What is Survey Metadata?

Metadata is background information associated with a survey response. It is a survey-specific property, meaning it is defined at the survey or project level and applies to all responses collected under that project.

This information is stored along with survey responses and is primarily used for reporting, filtering, segmentation, and deeper analysis.

Where Can We Use Metadata?

Consider a business with multiple store locations that wants to collect customer feedback about their in-store experience.

In this scenario, it may not be ideal to ask respondents to manually select or enter the store name within the survey, as this can increase survey length and lead to inconsistent or incorrect responses.

Instead, you can use metadata to capture the store information. By creating a dropdown-type metadata field containing all store names, you can select the relevant store while sharing the survey.

This way:

• The store information is captured accurately and consistently

• Respondents are not required to answer an additional question

• Analysis can be easily done store-wise without impacting the survey experience

This makes metadata useful for capturing contextual details that are known beforehand and are specific to a particular survey or distribution.

Steps to Create New Metadata

1. Go to the Build section of your survey.

2. In the left panel, click on Survey Metadata.
   
   

3. Click on Create New Metadata.
   A pop-up window will appear.
   
   

4. Enter:

   • Metadata Name

   • Datatype

   • Description

Datatypes

1. Dropdown

• Use when the metadata value must be selected from a predefined list.

• Ensures data consistency and cleaner reporting.
  
  

Additional Options:

• Click Bulk Edit to add multiple options at once.

• Enter one option per line for faster setup.

2. E-mail

• Use the Email metadata type when you want to capture and store an email address as metadata.

• Ensures the value is saved in a valid email format and can be used reliably across reports and exports.

3. Date

• Use when the metadata value is a date.

• Choose how the incoming date value will be received.

• Select Set custom Date format if the date is passed in a specific format.

• Enter the expected format in the Set custom input Date format field.

• Click + Add output Date format to select how the date should appear in exports.

4. DateTime

• Use the DateTime metadata type when you want to capture both the date and time associated with a survey response.

• Choose how the incoming DateTime value will be received.

• If the incoming value follows a different format, select Set custom DateTime format and enter the format manually.
  
  

5. URL

• Use the URL metadata type when you want to capture and store a web link as metadata.

• Ensures the value is saved in a valid URL format and can be safely used in reports and exports.

6. Phone Number

• Use the Phone Number metadata type when you want to capture and store a respondent’s contact number as metadata.

• Ensures the number is saved in a valid phone format and can be reliably used for filtering and reporting.

After entering all required details, click Create Metadata.

The metadata is saved successfully.

Managing Created Metadata

Each metadata entry shows:

• Metadata Name

• Data Type

• Description

• API Identifier
  
  

This page provides a complete overview of all metadata created for the survey.

• Click the Edit icon to update an existing metadata.

• Click the Delete icon to remove metadata that is no longer required.

Sharing a Survey Using Embedded Metadata

You can embed metadata while sending survey emails to automatically attach predefined values to all responses collected through that campaign.

1. Select the Survey

• Go to All Surveys

• Select the survey you want to share

• Click on the Share tab

• Click on Send Email
  
  

2. Embed Metadata

• In the Email Template section, click Embed metadata

• A pop-up window will appear

• Select the metadata from the dropdown

• Enter the value you want to assign

Example:

• Metadata: Region

• Value: Urban

• Click Save
  
  

3. Confirm Embedded Metadata

After saving, the embedded metadata will appear under Embed survey data.

This confirms that all responses collected through this email campaign will automatically capture the selected metadata value.

Note: This process is similar for SMS and WhatsApp campaign sharing.