The Link Platform
The Links platform generates a URL (link) that you can give to customers, allowing them to access your survey through a variety of interesting channels. For instance, you can include a Survey URL in existing emails, chat messages, or social media posts. You can also generate QR codes to share your survey on posters or on the last slide of a presentation.
In this section
- How the Links platform works
- Setting up the Links platform
- Generating QR codes
- Testing the Links platform
- Adding customer details and properties to Links
- FAQs: The Links platform
How the Links platform works
Delighted Links are short URLs that launch your survey. For example, this link (https://delighted.com/t/Bo5cKjF1) will launch the below survey:
Click here to take the survey!
Each link includes the core Delighted web address ( https://delighted.com ) and a unique identifier to your survey ( ex. Bo5cKjF ).
Embed the link wherever you'd like—hyperlinking text, linking specific buttons in an email, etc.— or post the full URL anywhere you need it. Link platform surveys follow the same flow as other platforms:
- Score selection
- Open-ended Comment
- Additional Questions
- Thank you page
You can also generate a QR code associated with each link, which makes sharing your survey on posters, presentations, and other visual media super easy! Read more about the QR code generation in Generating QR codes below.
Setting up the Links platform
To set up your survey link, navigate to the Platforms page by clicking “Survey people” and choosing "Set up" under the Link platform. You can then customize your survey (more information about what customization options are available can be found here). Note that once you've set up the Link platform, this button will say "Adjust settings" instead of "Set up."
After configuring your survey, Delighted immediately generates a link or URL. Click the icon to the right of the URL to copy it to your clipboard.
Already set up your Link survey, but interested in taking a look at or editing the customization? Not a problem! Simply click on the gear icon to the right of the Links platform and choose "Customize appearance."
Generating QR codes
Customers can scan your Delighted QR code with their smartphones. Once scanned, they will be redirected to their default browser, which will display the Delighted survey.
To download a QR code for your survey, simply choose your desired file type—PNG or SVG—from the Link platform settings page.
To adjust the size of the QR code, set the Property name Delighted_qr_png_size
to the number of pixels for the QR code image (always in square format).
Any properties added to the link from the Link settings page will also apply to the QR code that is generated. Read about passing properties to Links in Adding customer details and properties to Links.
Testing the Link platform
To test your Link survey, simply copy the link and paste it into your browser to take the survey.
Use a fresh, private browser or incognito each time you test your survey URL. This will help you avoid any cookie-based issues like overwriting of previous responses.
Adding properties and customer details to Links
There are two ways to add properties to Links to pass over customer details or other information with your survey responses:
- Setting properties within the platform: Any properties set on the Links platform page will be applied to every response associated with that Link. You should add properties here that apply to every response captured.
- Appending properties to the Link: Appending properties to the end of your Link allows you to set custom properties for every response. This option is best used when passing specific respondent information like name or email.
Need an overall refresher on properties before diving in? Head to section 5. Managing People and Properties.
Setting properties within the platform
If the desired property value is standard for everyone, you can easily set those properties in the platform. For example, to add properties for a specific location and product:
- On your Link page, click Add a property.
- Under Property Name, type in an overarching category, such as Product.
- Under Property Value, enter the individual value you'll be using to filter feedback, such as iPad.
- Under Property Name, enter Location.
- Under Property Value, enter a location, such as San Diego.
- Click “Save changes” to lock in those properties!
Keep in mind: every response submitted via this link will include these property values, so you won’t be able to differentiate between responses using this method. This strategy works best if you want to segment against another platform (like Email or Web), or if you currently only have one location and want to retain that detail.
Appending properties to the Link
A common use case for the Links platform is to include the survey in existing marketing emails, to add it to campaigns sent through Salesforce, or to embed it in your support agents’ email signatures. If you're considering dynamically updating properties in the Link (either to pass respondent information, to differentiate between different support agents, or to pass variables supported by the platform where you’re embedding the Link), you'll need to append the URL string with any required customer details.
There are two key elements to keep in mind when passing that customer data:
- Proper encoding of the URL string
- Correct structure for the name, email, and property parameters
Proper encoding of the URL string
Here are some important encoding tips to keep in mind when creating your appended links:
- The first parameter should start with `?`, while all subsequent parameters should start with `&`. For example: https://delighted.com/t/Bo5cKjF1?name=Sean&email=hello%40delighted.com
- All special characters should be encoded (ex. %40 is how to encode the @ symbol). You might consider using a URL encoder/decoder to help easily grab the correct encoding
Correct structure for the name, email, and property parameters
- Name: "name=sean"
- Email: "email=sean%40delighted.com" (%40 is how to encode the @ symbol).
- Properties: "propertyname=value" (ex. "Purchase Location" set to "Retail": "purchase_location=retail")
With all the above in mind, here is an example with the name set to Sean, email set to sean@delighted.com, and "purchase_location" set to "retail":
https://delighted.com/t/Bo5cKjF1?name=Sean&email=sean%40delighted.com&purchase_location=retail
Many third-party platforms include placeholders or "liquid variables" to pass over information such as recipient email and name. We suggest reaching out to your platform's support team to confirm what's available!
FAQs: The Link platform
In this section
- My responses keep overwriting themselves—what's going on?
- How can I get a link for each score?
- Can I embed the Link survey in my email signature?
My responses keep overwriting themselves—what's going on?
If you're seeing a single response that is being continually overwritten, there's a good chance that one of two things is occurring:
- The link being used is for the Comment page as opposed to the original link that Delighted generated. Be sure to only use the URL generated by Delighted and not the URL from your browser after clicking on the link.
- A cookie-related issue is causing responses to overwrite each other because multiple people are responding from the same device.
If you’re seeing Links responses overwriting each other, send our Customer Concierge team an email and we can help parse out that data and prevent it from overwriting in the future.
How can I get a link for each score?
In some cases, you might want to more closely mirror the standard Delighted email experience—which involves capturing the score immediately and then redirecting to the Comment page.
On your Link page, click on "Get individual links for each score" on the lower right-hand side of the page and use the icon to the right of the URL string to instantly copy each URL.
Each survey type has different score ranges. Customer Effort Score (CSAT), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), and 5-star stars are all in the range of 1-5. Net Promoter Score (NPS) is in the range of 0-10. If you pass a value outside of a survey type's range, we will present the end-user with an error.
Can I embed the Link in my email signature?
Yes!
Totally possible to do this using the individual score links. For a detailed walkthrough of how to set this up, visit our Email Signature Surveys article.