You can append data to your survey results using pass-through variables in the survey link (URL). Use variables to automatically include data you already know about your respondents so you can use it in your results. Variables can also be used to pipe data and customize the survey for each respondent.

Best Practices

Before building your survey, decide what variables you want to pass through the survey link and map them out so you can pipe them into questions.

For example, imagine you own a car dealership and want to email your customer list. In your database you have each customer's vehicle make, model, and purchase type (lease vs. purchase), and you want to use this information without asking for it in the survey. Variables passed through the URL should be named with "var" at the beginning — in this example, you would use varmake, var_model, and varpurch.

To target Chevy Avalanche leasers, append this to your List Survey URL:

?varmake=Chevy&var_model=AVALANCHE&varpurch=lease

Pipe Appended Data into a Survey

Use pass-through variables to pipe data into a survey using aytm logic. Below is an example of piping customer vehicle information into survey questions (options for varpurch are "buy" or "lease").

Creating and Previewing Appended URLs

Now that you have your variables mapped and applied in piping logic, create the URL and test it in preview mode. Click the share survey icon and find the preview link.

Copy the link and paste it somewhere so you can add the variables to the end. Using the car dealership example, the link would look like this:

https://aytm.com/{yoursurveyURL}?varmake=Chevy&var_model=AVALANCHE&varpurch=lease

Basic URL Formatting

The basic format to include after your survey's URL is:

?var{variable name}={variable value}

?var{first variable name}={first variable value}&var{second variable name}={second variable value}

If you have more than one variable, use & between them. There should be no spaces in the URL string. After creating the appended URL, paste it in your browser to check that everything works as expected.

This is how it will appear to respondents:

Interpreting Variables in the Data

The variables you create by passing them through the URL will be available on your results for use in filtering, Virtual Questions, and in data exports.

In addition to using pass-through variables for information you know about your customers, you can also use them to track where respondents clicked to enter your List Survey (e.g. from social media, your own website, etc.):

https://aytm.com/{yoursurveyURL}?var_source=Instagram

Using Your CRM to Pass Variables Through the Survey URL

The examples above assume you are manually creating survey links with variables specific to your customer segments. Although aytm does not integrate directly with CRM functions, if you use a CRM to distribute your survey links, you may be able to leverage existing fields/variables in your CRM to automatically append those values to aytm survey links in the body of your messages.

💡 Tip: You can also append data after the survey completes using the Custom Variable Upload feature.