Before publishing a survey, it is important to test the complete respondent experience to make sure that the survey works as expected across different devices, languages, access settings, and response scenarios. A thorough test can help identify issues with survey logic, mandatory questions, translations, contact properties and the overall survey behaviour before responses are collected.

Preview Your Survey

Use the Preview option to review how the survey will appear to respondents before publishing it.

Test the survey on both:

• Desktop: Check the overall layout, question display, navigation, buttons, images, and text alignment.
• Mobile: Verify that questions, answer choices, images, and navigation elements are displayed correctly on smaller screens.

Always test the survey on both desktop and mobile, especially if a large portion of your respondents are expected to complete it on mobile devices.

Test Every Logic Path

If your survey contains any logic, test every possible respondent path.

For example, if selecting one answer sends respondents to a particular question while another answer skips it, test both scenarios to make sure the correct questions are displayed.

Check that:

• Respondents are routed to the intended questions.
• Questions are not unintentionally skipped.
• No respondent gets stuck in the survey.
• The survey reaches the correct ending or submission point.
• Different combinations of responses produce the expected flow.

Validate Mandatory Questions

Test all questions marked as mandatory to make sure respondents cannot proceed without providing the required response.

Also verify that:

• Mandatory questions are displayed when expected.
• Required fields do not become inaccessible because of survey logic.
• Appropriate validation messages appear when a required response is missing.
• The respondent can proceed after providing a valid answer.

Check Translations

If your survey is available in multiple languages, switch between the configured languages and review the complete survey.

Check:

• Question and answer text.
• Buttons and navigation labels.
• Validation and error messages.

A survey can look correct in the default language but have text overflow, missing translations, or layout issues in another language. Test each enabled language before publishing.

Verify Metadata and Contact Properties

If your survey uses Survey Metadata or Contact Properties, verify that the expected values are being passed and displayed correctly.

Test scenarios where applicable to make sure:

• The correct contact information is available.
• Metadata values are mapped correctly.
• Pipe Text or personalized content displays the expected value.
• Logic based on contact properties or metadata behaves correctly.
• Missing or empty values do not cause an unexpected survey experience.

Test Email Invitations and Rendering

If the survey will be distributed through email, send a test invitation and review the email before launching the campaign.

Check the email on different devices or email clients where possible and verify:

• Template Design
• Subject line.
  
• Survey link.
• Personalized content.
• Images and formatting.
• Buttons and links.
• Overall email layout.

Make sure the survey link opens the intended survey and that any access restrictions configured for the survey work as expected.

Verify Survey Access and Limits

Review the survey's Survey Settings before going live.

Check settings such as:

• Open access or invitation-only access
• Password protection
• Multiple submission settings
• Response limits
• Survey expiration
• Survey Send Limit

If limits or restricted access are enabled, test the survey using a scenario that matches the actual respondent experience.

If your survey is invitation-only or password protected, test it using the same type of access your respondents will have.

Check Dashboard and Report Results

After completing test responses, verify that the responses are appearing correctly in your Dashboards, Reports, and other analysis views.

Check that:

• Test responses are recorded correctly.
• Question-level data appears as expected.
• Metrics and charts are calculated correctly.
• Logic-based questions are reflected correctly.
• Metadata or contact properties are available where expected.
• Relevant widgets and reports display the test data correctly.

If your survey uses calculations, NPS, CSAT, key driver analysis, text analysis, or other reporting features, review those outputs as part of the testing process.

Confirm Before Publishing

Once testing is complete, review the survey one final time before making it available to respondents.

Use this checklist:

• Survey layout checked on desktop
• Survey layout checked on mobile
• Every logic path tested
• Mandatory questions validated
• All enabled translations reviewed
• Metadata and contact properties verified
• Email invitation tested
• Survey access settings checked
• Response and send limits reviewed
• Test responses verified in dashboards and reports
• Final survey content reviewed

Once everything has been validated, Publish the survey to make the latest changes visible to your audience.

 If you make changes after testing, review the affected sections again before publishing. The latest changes may not be visible to respondents until the survey is published.