Survey Software - Updating Custom Variables During the Survey

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Updating Custom Variables During the Survey | Piping to Multiple Pages - How to?

How can I update Custom Variables based on how the respondent answer?

Consider an example where you are asking users about which ISP they use and based on their selection you want to ask more follow-up questions. This can be done using Piping Text and updating the Custom Variable with the required text. This Custom Variable can then be used anywhere on the survey using Dynamic Replacement. Steps for setting this up are as follows:

Under the Edit Survey tab click on the Add/Update Logic link.

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Select the Branching/Skip Logic option and click on Set up Logic.

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Here:
- Select the Jump To Branching Location.
- Enter in the required Text under Piping Text
- Select the Custom Variable that should get updated with the text.
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The selected Custom Variable will get updated with the set text. Now you can use this Custom Variable for Dynamic Replacement OR Pre-population OR you can also set logic based on this Custom Variable.

Updating Custom Variables with piping text will not work with Multi-lingual surveys.

Few things to remember:

When you update custom variables on a survey, they take precedence over custom variables uploaded along with the email address. So if you pass / upload custom variable along with the email address as custom variable 1 "${custom1}" and the same custom variable 1 is updated midway in the survey, then the value passed via the email address will be lost.
Make sure you are not updating the same Custom Variable in two different questions. The latest information will get updated to the Custom Variable overwriting the text that earlier existed in Custom Variable.
Please make sure you test the survey and also check how the responses are saved before making the survey live.

How to replace text within the Questions/Answer options with Custom Variables? What are the variables and codes available?

You can use the following variable tags. Use them wherever you wish to display the text.

${custom1} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 1
${custom2} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 2
${custom3} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 3
${custom4} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 4
${custom5} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 5
...
...
...
And so on till Custom Variable 20
${custom20} Will be replaced with the data stored in the Custom Variable 20

Can Custom Variables be updated with user inserted text?

Yes. Follow these steps:

Under the Edit Survey tab click on the Add/Update Logic link.

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Select the Branching/Skip Logic option and click on Set up Logic.

Screenshot
Here:
- Select the Jump To Branching Location.
- Make sure the Piping Text field is left blank
- Select the Custom Variable that should get updated with the text.
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When respondents are taking the survey, the text that is entered will be updated to the selected Custom Variable. This Custom Variable can be used for Dynamic Replacement OR Pre-population OR you can also set logic based on this Custom Variable.