior or past survey responses, too, and more.
All this gives you incredible control over who’s providing the insights, and what type of feedback you collect.
This brings us to the next benefit…
In-app surveys deliver more precise data.
In-app surveys are all about the in-the-moment feedback. You actually CAN’T collect generic, rarely helpful feedback this way. There is no muddy data in in-app survey results, either.
Every insight you collect happens in the context of your product. It’s highly precise. It happens when the person thinks and experiences what they share feedback on. There is no bias. The person doesn’t make any assumptions based on what they remember about the experience.
They tell you everything as it actually is. That’s because the survey happens simultaneously with that experience.
Again, incredible, isn’t it?
But let’s dig even deeper.
Three core elements of an in-app survey
The last bit of theory behind in-app surveys that I want you to know is what exactly you need to a.) focus on, and b.) optimize when you’re launching an in-app survey.
So, these three elements are:
#1. Design Customization
Usually, design - basically, how your in-app survey looks - isn’t something we focus on first when creating surveys. And yet, it’s often the factor that can determine user engagement, and affect the response rate.
Think about it, a survey that doesn’t look native to your brand, might end up looking like a pesky ad to users. In such a case, they’d, most likely, click it off without thinking, ultimately ending your survey run.
Engaging design, on the other hand, a one that a.) matches your brand, and also b.) makes the survey immediately noticeable within the app is bound to have the opposite effect - Entice users into providing you with feedback and insights instantly.
Several aspects go into customizing your in-app survey’s design:
Text and background colors that match your brand.
A position where the survey appears on the user’s screen.
Fonts that you use, and more.
(Design customization settings in 1Flow)
#2. Survey setup
When we talk about survey setup, we mean all the factors that relate to how the survey works:
The questions you ask,
Audience segments that you plan to survey,
The skip logic you use to display a follow-up question to relevant users,
When you trigger the survey for users,
Or what happens after someone has completed the survey.
Naturally, your survey questions will depend on the survey type.
If you plan to run a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, you’re going to ask about the person’s likelihood of recommending your product to others.
If you plan to uncover reasons for churn, you might be inquiring about reasons for canceling the subscription, and so on.
(Example of an NPS survey)
The audience segments you display the survey to will depend on the goals of your campaign.
Dedicated in-app survey tools, like 1Flow, offer robust options to target the right users at the right moment. You can specify triggering events, and match those to custom audience segments based on different criteria, etc.
All this means that you can collect the most relevant and insightful feedback directly from the most relevant users.
In this example, I’ve segmented my audience based on two criteria - their location and completion of a specific event (in this case, clicking on a button).
(Audience targeting options in 1Flow)
Survey logic, on the other hand, allows you to display follow-up questions to specific users only.
For example, you could inquire with NPS detractors about their reasons for scoring you so low. Or target Promoters to better understand what specific aspects of your product deliver such an incredible value to them.
Here’s an example of such skip logic in an in-app survey created with 1Flow. In this case, I specified the follow-up question to show only to users who have selected a score of 9.
(Skip logic in 1Flow)
Finally, triggers allow you to specify when the survey launches in the app. With this feature, you can ensure that your users will always see the survey in context of their actions within the app, further increasing the quality of the data you receive.
(Survey trigger options in 1Flow showing two triggers - Event and Page URL.)
#3. User Experience (UX)
It’s an unfortunate fact but we rarely consider UX when designing surveys. Questions, follow-up, or integrations usually take the front seat.
The thing is - The overall survey experience users have will greatly affect their likelihood of wanting to complete it.
Luckily, in-app survey platforms offer a range of features to ensure that completing a survey is a smooth experience, and does not take anything away from the overall UX in your app.
Global throttling to ensure that the same user won’t see several different surveys your teams have running simultaneously.
The ability to display a progress bar to tell a person how much effort is involved in completing the survey.
Survey frequency that defines how often, and in what interval, a person would see the same survey.
Close button to help them click the survey off, if needed, and more.
(Survey frequency options in 1Flow)
But how does it all work together?
Let’s see by turning all the knowledge we’ve gained into practice.
How to set up an in-app survey - Best practices to follow
I decided that the best way to show you how to set up an in-app survey is by offering something that’s a mix of two things: A walkthrough of the process of setting up an in-app survey, and an overview of the best practices to always keep in mind when doing so.
In other words, what follows is all the information you need to know to launch the first survey within your app.
So, let’s do it.
#1. Set clear goals for your survey
I know, you’ve probably heard the term “goals” enough for a lifetime while working on your product. But stick with me, please. Even though it may sound cliche, setting up clear goals really is the prerequisite for a successful survey.
You see, the most common thing we do when launching a survey is to pick a survey type. So, we log in to our in-app survey app of choice and we choose a template - NPS, CSAT, CES, or whatever else.
The thing is - That survey type might not be ideal to collect the insights we seek. And that’s not because there is something wrong with it! Not at all. It’s because without having clear goals, we don’t actually know what insights we need to collect.
Sure, we know what information surveys like NPS or CSAT deliver. But unless we’re absolutely certain that we can turn these insights into actionable data, our survey efforts will be in vain.
And again, the only way to know is to understand upfront why we want to run the survey.
Here are just some examples of goals our customers set for themselves, and use surveys to achieve:
To understand why their users churn
To fix user retention
To optimize user onboarding
To prioritize feature roadmap by user preferences
To learn how to enhance user engagement
To evaluate customer satisfaction and the potential for word-of-mouth growth,
To discover bugs or issues within the product, and more.
#2. Optimize survey design to match your brand
We’ve talked about the importance of survey design already but it being such an important element, it’s worth reiterating.
Your survey should always (and I do stress it, always) match your brand.
It might be tempting to style it with different colors, ones that contrast with your brand. It might be equally tempting to use different fonts, and change your tone of voice in the survey copy.
But the only thing that all of those changes will do is confuse your users, and make them more likely to click your survey off.
#3. Put effort into creating survey questions
I always tell our customers that the secret to writing in-app survey questions is simple - Your questions need to be relevant and in-context of the user experience to collect highly actionable insights.
Of course, this is only simple in theory. The situation is different when you sit down to write specific questions for your survey. Suddenly, your head fills in with questions like:
How specific should my question be?
How many words should I include?
Should I provide background information behind why I’m asking?
What tone of voice should I use?
Is jargon OK?
As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all approach here. You need to approach each survey differently, and match the question to your objectives, and the specific audience segment.
Luckily, there is a workaround…
You see - You can also get Ai to help speed the process up.
Full disclaimer - This option isn’t available in most in-app survey tools.
But it is in 1Flow (disclaimer - as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, this is our product)
1Flow features the 1Flow AI, a feature that uses AI to automatically generate personalized surveys tailored to your specific needs.
With just a few clicks, you can create a survey containing multiple questions using the best-fit question type based on your objective and detailed needs for this survey. 1Flow AI will also tailor the language of the survey to a tone you select.
In short, with 1Flow AI, you can generate an in-app survey that follows all the best practices I describe in this article in just 5 seconds.
No joke. You can see it for yourself here:
#4. Target specific users that match your survey goals
We’ve briefly talked about segmentation already. But let me share some tips with you to help you make the most of this feature.
Typically, audience segmentation allows you to create a segment based on a specific criteria.
So, you can target users in a specific country. Or focus on new users only, and so on.
In 1Flow, however, you can go far beyond that and create segments that combine several criteria. So, your segment might not only contain people within a specific location. It can also filter that list further by events they performed within the app, or other traits.
(An example of additional criteria being added to an audience segment in 1Flow)
You can also combine that with other criteria, like a mobile operating system. In the example below, I’ve specified iOS as the operating system for the above segment.
#5. Set up precise triggers
Naturally, there is nothing wrong with launching the in-app survey right when a user opens up your app. But unless you want to collect general data, and perhaps achieve lower response rates, it’s rarely a good practice.
Instead, you need to plan when and where the user sees the survey. This way, you can match the survey objective to the context of the person’s actions within the app, and collect highly-relevant insights.
To do that, you need to specify a trigger that defines when and where the survey will launch.
For example, you could use an Event, such as a person visiting a specific page within the app (see the screenshot below).
Or you could launch a no-code trigger using the Page URL rule. In this case, the survey will launch when page loaded will match a URL pattern; or when the system detects an exit intent.
#6. Keep the whole survey short
I realize that this advice might sound like a no-brainer. That said, I constantly see companies launching long surveys and wondering why their response rates are so low. Hence me mentioning it here as well.
The rule of thumb is that the shorter your survey is, the more likely users are to complete it.
But naturally, short surveys aren’t always possible. Sometimes, meeting survey objectives require you to ask a couple of questions.
Luckily, there is a way to overcome this, boost the survey UX, and ensure that more users get to the end of the survey, and that way is to add a progress bar to the widget.
A progress bar is a visual indication of the effort required to complete the survey. It tells a user where they are, and how many steps are left for them to complete.
It looks like this:
In-app tools like 1Flow have this feature built in, and triggered on by default. Other tools might require you to trigger it manually in the survey settings.
(Progress bar setting in 1Flow)
What’s next?
We’ve covered everything there is to know about in-app surveys. So, naturally, if you’re interested in collecting user feedback from within the product, the next step is to launch your first survey.
Our product - 1Flow - has been built from ground up to help companies run even the most advanced in-app survey campaigns, and features an incredible set of capabilities for that:
Easy to use, no-code survey builder. Launch in-app surveys without needing a developer.
A whole library of templates, ready to use out-of-the-box
1Flow AI to help you automate survey creation with Ai
Follow-up questions and advanced survey logic
Reporting dashboard
Robust design customization
Audience segmentation, triggers, and advanced user targeting options, and more.
(Survey reporting dashboard in 1Flow)
Looking for an in-app survey solution?
Collecting customer insights for your product is important and will have significant impact on your business’s growth and retention – when done right.
You should take a look at all your options and go with what’s best for your business.
1Flow is free to start, with no credit card required and you can invite your entire team to explore this together.
We believe we’ve built the best tool in this space. If you are a product-focused company, we can confidently say 1Flow is likely the right choice.
There’s a reason you see in-app surveys popping up every now and then in your favorite mobile apps.
(And before you ask, no, it’s not to distract you, or disturb your user journey. Far from it.)
You see - People behind these apps understand two things very well.
They know that there is an incredible opportunity in collecting user feedback in-the-moment, exactly as you’re engaging with the very product they want to get your opinions about.
They also understand that in-app surveys are the best possible way to collect it.
Hence all those surveys you see in your apps.
Good news for you - After reading this guide, you’ll have the exact same knowledge as they do.
You’ll know exactly why in-app surveys are at the core of a strong user research strategy. You’ll also understand how in-app surveys work, and have the knowledge to start launching your very own in-app feedback programs.
Believe me, the only thing left for you to do will be to start building your in-app surveys.
Bold promise, I know, and we have a lot of information to cover to fulfill it.
So, let’s get started.
In-App Surveys: What they are and what you do with them
When we talk about in-app surveys we mean any feedback mechanism (survey, questionnaire, etc.) that’s integrated directly into a mobile or web application to make it easy to collect feedback from customers - their responses, opinions, or insights - while they’re using the app.
Two elements of this definition are crucial to understand:
The type of collected feedback. When it comes to what they do, in-app surveys work just like any other survey type and serve the exact same purpose. In-app surveys deliver invaluable insights to help you understand why users churn, for example, and make data-driven decisions to boost growth and customer satisfaction.
The “in-the-moment” approach. This is, by far, the most important aspect of in-app surveys. These surveys trigger directly within the product, display as a person is interacting with it, and collect the most relevant, contextual feedback about it.
That’s because of that laser-focus on users engaging with the app right now, in-app surveys deliver a staggering 38% response rate. This is far beyond what any other survey type could ever achieve.
💡Advanced in-app survey tools like 1Flow let you trigger those surveys not just for all app users but also target them by operating system, ensuring that you can truly reach the people that matter to your research project.
(Platform selection for an in-app survey in 1Flow)
What feedback in-app surveys are good for?
Because in-app surveys serve the same purpose as any other survey type, they can be used in a whole range of projects and scenarios. Here are just some research objectives these types of surveys can help you achieve:
Measuring customer satisfaction. You can easily run NPS surveys, CSAT, or CES surveys within the app. In fact, asking users to evaluate their experience with your product exactly as they are interacting with it is, by far, the most effective way to get high-quality feedback.
(Example of an in-app CSAT survey.)
Understanding why users churn. In-app surveys can trigger as people cancel their subscriptions to collect real-time insights about their product experience. Because this feedback happens at the exact moment of the cancellation, it provides the most relevant insights to help product teams understand and address key issues which will directly result in higher revenue retention.
(Example churn survey created with 1Flow)
Fixing retention. Exploring user frustrations with the product will also help you uncover the real reasons for them not renewing their subscriptions. And it’s all thanks to collecting that feedback in-the-moment, of course.
Post-update feedback. Any major change you make to the product is bound to affect users. With in-app surveys, you can quickly discover how easy it was for them to get accustomed to it, and what they think about the most recent update.
New user qualification. In-app surveys can help you learn more about new people signing up. With their direct feedback, you can uncover the type of audience your marketing and growth efforts attract, uncover their motivations for signing up, and more.
(In-app signup motivation survey)
Finding product market fit. You can also use in-app surveys to get a sense of how close you are to reaching PMF with every audience segment, and more.
(Product market fit in-app survey)
Sounds incredible, right?
Well, let’s talk about why bother with it all, then…
In-app surveys: Key benefits and why you should really use them
We’ve talked a lot about what in-app surveys are, how they work, and what you could use them for.
It all sounds amazing, doesn’t it?
But let’s turn this up a little, and also discuss what exactly you could get by utilizing this type of user feedback instead of more common ones, you know, like email surveys, website widgets, or shareable links.
Well … compared to the rest, in-app surveys offer some quite amazing benefits.
For one, in-app surveys achieve much higher response rates.
What’s more, they’re not a fad. Most of our clients see far higher response rates from in-app surveys than emails or widgets month after month after month.
On average, email surveys deliver about 1-5% response rate. It’s a wide range, I admit, but there are also countless factors, many beyond your control, that affect it. You can’t tell what the person’s doing as they receive the survey. You have no control over the context in which they see your email, and so on. And needless to say, all these factors will affect whether the person decides to hit the “take the survey” button or not.
In comparison, in-app surveys can deliver a staggering 38% response rate.
Yes, you heard it right. Nearly 4 out of ten people you display the survey to within the app will respond to it. That’s compared to just one out of ten with emails, and that's if you’re lucky.
I’m sure you’ll agree - It’s an incredible response rate, and one that guarantees a large volume of data and insights for your teams to use.
With in-app surveys, you can be highly specific about whom you display the survey to.
Remember, in-app surveys trigger for people who are actively using the app. That means you have all their usage data at your disposal for precise segmentation.
You could segment whom you’d like to target with events. Or you could use user attributes to identify the best people for your research. You could retarget users based on past behavior or past survey responses, too, and more.
All this gives you incredible control over who’s providing the insights, and what type of feedback you collect.
This brings us to the next benefit…
In-app surveys deliver more precise data.
In-app surveys are all about the in-the-moment feedback. You actually CAN’T collect generic, rarely helpful feedback this way. There is no muddy data in in-app survey results, either.
Every insight you collect happens in the context of your product. It’s highly precise. It happens when the person thinks and experiences what they share feedback on. There is no bias. The person doesn’t make any assumptions based on what they remember about the experience.
They tell you everything as it actually is. That’s because the survey happens simultaneously with that experience.
Again, incredible, isn’t it?
But let’s dig even deeper.
Three core elements of an in-app survey
The last bit of theory behind in-app surveys that I want you to know is what exactly you need to a.) focus on, and b.) optimize when you’re launching an in-app survey.
So, these three elements are:
#1. Design Customization
Usually, design - basically, how your in-app survey looks - isn’t something we focus on first when creating surveys. And yet, it’s often the factor that can determine user engagement, and affect the response rate.
Think about it, a survey that doesn’t look native to your brand, might end up looking like a pesky ad to users. In such a case, they’d, most likely, click it off without thinking, ultimately ending your survey run.
Engaging design, on the other hand, a one that a.) matches your brand, and also b.) makes the survey immediately noticeable within the app is bound to have the opposite effect - Entice users into providing you with feedback and insights instantly.
Several aspects go into customizing your in-app survey’s design:
Text and background colors that match your brand.
A position where the survey appears on the user’s screen.
Fonts that you use, and more.
(Design customization settings in 1Flow)
#2. Survey setup
When we talk about survey setup, we mean all the factors that relate to how the survey works:
The questions you ask,
Audience segments that you plan to survey,
The skip logic you use to display a follow-up question to relevant users,
When you trigger the survey for users,
Or what happens after someone has completed the survey.
Naturally, your survey questions will depend on the survey type.
If you plan to run a Net Promoter Score (NPS) survey, you’re going to ask about the person’s likelihood of recommending your product to others.
If you plan to uncover reasons for churn, you might be inquiring about reasons for canceling the subscription, and so on.
(Example of an NPS survey)
The audience segments you display the survey to will depend on the goals of your campaign.
Dedicated in-app survey tools, like 1Flow, offer robust options to target the right users at the right moment. You can specify triggering events, and match those to custom audience segments based on different criteria, etc.
All this means that you can collect the most relevant and insightful feedback directly from the most relevant users.
In this example, I’ve segmented my audience based on two criteria - their location and completion of a specific event (in this case, clicking on a button).
(Audience targeting options in 1Flow)
Survey logic, on the other hand, allows you to display follow-up questions to specific users only.
For example, you could inquire with NPS detractors about their reasons for scoring you so low. Or target Promoters to better understand what specific aspects of your product deliver such an incredible value to them.
Here’s an example of such skip logic in an in-app survey created with 1Flow. In this case, I specified the follow-up question to show only to users who have selected a score of 9.
(Skip logic in 1Flow)
Finally, triggers allow you to specify when the survey launches in the app. With this feature, you can ensure that your users will always see the survey in context of their actions within the app, further increasing the quality of the data you receive.
(Survey trigger options in 1Flow showing two triggers - Event and Page URL.)
#3. User Experience (UX)
It’s an unfortunate fact but we rarely consider UX when designing surveys. Questions, follow-up, or integrations usually take the front seat.
The thing is - The overall survey experience users have will greatly affect their likelihood of wanting to complete it.
Luckily, in-app survey platforms offer a range of features to ensure that completing a survey is a smooth experience, and does not take anything away from the overall UX in your app.
Global throttling to ensure that the same user won’t see several different surveys your teams have running simultaneously.
The ability to display a progress bar to tell a person how much effort is involved in completing the survey.
Survey frequency that defines how often, and in what interval, a person would see the same survey.
Close button to help them click the survey off, if needed, and more.
(Survey frequency options in 1Flow)
But how does it all work together?
Let’s see by turning all the knowledge we’ve gained into practice.
How to set up an in-app survey - Best practices to follow
I decided that the best way to show you how to set up an in-app survey is by offering something that’s a mix of two things: A walkthrough of the process of setting up an in-app survey, and an overview of the best practices to always keep in mind when doing so.
In other words, what follows is all the information you need to know to launch the first survey within your app.
So, let’s do it.
#1. Set clear goals for your survey
I know, you’ve probably heard the term “goals” enough for a lifetime while working on your product. But stick with me, please. Even though it may sound cliche, setting up clear goals really is the prerequisite for a successful survey.
You see, the most common thing we do when launching a survey is to pick a survey type. So, we log in to our in-app survey app of choice and we choose a template - NPS, CSAT, CES, or whatever else.
The thing is - That survey type might not be ideal to collect the insights we seek. And that’s not because there is something wrong with it! Not at all. It’s because without having clear goals, we don’t actually know what insights we need to collect.
Sure, we know what information surveys like NPS or CSAT deliver. But unless we’re absolutely certain that we can turn these insights into actionable data, our survey efforts will be in vain.
And again, the only way to know is to understand upfront why we want to run the survey.
Here are just some examples of goals our customers set for themselves, and use surveys to achieve:
To understand why their users churn
To fix user retention
To optimize user onboarding
To prioritize feature roadmap by user preferences
To learn how to enhance user engagement
To evaluate customer satisfaction and the potential for word-of-mouth growth,
To discover bugs or issues within the product, and more.
#2. Optimize survey design to match your brand
We’ve talked about the importance of survey design already but it being such an important element, it’s worth reiterating.
Your survey should always (and I do stress it, always) match your brand.
It might be tempting to style it with different colors, ones that contrast with your brand. It might be equally tempting to use different fonts, and change your tone of voice in the survey copy.
But the only thing that all of those changes will do is confuse your users, and make them more likely to click your survey off.
#3. Put effort into creating survey questions
I always tell our customers that the secret to writing in-app survey questions is simple - Your questions need to be relevant and in-context of the user experience to collect highly actionable insights.
Of course, this is only simple in theory. The situation is different when you sit down to write specific questions for your survey. Suddenly, your head fills in with questions like:
How specific should my question be?
How many words should I include?
Should I provide background information behind why I’m asking?
What tone of voice should I use?
Is jargon OK?
As you can imagine, there is no one-size-fits-all approach here. You need to approach each survey differently, and match the question to your objectives, and the specific audience segment.
Luckily, there is a workaround…
You see - You can also get Ai to help speed the process up.
Full disclaimer - This option isn’t available in most in-app survey tools.
But it is in 1Flow (disclaimer - as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, this is our product)
1Flow features the 1Flow AI, a feature that uses AI to automatically generate personalized surveys tailored to your specific needs.
With just a few clicks, you can create a survey containing multiple questions using the best-fit question type based on your objective and detailed needs for this survey. 1Flow AI will also tailor the language of the survey to a tone you select.
In short, with 1Flow AI, you can generate an in-app survey that follows all the best practices I describe in this article in just 5 seconds.
No joke. You can see it for yourself here:
#4. Target specific users that match your survey goals
We’ve briefly talked about segmentation already. But let me share some tips with you to help you make the most of this feature.
Typically, audience segmentation allows you to create a segment based on a specific criteria.
So, you can target users in a specific country. Or focus on new users only, and so on.
In 1Flow, however, you can go far beyond that and create segments that combine several criteria. So, your segment might not only contain people within a specific location. It can also filter that list further by events they performed within the app, or other traits.
(An example of additional criteria being added to an audience segment in 1Flow)
You can also combine that with other criteria, like a mobile operating system. In the example below, I’ve specified iOS as the operating system for the above segment.
#5. Set up precise triggers
Naturally, there is nothing wrong with launching the in-app survey right when a user opens up your app. But unless you want to collect general data, and perhaps achieve lower response rates, it’s rarely a good practice.
Instead, you need to plan when and where the user sees the survey. This way, you can match the survey objective to the context of the person’s actions within the app, and collect highly-relevant insights.
To do that, you need to specify a trigger that defines when and where the survey will launch.
For example, you could use an Event, such as a person visiting a specific page within the app (see the screenshot below).
Or you could launch a no-code trigger using the Page URL rule. In this case, the survey will launch when page loaded will match a URL pattern; or when the system detects an exit intent.
#6. Keep the whole survey short
I realize that this advice might sound like a no-brainer. That said, I constantly see companies launching long surveys and wondering why their response rates are so low. Hence me mentioning it here as well.
The rule of thumb is that the shorter your survey is, the more likely users are to complete it.
But naturally, short surveys aren’t always possible. Sometimes, meeting survey objectives require you to ask a couple of questions.
Luckily, there is a way to overcome this, boost the survey UX, and ensure that more users get to the end of the survey, and that way is to add a progress bar to the widget.
A progress bar is a visual indication of the effort required to complete the survey. It tells a user where they are, and how many steps are left for them to complete.
It looks like this:
In-app tools like 1Flow have this feature built in, and triggered on by default. Other tools might require you to trigger it manually in the survey settings.
(Progress bar setting in 1Flow)
What’s next?
We’ve covered everything there is to know about in-app surveys. So, naturally, if you’re interested in collecting user feedback from within the product, the next step is to launch your first survey.
Our product - 1Flow - has been built from ground up to help companies run even the most advanced in-app survey campaigns, and features an incredible set of capabilities for that:
Easy to use, no-code survey builder. Launch in-app surveys without needing a developer.
A whole library of templates, ready to use out-of-the-box
1Flow AI to help you automate survey creation with Ai
Follow-up questions and advanced survey logic
Reporting dashboard
Robust design customization
Audience segmentation, triggers, and advanced user targeting options, and more.
(Survey reporting dashboard in 1Flow)
Looking for an in-app survey solution?
Collecting customer insights for your product is important and will have significant impact on your business’s growth and retention – when done right.
You should take a look at all your options and go with what’s best for your business.
1Flow is free to start, with no credit card required and you can invite your entire team to explore this together.
We believe we’ve built the best tool in this space. If you are a product-focused company, we can confidently say 1Flow is likely the right choice.
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