Integrations on your tool's page in Simplesat can write each response into that tool. We call that a writeback. It puts the feedback on the ticket, contact or record your team already works from.
Some writebacks fill in fields, some add a note or tags, and some create a new record. Most of the ones that fill in fields have a Field mapping table, where you choose which Simplesat value goes into each of your tool's fields.
How it works
You activate each integration on your tool's page on its own. Zendesk, for example, has Sync feedback to ticket custom fields and Add feedback to ticket as an internal note, and one can run while the other fails: the note lands on the ticket and the custom fields stay empty.
Note: Intercom's integrations that add notes, tags or attributes to a conversation are set up per survey, in the survey's Intercom settings. They run only when a survey card is answered inside an Intercom conversation. The ones that update the customer's contact or start a follow-up conversation are on the Intercom page under Integrations, and Intercom integrations walks through both.
Account-wide, survey and ticket integrations
Under Configure integrations, a tool's page lists what it offers under Account-wide integrations, Survey integrations and Ticket integrations. A group with nothing in it doesn't appear. Whatever the group, each integration is set up on that page, and Activate integration turns it on for your whole workspace.
Group | Works with | Runs on |
Account-wide integrations | The connection between Simplesat and your tool as a whole, not one survey's responses. A daily contact sync that brings the tool's contacts into Simplesat as customers works this way, and so does sending every response to a data warehouse such as BigQuery or Snowflake. | Most can't be limited to particular surveys, because they have no When should this integration run? setting. |
Survey integrations | Each response. One writes the customer's latest rating to their contact, and another creates a follow-up ticket from it. Contacts are usually looked up by the customer's email on the response. | Any survey, however it was sent. |
Ticket integrations | The ticket the response came from, found by the ticket ID on the survey link. Adding the response to the ticket as a note, tagging it and filling its fields are among the things they do. | Only surveys connected to the tool. |
A survey is connected when its delivery method is that tool, or when Connected service names the tool on an Event-based or Web-embed survey. If you're not sure which method a survey uses, Choosing a survey delivery method explains the options.
The integrations that send a survey when something happens in your tool, such as a ticket closing, sit under Account-wide integrations for some tools and Survey integrations for others.
Set up a writeback
On the Integrations page, open your tool.
Connect your tool if it isn't connected yet. Its integrations can't be activated until it is.
Under Configure integrations, find the integration and click Activate integration. The button changes to Deactivate integration.
If the integration has When should this integration run?, choose the surveys. Until you do, it runs for every survey.
If it has a Field mapping table, which appears once it's active, set each row and click Save under the table.
Testing an integration end to end shows how to check it works before you rely on it.
Choose which surveys it runs for
To run an integration for every survey, new ones included, choose Every response from all current and future surveys under When should this integration run?. On a ticket integration, the same choice reads Every response from Zendesk surveys, with your tool's name.
To pick surveys yourself, choose Let me choose. On integrations that filter by sentiment, you get a table of surveys with six switches each, marked with comment and without comment under a smiling, a neutral and a frowning face. A response counts as with comment when the customer answered the follow-up question. Each survey runs the integration only for the kinds of response you switch on. On other integrations, you get a Surveys list with one switch per survey, and only the surveys you switch on run it.
Every switch starts off, including the ones for surveys you create later. These settings need an active integration and a connected tool. Integrations without When should this integration run? run for every survey.
On a survey whose delivery method is your tool, Publish has a Configure integrations button under Connect responses directly with tickets. It opens Ticket integrations on your tool's page. Intercom surveys don't have it.
Field mapping
Each row in the table is one of your tool's fields, labeled with its type, such as Number. For each row, pick an Action. It decides what you set in Field value:
Ignore leaves the field alone.
Use data from response fills it with a Simplesat value, which you find by searching the list.
Type a value fills it with the same text every time.
Select a value sets one of the field's own options. It's there when the field has a list of options.
Lookup searches your tool's own values, on fields that offer it.
Choice (Rating), Sentiment and Follow Up Answer in Use data from response are the rating, sentiment and comment of the question your metric rating comes from. Some older integrations call them Answers Choice, Answers Sentiment and Answers Follow Up Answer. The list also has the response's other details, such as the survey name, the ticket, the team member and the customer.
To map another question's answer, search the list for the survey's name. Each question in it has its own entries, such as Customer survey / How did we do? / Choice. They end in Choice, Choice Label, Sentiment, Follow-up Answer, or Comment for a comment box question.
A warning triangle marks a field your tool requires for this update. Give that row a value rather than Ignore.
Lookup works only while the integration is deactivated. To use it on an active integration:
Click Deactivate integration.
Run the lookup.
Click Save under the table. The integration reads Active again, but Simplesat doesn't send it responses yet.
Click Deactivate integration, then Activate integration.
Heads up: Responses that arrive while the integration is off aren't sent to it when you turn it back on. Keep the gap short.
The table reads your tool's fields each time the integration's page loads, so it has a row for each field on that record, custom fields included. One mapping covers every survey the integration runs for.
Zendesk's Sync feedback to ticket custom fields has an Auto configure fields setting, which is on by default. While it's on, the integration creates its own Simplesat fields in Zendesk, writes to those and ignores the table. Turn it off to use your own mapping. Zendesk integrations covers the fields it creates.
Simplesat doesn't check whether a value suits its field. Your tool checks when Simplesat writes. All mapped values arrive in one update, so if your tool rejects one, the whole update may fail and leave every field unchanged. To avoid that:
Map the rating to a number field, and the sentiment and comment to text fields.
Map dates to date-and-time fields. A date from Simplesat includes the time, and a date-only field can refuse it.
Set a field with a list of options with Select a value or Lookup. It accepts only those options.
Integrations without a Field mapping table
Integrations that add a note or comment, add tags or write a rating have no table, because what they write is fixed. Their only setting, if they have one, is which surveys they run for.
A note shows the rating with an emoji beside it, followed by every other question and its answer as plain text. A note integration adds a new note each time it runs. A later answer, a rating change or a re-run can each add another note to the same ticket.
Tag integrations add tags made from the rating and the sentiment.
HubSpot's Create custom objects from feedback writes to a custom object that you create in HubSpot before you turn the integration on. Every run adds a new record to it. HubSpot integrations lists the object and its properties.
When a writeback runs
A new response appears in Simplesat right away. Its writebacks wait at least five minutes, then usually finish within a minute. Each writeback reads the response as it stands at that point, which means a comment the customer adds during the wait goes in the same update.
If a later answer, such as a comment, comes in after the writebacks have run, most of them run again after the same five-minute wait. The exceptions are integrations that start when a response is created, such as several older Freshdesk and Autotask integrations and most that create a follow-up record. Those don't run again for later answers.
Changing a response's rating in Simplesat runs most of its writebacks again right away. A rating changed through the API runs none.
An integration writes only the responses that arrive while it's active.
Hidden and spam responses never run integrations. A withheld response waits until it's released. Then the integrations on your tool's page that are active at that moment write it back right away. Intercom's writebacks aren't run for it.
Why a writeback doesn't reach your tool
Simplesat doesn't show whether a writeback reached your tool. When one didn't, check these first.
A ticket integration needs the ticket ID on the survey link. Without it, there's no ticket to write to. The placeholder that carries the ID differs by tool, and Placeholders and merge fields gives the one for yours.
A contact integration needs the response to identify the contact, usually by the customer's email. Without that, nothing is written to a contact.
Your tool can refuse to update a ticket it has locked, and running the integration again won't change that. In Zendesk, a Closed ticket refuses updates and a Solved one doesn't. If Zendesk's Modify closed ticket setting is on, a Closed ticket still accepts tags and text fields, but not an internal note. Feedback that arrives after a ticket is locked stays in Simplesat.
Warning: Revoke access turns off every integration for the tool, including its contact sync and any integration that sends surveys. They stay off when you connect again, so click Activate integration on each one. Their settings and mappings are kept.
If none of these fits, send us the response's link from Simplesat. For a response from the last 30 days, we can read the integration's log, tell you what your tool answered, and re-run it once the cause is fixed.
Move to a newer version of an integration
A tool's page can list an older integration, marked deprecated, next to a newer one that does the same thing. If both are on, both write. Nothing carries over between them. Set up the newer one's mapping first, then turn the older one off.
Some older integrations are listed only while they're active, and once deactivated, or turned off by Revoke access, they disappear from the page for good. If you're not sure which of the two holds your mapping, contact us before you deactivate either.
To start an integration over, turn it off and click Reset integration, which shows on any integration that has been on before.
Warning: A reset puts every setting back to its default, mapping included, and it can't be undone.
Troubleshooting
Feedback arrives in Simplesat, but nothing is written back to my tool
Check these in order:
Wait at least five minutes after the response arrived, plus about a minute for the integration to run.
Check that the integration shows Deactivate integration, which means it's active. If someone clicked Revoke access, every integration for the tool is off. Connecting again doesn't turn them back on, so click Activate integration on each one.
If it's set to Let me choose, check that the switch covering this response is on. That's the survey's switch, or on integrations that filter by sentiment, the switch for the response's sentiment and whether it has a comment.
For a ticket integration, check that the survey is connected to that tool and that the survey link carried the ticket ID.
For a contact integration, check that the response identifies the contact, usually by the customer's email.
Check that the response arrived while the integration was active, and that it isn't hidden, withheld or spam.
If all of these hold, the update most likely failed on your tool's side, for example because the ticket was locked, a value didn't suit its field or your tool took too long to answer. Send us the response's link from Simplesat, and for a response from the last 30 days we can read the integration's log and re-run it.
My custom fields exist in my tool, but they aren't in the Field mapping table
The table reads your tool's fields each time the integration's page loads, so a custom field you created after connecting your tool appears once you reload the page. If it's still missing after a reload, it doesn't exist on that record in your tool yet. Create it there, then reload the page.
Intercom's attribute mapping is different. The rating lists only number attributes, and the sentiment and the comment list only text or list attributes, so check the type of a missing attribute or click Resync Intercom fields to read your attributes again. Intercom integrations has the full setup.
The integration is on and permissions are fine, but my fields aren't updating
On Zendesk, check Auto configure fields in Sync feedback to ticket custom fields. While it's on, the integration writes to its own Simplesat fields and ignores the Field mapping table. Turn it off to use your mapping.
If none of your fields update, your tool may be refusing the whole update over one value. Check that:
Each row's value suits its field: a number field for the rating, text fields for the sentiment and the comment, a date-and-time field for dates, and Select a value or Lookup for a field with a list of options.
No row with the warning triangle is set to Ignore. Those fields are required.
You clicked Save under the table.
The ticket isn't one your tool has locked.
If some fields update and others don't, check the Action and Field value of the rows that don't.
Some responses are written back and some aren't
Look for what the missing ones have in common:
Under Let me choose, only surveys with a switch on run the integration, and every switch starts off, including those for new surveys.
On integrations that filter by sentiment, a response runs it only if the switch for its sentiment, with or without comment, is on. Negative responses without a comment, for example, can be left out.
Responses that arrived while the integration was off aren't written back when it's turned back on.
Hidden and spam responses don't run integrations. A withheld response is written back by the integrations on your tool's page when it's released.
A ticket integration runs only for surveys connected to its tool.
A response that doesn't identify the contact, usually by the customer's email, writes nothing to a contact, and one whose link carried no ticket ID writes nothing to a ticket.
A ticket your tool had already locked can't be updated, such as a Zendesk ticket that's Closed. If Zendesk's Modify closed ticket is on, tags and text fields still go through, but internal notes don't.
Writing feedback back is changing something else in my helpdesk
A writeback is an update to a record in your tool, so your tool's own rules for updates, such as assignment, notifications or SLA timers, may run on it. Whether they do is set in your tool.
My tool returned an error and I don't know what it means
Simplesat doesn't show errors from your tool. Send us the response's link from Simplesat, and for a response from the last 30 days we can read the integration's log, tell you what your tool answered, and re-run it once the cause is fixed. For what a particular message means, see Integration error messages and what they mean.
The writeback creates a record, but it's almost empty
The integration that creates the record decides what goes in it. Creating a follow-up ticket from feedback explains what a follow-up record contains.
A field shows a warning icon that never clears
The triangle marks a field your tool requires for this update. It stays after you set a value, and it isn't an error.
Only the answer to one question came through
In an integration with a Field mapping table, you can map the other questions' answers yourself. Search Use data from response for the survey's name, and pick the entry for the question and value you want. A note carries every answer: the rating with an emoji beside it, then each other question and its answer.
The Use data from response list is empty, even after I sent the webhook
An integration with a Webhook URL setting starts when your tool calls that URL. Its Use data from response list holds the fields of whatever your tool sends, not Simplesat's values. To fill it, tell us the names of the fields your tool sends, and we'll add them. Or ask us to read them from one example request, then send that request from your tool to the Webhook URL.
FAQ
Is writing feedback back to the ticket still supported?
Yes. The integrations on your tool's page in Simplesat write each response into your tool. If one that used to write has stopped, check whether it's still active. After Revoke access, every integration for the tool is off, and connecting again doesn't turn them back on. Click Activate integration on each one.
Can I map more fields, or map to my own custom fields?
Yes. The Field mapping table reads your tool's fields each time the integration's page loads, so it has a row for every field on that record, standard and custom. A field still missing after a reload has to be created in your tool first. Set any row to Use data from response to fill it with a Simplesat value, including the answer to each of the survey's questions. Integrations without a table write a set of values the integration chooses.
Is there a limit on how many custom fields a writeback can fill?
No. You can fill every row in the Field mapping table. It has a row for each field on that record in your tool, custom fields included.
Can I change the format of the note or record we receive?
There's no setting that changes a note. It shows the rating with an emoji beside it, then every other question and its answer. What goes into a follow-up record depends on the integration that creates it. If you mean the emails Simplesat sends your team, see Notifications.
Where is the resync fields button?
Integrations on your tool's page don't have one. Reloading the integration's page reads your tool's fields again. Intercom's conversation attribute mapping, in a survey's Intercom settings, has Resync Intercom fields, which reads your current Intercom attributes.
Do I need to choose every survey in the mapping, or does one mapping cover all surveys?
One mapping covers every survey the integration runs for. You pick those surveys under When should this integration run?. Every response from all current and future surveys includes all of them, new ones too, and Let me choose includes only the ones you switch on.
What should the rating and the comment be mapped to?
Map your tool's rating field to Choice (Rating), its sentiment field to Sentiment and its comment field to Follow Up Answer. On some older integrations, they're named Answers Choice, Answers Sentiment and Answers Follow Up Answer. Use a number field for the rating and text fields for the sentiment and the comment. The sentiment is positive, neutral or negative.
Do I have to create the topics or tags in my helpdesk before I turn on that integration?
No. Gladly's Add topics to conversation after receiving feedback adds a topic for the response's sentiment, and if Gladly doesn't have that topic yet, it creates it: Simplesat - positive sentiment, Simplesat - neutral sentiment or Simplesat - negative sentiment. The tag integrations for Gorgias and Keap also create their tags when they're missing. These topics and tags come from the rating and the sentiment, not from the topics Simplesat finds in comments.