Overview

A Partial Response is created when a respondent starts answering a survey but does not complete it. When partial response collection is enabled, SurveySensum can save and sync these incomplete responses, making them available for reporting, analysis, exports, and operational workflows.

Capturing partial responses helps recover valuable feedback that might otherwise be lost, especially for long surveys or respondents who leave before completing the questionnaire.

When to use it:

Enable partial responses when you want to retain incomplete survey submissions for analysis, follow-up campaigns, or operational workflows.

Partial responses are particularly useful for long surveys, mobile users, embedded surveys, and situations where respondents may leave before completing the survey.

Key Use Cases

• Capture incomplete survey responses.
• Analyze survey drop-offs and completion rates.
• Include partial responses in reports and exports.
• Send reminder campaigns to partial responders.
• Use response status in automation and workflow conditions.
• Improve data collection by recovering incomplete feedback.

What is a Partial Response?

A partial response is a survey response where the respondent has answered one or more questions but has not completed the entire survey.

SurveySensum recognizes different response states:

• Completed Response – The respondent finishes and submits the survey.
• Partial Response – The respondent starts the survey but does not complete it.
• New Response – A newly created response before meaningful completion.
• Terminated Response – A response that ends due to survey logic or other configured conditions.

When partial response collection is enabled, these responses can still be stored and processed within the platform.

Enabling Partial Responses

Partial response collection can be enabled from the survey settings.

Steps to Enable

1. Open the survey in the Survey Builder.
2. Navigate to Survey Settings.
3. Open the Survey Submission section.
   
   
   
   
4. Enable Allow Partial submission of surveys.
5. Save or publish the survey.

Once enabled, eligible incomplete survey submissions are saved as partial responses.

The Allow Partial submission of surveys setting is currently available for anonymous surveys.

Where Partial Responses are Used

Once synced, partial responses are available across multiple areas of SurveySensum.

Responses

Partial responses appear in the Responses module with their corresponding response status, allowing users to review incomplete submissions alongside completed ones.

Survey Metrics

Survey Metrics distinguish between Completed and Partial responses, helping you monitor survey completion rates and identify respondent drop-offs.

Reports and Dashboards

Partial responses are included in supported reports and dashboards, where they are displayed separately from completed responses for accurate analysis.

Share & Reminder Campaigns

Reminder campaigns can target:

• Non-Responders
• Partial Responders
• Both groups

This allows you to encourage respondents to complete unfinished surveys.

Automations and Conditions

Response status can be used in workflows and conditional logic, allowing automations to differentiate between new, partial, completed, and terminated responses.

Exports

Partial responses are included in supported exports, preserving the correct response status and respondent information.

How Response Syncing Works

Response syncing processes collected survey responses and makes them available throughout the platform.

When partial response collection is enabled:

• Partial responses are saved.
• Responses are synced across supported modules.
• Reports and dashboards display the correct response status.
• Exports preserve partial response information.
• Automations and workflows can use the response state.

This ensures that incomplete responses remain consistent across the platform without affecting completed responses.

Related Survey Settings

Several survey settings can influence how partial responses behave.

These include:

• Save and Continue – Allows respondents to save progress and continue later.
• Allow Multiple Submissions – Controls whether respondents can submit more than once.
• Survey Expiration – Determines whether unfinished surveys remain accessible.
• Response Limits – Stops additional submissions once the survey reaches its response limit.
• Survey Access Settings – Password protection or invitation-only surveys may affect whether respondents can resume incomplete surveys.

Best Practices

• Enable partial responses for long or complex surveys.
• Combine partial responses with reminder campaigns to improve completion rates.
• Monitor partial response counts to identify where respondents abandon surveys.
• Review partial responses before excluding them from analysis.
• Use response status in automation workflows for targeted follow-ups.