URL Parameters

A URL parameter is the final part of the URL which you can customize and use it to identify your respondents. They can be used to see which of your contacts have completed the questionnaire and to search for contacts in the Responses view once they've completed the questionnaire.

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For example, to identify someone by their email address, the URL could look like this:

https://s.pointerpro.com/csc/?rid=EM_jdoe@gmail.com

This guide will teach you:

1 Using Contact list

2 Using Pre-fill Intro fields

3 Using Fill in Default responses

4 Using Languages

5 Special characters

1. Using Contact List

Click the Avatar at the top right, and select Contacts from the dropdown. 

Upload the contacts to whom you want to send the survey. You can either upload a list of contacts by clicking Upload contacts or create contacts individually by clicking Create contact. 

Now that your contacts are uploaded, the easiest and quickest way to send out personalized links to contacts is by sending email invitations. Click the avatar icon at the top right and select Email invitations from the dropdown menu. 

When the email invitation window opens, click Create Email under Questionnaires with email invitations.

Choose the questionnaire and start creating your email invitations. Name your email invitation and add your name and email address. Choose the contact list you want to send the email invitation to, and now you'll be ready to write the email body.

1. Write the text of the message and when you're ready, click variables and you'll find a list of different types of variables that you can add to the invitation. We recommend adding a clickable link with email, or for added security, choose a clickable link with unique ID. 
2. For whichever link you choose, the system will automatically create and send out unique survey links to each contact and they will receive an email with your message and a link which they click on to answer the survey. 
3. This link is unique for them and the system will then be able to identify them, so you will see in the Responses view the list of completed surveys, including their name and email address so you can also search the list. 

Sending out a manual link

What if you forgot a few contacts and you also want to send them personalized links? You can easily make your own link with a URL parameter. Let's see now how to do that.

At the top of the Share tab, you will find the questionnaire links and a QR code. Click copy to make a copy of the link. You can also use the long or the short one.

Now that you have the link, you can use different fields from the contact information to add to the end of the link. It will be easier to follow with an example, so take a look at the first contact in our list:

If we want to email Steven a personalized link, here's what we'll do. Take the survey link that you have copied, and add /?rid= to the end of the link. Then choose either of the following endings:

• Using the email address, add EM_ and then the email address, so the full link will be https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=EM_s123@gmail.com, or a variable, so the link will be https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=EM_*|contact_email|*
• Using the unique identifier, add UID_ and then the unique identifier, so the full link will be:
  https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=UID_1LjMVJRfc, or a variable, so the link will be https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=UID_*|contact_unique_id|*.
• Using the personal identifier, add EXT_ and then the personal identifier, so the full link will be: https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=EXT_1LjMVJRfc, or a variable, so the link will be https://su.vc/eyrzimdo/?rid=EXT_*|contact_personal_id|*.

2. Using Pre-fill Intro Fields

To save respondents time and get their attention. If you have a field asking for the respondent's name, use a URL parameter to pre-fill this field if you already know their name and simply ask respondents to check the spelling, rather than making them enter data unnecessarily.

Each Intro field is numbered. Pre-fill each field by adding the following text to the end of the link:

• /?cf
• Your Intro field number and a = sign. E.g. 1= for Intro field 1, 2= for Intro field 2, and so on
• The data you want to pre-fill, so either name, city, or whatever data you have

For example, to pre-fill a respondent's country, your URL could look like this: 

https://s.pointerpro.com/s/dnqjtsir/?cf2=Belgium

3. Using Fill in Default responses

URL parameters can pre-fill other types of survey questions, not only intro fields. You can add on your own ending so that a specific answer is chosen for a question that you can specify. Filling in answers works with Text Choice, Image Choice, Text Slider, Numeric Slider, and NPS questions.

After you have activated the Fill in default responses, go ahead and start formatting the suffix. You will need to add the following ending to the survey link: /suffix?qx=y replacing suffix with your survey's suffix, replacing the x with your question number, and replacing the y with the position number of the answer option as it is entered into the editor. 

4. Using Languages

Add a URL parameter to send out your survey in a specific language.

If you know for sure which language people need, you can add URL parameters to the end of the survey link so that they will automatically be sent the survey in the correct language. It's not difficult to do, here's what you need to add to the end of your survey link:

• English: add ?lang=en_us
• Nederlands: add ?lang=nl_be
• Français: add ?lang=fr_be
• all other languages: add ?lang={first two letters of chosen name for language}

So for example, if you are sending out your survey in French, this is what your link will look like: 

https://s.pointerpro.com/s/dgrmttqb?lang=fr_be

Make sure to send the right link to the right respondent and you're set to go!

5. Special characters

Keep in mind that URL's use certain characters in a different way. As you've seen in this article, a question mark identifies the starts of additional parameters and an ampersand is used between multiple parameters. 

The most common issue is the use of spaces and the plus-symbol in a URL. As URL's cannot contain spaces, they're often replaced by a "+" or "%20". That in turn means the plus-symbol doesn't come out as a "+" but a space. In case you're looking for a specific scenario, reach out to support, or search online for "URL encode character".

Some examples:

• If you want a text with spaces:   write+it+like+this   or   write%20it%20like%20this
• If you want an email address with a plus:   write.it%2Blike@this.com

What's next?

• To track your survey respondents you can add intro fields to your questionnaire. This way, if you have users accessing your questionnaire from a few different sources, for example Facebook, LinkedIn, and your company website, you will know which medium they used to access it.
• Share your surveys, quizzes, and assessments by using a questionnaire link, QR Code, email and embedding it. Start sharing your questionnaire to increase the response rate and collect more data. 
• Using the Limit the responses of your questionnaire feature you can control the number of the respondents that are taking your survey. It is a great way to prevent multiple responses from the same respondent.