Automating Text Insertion in Questions with the Recall Information Feature

As purveyors of automated surveys, we’re thrilled to share that we offer the Recall Information feature for survey creation so that researchers can enhance their surveys without using manual labor. 

That’s because this feature automates the text that a respondent provided to a question by then inserting it into the following relevant question.

This feature has various applications and purposes that augment the survey creation and survey participation processes.

Although we’ve had this feature for the longest time, we are now offering it with a new enhancement: the capability of researchers to select a specific statement from matrices to recall text to another question.

This article explains the Recall Information feature, its importance, its applications, where to use it and how it works with an example. 

Understanding the Recall Information Feature

The Recall Information feature allows you to automate text in your survey questions. While most of its functionality occurs in the questionnaire, it can also be applied to the Results pages (more on this in the section below).  

Specifically, this feature allows you to insert, or “pipe,” answer text from a previous question into a following question. You can also apply this function to screening questions.

The text you pipe will be presented within an upcoming question, typically on another page in the survey. This text is partial, meaning that it is only a component of a question, typically used to refer back to what the respondent already answered. 

Here’s a Recall Information example:

Question: What’s your name?

Answer: Micah

Using the Recall information feature, the respondent Micah will then see this in the following question:

Question: Great Micah! Shall we get started?

Answer option: Continue

As you can see, the respondent in this scenario, “Micah,” was routed to this specific next question, which contains the text she entered, as it was inserted due to the use of the Recall Information feature. 

Where to Use the Recall Information Feature

As aforementioned, this handy feature doesn’t solely exist in the questionnaire section of your survey when you make your own survey on the Pollfish platform. 

Instead, it has various applications and applicability. You’ll find it on the three key stages of the Pollfish survey-building process: the Audience page, the Questionaire and the Results page.

The following lays out its role in each of these pages.

The Audience Page

The Recall Information feature works in the Audience Page on screening questions and by using previous screening questions.

The Questionnaire Page 

The Recall Information feature can be used with most question types, doing so by recalling, or piping information from the Audience section and its screening questions 

You can add this feature to a question by using the question settings menu or by using the @ symbol as a shortcut to access this feature.

The Results Page 

In the Results page, the question that contains the piped information should appear with the question that was recalled as a placeholder. Answer filtering in this case will work as usual.

All exports work as normal, as well.

Using Carry Forward within the Recall Information Feature

Remember when we introduced the Carry Forward feature? This was an extension of the piping capability, or an extension of the Recall Information feature, as it works by carrying forward, or piping, answers from the answers that were previously piped. With the Recall Information functionality, you are going to pipe answers to the following question prompt (from a previous question’s answer). 

The Importance of the Recall Information Feature

This feature is important for various reasons. 

First off, it makes question-building an easier task for the researchers, as they won’t need to manually type in text from previous answers. This would be nearly impossible unless you’re tracking the answers of every respondent as they’re typing them in.

Next, it creates a more advanced survey experience for the respondents regarding the questionnaire. They won’t have to answer the same question more than once (or a very similar one either), as their answers will be piped to a different, following question,

In addition, by recalling information to questions that follow, this feature enables the survey to be extremely relevant and lively for the respondents. 

Thus, seeing information that they referred to previously, provides a more interactive experience, as if the survey were a person listening and jotting down respondents’ answers before asking new questions. 

Moreover, this feature is critical, as it provides a means of making the survey personalized for the survey-takers. Marketing personalization is a must, especially if you use your brand name and likeness in your survey. No one likes to be marketed to, especially with generic content. 

Instead, your survey becomes far more personalized, in that it uses your respondents’ answers in follow-up questions. It shows the respondents you’re paying attention to them and your survey is referring specifically to their responses, which can include their names, wants, needs and virtually anything else.  

Additionally, by creating a personalized and interactive experience, this feature helps ward off boredom. Boredom gives rise to various problems, such as accurately answering questions, thereby contributing to survey bias.

At worst, bored or tired respondents will leave your survey. Thus, by reducing boredom by using this feature, you can also prevent survey attrition. By keeping attrition at bay, you’ll reach your required number of completed surveys sooner, saving you and your team time. 

All in all, the benefits of the Recall Information feature are manifold; you should use it with your survey research whenever possible. 

An Example of the Recall Information Feature

Here’s an example of how you can use Recall and Carry Forward responses to ask follow-up questions about the choices that your respondents made. As you can see, it involves working through multiple questions. 

This example digs into the customer buying behavior of brands that sell ice cream.

Question 1: Create a multiple-choice question to ask respondents which ice cream brand(s) is their favorite kind.

Answers: Multiple-choice, single selection, each representing an ice cream brand

Then, the answer to this question gets piped to the next question, AKA, Question 2. In Question 2, respondents are prompted to answer more about the choice they’ve selected in Question 1.

Thus, Question 2, with Recall Information would ask:

Question 2: What do you like the most about (Answer to Question 1) ice cream?

Answers: Multiple-choice, single selection, each representing a reason behind choosing said ice cream brand. Ex: consistency, affordability, flavor choices, etc.

Question 3: Create a multiple-choice question and carry forward the answer choices that the survey takers did not select. Ask them to explain why they haven’t purchased those brands.

Answers: Multiple-choice, single selection, each representing an ice cream brand not chosen

Recall Information for Matrices

Finally, we arrive at our latest enhancement to the Recall Information feature. In this latest iteration, the researcher can select an answer from a specific statement to recall from a Matrix question.

This can be used with:

1. Single Matrix
2. Multiple Matrix
3. BiPolar Matrix
4. Van Westendorp Pricing Meter

With this feature, you can easily select a specific statement from different matrices to recall / pipe text to another question.

Forming Valuable Questions

As you may have gathered, there are various ways to use this feature and we’re thrilled to add a new extension to it. 

It’ll enable you to better automate your survey, as well as create a more personalized and interactive experience for your respondents.

However, the effectiveness of your survey is dependent on the online survey platform you use. You wouldn’t want to deal with slow or subpar data.

Therefore select your market research platform carefully. 

A strong market research company will allow you to fulfill all of your online market research activities. This includes all the activities mentioned in this article and beyond.

The Pollfish online survey platform allows you to create a thorough survey data collection, one you can customize to your liking, view however you choose and organize as you prefer.

We also offer another critical feature for building your surveys: the advanced skip logic feature, which routes respondents to relevant follow-up questions based on their previous answers. 

With such a multi-functional survey platform, you’ll be able to form valuable questions to your market research campaign and reap high-quality data.