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When a survey does not send

Find out why a survey didn't send, and what to check before you contact support.

Where to look for a missing survey depends on whether Simplesat or your tool sends it.

How it works

Simplesat sends the email for One-off, Ongoing and Event-based surveys, including when an integration emails the survey. Every email Simplesat sends or holds back has a row on the survey's Email activity tab.

Your tool sends the survey when the survey is embedded in your tool's own email or notification, when an integration posts it in a chat, in-app or text message, and in Intercom Messenger. Simplesat has no record of those sends, but your tool's logs do.

A web embed survey appears on your site or in your app when the visitor and the page match its rules. If one doesn't appear, see Web embed surveys.

For a survey Simplesat sends, check in this order:

  1. Feedback still arriving from that tool. That feedback can come from emails sent before the survey stopped, or from other surveys in the same tool, so it doesn't confirm this survey is still sending.

  2. The integration: on, with a survey chosen.

  3. Refused requests.

  4. Held-back emails.

  5. A Delay the email is waiting out.

  6. A paused Ongoing survey.

  7. The address the email went to.

  8. The link in the email.

  9. Withheld responses.

For a survey your tool sends, start with your tool's logs and automation, then check the integration, the link and withheld responses.

Check the integration

Open Integrations in the main navigation and choose your tool. To open a tool's page and switch its integrations on or off, you need the Manage integrations permission. Owner and Admin have it by default, and a custom role can be given it.

An integration that's on shows Deactivate integration, and one that's off shows Activate integration. If the button is disabled with "You need to authenticate with Syncro before enabling any integrations.", connect the tool first.

An integration goes off only when someone clicks Deactivate integration, or clicks Revoke access, which turns off every integration for that tool. A superseded integration that's off disappears from the page.

Activating an integration doesn't choose a survey, and it sends nothing until one is chosen:

  1. Click Activate integration.

  2. Choose the survey in Survey. An integration that emails the survey uses an Event-based survey.

  3. Save your changes.

Heads up: Reset integration can't be undone. It deletes the integration's settings, including the survey in Survey, so afterward you'll need to activate the integration, choose the survey again and save. The Front, Aircall, Twilio, Quo, Crisp and CloudRadial integrations also get a new Webhook URL when you activate them again, so paste it into your tool in place of the old one.

An integration can still show as authenticated after your tool stops accepting its login. If you suspect that, see Integration error messages and what they mean.

Removing a survey's delivery method also stops integrations from running for it, though customers can still respond.

Each integration has its own trigger and checks, and your tool's integration article lists them. Most send when your tool reports the event, such as a ticket closing, and a few check your tool on a schedule. Some check a ticket's status by name, so a ticket closed under a differently named status gets no survey. Most integrations that email the survey send one per ticket or conversation, so a reopened ticket doesn't get a second, and testing again takes a new ticket, as Testing an integration end to end describes.

The integration emails the ticket's contact, requester or customer, depending on the tool. If that person has no email address, nothing goes out, and nothing is recorded in Simplesat or in your tool.

You can change settings such as Survey on the integration's page. For anything you can't change there, send support the survey and what you'd like changed.

Requests Simplesat refuses

When an integration or your own system asks for an Event-based survey email, the request is refused and nothing goes out if:

  • the survey is archived or deleted

  • the survey's close date has passed

  • the subscription isn't active or in a trial

  • the request has no valid email address, including a field holding more than one

If your own system sends the requests, leave out any field you have no value for, because a field sent empty gets the request refused. Only the email address is required.

A refused request leaves no row in Email activity. It isn't kept either, so restoring the survey or reactivating the subscription won't send what was refused in the meantime. Your own system gets a reply saying why. When an integration made the request, the reply goes to the integration, and support can read the integration's log.

Emails Simplesat holds back

An accepted request can still end in an email held back when it's due. The email then has a row in Email activity with the reason. That happens when:

  • the customer unsubscribed

  • the subscription became inactive

  • the workspace, on a trial, reached its daily limit

  • the survey was archived, or stopped being Event-based, by the time the email was due

  • the customer was sent this survey within its Suppression period (initial emails only)

  • a follow-up rule stopped a follow-up

**Suppression** counts only initial emails Simplesat has sent for the same survey to the same address. An email that was held back or failed doesn't start a suppression period.

A workspace on a trial can send 50 survey emails a day, follow-ups included, and the Delivery panel shows the limit next to Upgrade your account. Past the limit, an Event-based email is held back with "Daily email delivery amount reached limit." A One-off or Ongoing send stops at the limit, and the customers after it get no row. Surveys your tool sends don't count toward the limit.

Emails waiting out a delay

An Event-based survey's Delay is set in hours on its Delivery panel and makes the email wait that long after the trigger. Until the email goes or is held back, it has no row in Email activity. Support can confirm whether a particular email is waiting.

Some integrations have a delay setting of their own as well, such as Gladly's Email delay in hours and Shopify's Delay (days). If yours has one, check both.

Ongoing surveys paused after a subscription lapse

If a subscription is canceled or a payment fails, and it's still inactive after a waiting period, Ongoing email surveys switch to Paused. Resubscribing doesn't switch them back. For each one:

  1. Open the survey.

  2. Choose Set Live.

Set Live is available once changes are saved, the survey has at least one audience rule and its expiration settings are valid.

Surveys sent to a different address

Email activity shows the address each email went to. Simplesat sends to exactly the address in the request. A company or billing address is a different field, and no integration falls back to another address.

On a current integration that emails the survey, you can't change that field on its page. Support can check which field yours reads and change it.

Surveys sent with a link that fails

Links work only with ticket IDs made of letters, digits, underscores, periods and hyphens. If your own system sends the requests, keep ticket IDs to those characters. Simplesat accepts any other character, such as a space, slash, #, @ or colon, without an error, and the links break. The rating links then open a page that says "There's no rating to provide at this URL.", and the link to the survey itself shows a plain not-found error.

A link to an archived or deleted survey gets the same page, including links already pasted into your tool's templates and the one an integration holds. So does an Event-based survey's link pasted into your tool's template, because that link works only from the email Simplesat sends. If you've changed a survey's delivery method, Choosing a survey delivery method explains what that does to links you've already pasted.

A ticket ID placeholder your tool doesn't fill in can break the links too. For what happens with any other unfilled placeholder, see Placeholders and merge fields.

Responses that arrive but are withheld

A survey can send and the customer can answer, yet nothing reaches your tool. On an active or trial subscription, responses past your plan's monthly response limit are withheld. On any other status, every new response is. A banner such as "12 new feedback withheld" shows this, with Upgrade to view. Withheld responses don't run integrations. Once they're released, the integrations on the Integrations page run for them. Intercom's own integrations don't.

What support can check

Support can check the integration's log for the last 30 days, whether a delayed email is waiting, and which field an integration reads. Send:

  • the tool

  • the survey name

  • one ticket or conversation ID that should have been surveyed

  • the date it last worked

For a question about a response, add the response's link from Simplesat.

Troubleshooting

Surveys stopped sending after I switched to the updated integration

The current integration starts with no survey chosen, so choose one in Survey and save. Turning it on doesn't turn off the superseded one, and with both on, a ticket can get two surveys. The current integration can also read a different record. The superseded Syncro integration emails the Syncro customer record, and the current one emails the ticket's contact. Check the addresses on the first few sends in Email activity.

My survey goes to the wrong email address

Email activity shows the address each email went to. Simplesat sends to the address the integration passes, taken from the ticket's contact, requester or customer. A company or billing address is a different field, and there's no fallback. To change which field the integration reads, send support one ticket ID where it went wrong.

Some of my surveys send and some don't, with no pattern I can see

These apply ticket by ticket:

  • most integrations that email the survey send one per ticket, so a reopened ticket doesn't get another

  • the contact has no email address

  • the ticket closed under a status with a different name

  • the customer got this survey within its Suppression period

  • the customer unsubscribed

  • the workspace, on a trial, hit its daily limit

Email activity shows the reason on each held-back email. If a ticket has no row, its request was refused, the email is still waiting out the survey's Delay, or the integration never asked.

A survey went out when my rules say it shouldn't have

Unless your tool's own automation sends the survey, the integration's trigger and checks decide, not the rules in your tool. Suppression works per survey and per email address. If a superseded and a current integration are both on, each one sends. Rather than changing your rules, send support the ticket ID. Support can change the integration's conditions.

Check the ticket IDs first. A space, slash, #, @ or colon breaks the links, and the rating links open a page that says "There's no rating to provide at this URL." You'll see that page too from a link to an archived or deleted survey, and from an Event-based survey's link pasted into your tool's template. A ticket ID placeholder your tool doesn't fill in can also break the links, and Placeholders and merge fields covers what happens with each unfilled placeholder.

My PSA isn't sending the survey to my clients

  1. Check whether any feedback from the PSA is still arriving. Responses to earlier emails can arrive after new survey emails have stopped.

  2. On the integration's page, check that it shows Deactivate integration and has a survey in Survey.

  3. Check that the ticket closed under the status name the integration looks for, and that its contact has an email address.

  4. Find the client in Email activity.

I get an error when I activate the automatic send on ticket closure

The message comes from your tool or the integration platform. Activating an integration that sends on a ticket event, such as a ticket closing, creates a webhook in your tool, so the user you connected your tool with needs permission to manage webhooks there. Which permission depends on the tool. Look up the exact message in Integration error messages and what they mean.

It was working and stopped, and I didn't change anything

Open the integration's page. If it shows Activate integration, someone deactivated it or revoked the tool's access. The audit log won't show either. Activate it again, connecting the tool first if its access was revoked. A revoke turns off every integration for the tool, so check its other integrations too. Tickets that closed while it was off don't get a survey once it's back on. Then check for:

  • an Ongoing survey switched to Paused after a subscription lapse, which resubscribing doesn't undo

  • a survey close date that passed, which stops the emails Simplesat sends, though your tool can keep sending links

  • an ended trial, which stops every survey email and withholds new responses

  • a status renamed in your tool, or tickets with no contact

  • your tool no longer accepting the integration's login, in which case the integration stays on but its runs fail

If none of these fits, send support the tool and the date it last worked.

It worked for a few days after I turned it on, then stopped

Check whether:

  • your trial ended, which stops every survey email

  • your workspace hit the trial's daily limit of 50 emails

  • the survey's close date passed

If none of these fits, your tool may have stopped accepting the integration's login, even though the integration still shows as on. See Integration error messages and what they mean.

I've set everything up and the trigger fires, but no survey arrives

The trigger firing shows your tool made the request, not that Simplesat sent the email. Find the customer in Email activity. A held-back row shows the reason. No row means the request was refused, the email is waiting out a Delay, or the integration never asked because the ticket was already surveyed, had no email address or closed under another status name. Your own system has Simplesat's reply. For an integration, ask support. A sent row means the email left Simplesat. From there, check for a bounce or the customer's spam folder, both covered in Email activity and delivery tracking.

I haven't had any responses from this channel for days

  1. Check whether any feedback is arriving at all.

  2. Look for a banner such as "12 new feedback withheld".

  3. Check the integration's page and your subscription.

  4. For a survey your tool sends, check your tool's logs.

I can't tell which ticket a send belongs to

Email activity and its export don't show the ticket ID. Support can find the ticket for a send.

FAQ

Will a survey send if the conversation has several participants, no agent reply, or is very short?

The integrations Simplesat provides don't check participants, agent replies or conversation length. On phone calls, the Gladly integration that sends on conversation closure surveys a call only when it has a recording, and the Quo integration surveys only answered calls. When your tool's own automation sends the survey, its rules decide. For Intercom, see Intercom integrations.

Can you check whether a survey was sent for a specific ticket?

For a survey Simplesat sends, Email activity lists each customer's email but not the ticket ID, so send support the ticket ID and they can check. For a survey your tool sends, your tool's logs have it.

Is there an error log for this integration that I can see myself?

No. No page shows integration runs or their errors, and a response's Notes and events have no integration events. The audit log records when an integration is authenticated or activated. It doesn't record one being turned off, reset or having its access revoked, and it records no survey sends. Support can read the integration's log, including which integrations ran on a response.

Which surveys went out, to whom, and how many were opened and answered?

For surveys Simplesat sends, use the survey's Email activity tab, which Email activity and delivery tracking walks through.

For surveys your tool sends, your tool's logs have the sends.

How do I know the survey is live and sending?

An integration that's on has a Deactivate integration button and the survey chosen in Survey. An Ongoing survey that's on is marked Live, not Paused. None of that means an email went out. To see what did, check the survey's Email activity tab for a survey Simplesat sends, or your tool's logs for one your tool sends.

Is the integration on a schedule, and how long until the survey goes out?

Most integrations send when your tool reports the event. Some check your tool on a schedule instead. The Syncro integration, the Gorgias integration that emails the survey and the Cliniko integration check every 60 minutes. The current Shopify integration checks once a day, and the Decagon integration checks on a schedule too. After that comes the Event-based survey's Delay, plus any delay setting the integration has. Writing feedback back into your tool has its own timing, set out in Writing feedback back, and mapping the fields.

Can you tell me why it stopped, so we can stop it happening again?

Simplesat doesn't show why an integration stopped, but support can read its log and tell you what failed, so you know what to change. The log keeps only the last 30 days. Send the tool, one ticket ID and the date it last worked soon after you notice.

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