Answers by question type
What questions and answers look like in the API for each question type.
Every question in the API has a type, every answer a matching question_type. It tells you how the answer is structured. The name of the question type in PollHero is also given in original_type.
Question types
type | Question type in PollHero | Additional question fields |
|---|---|---|
single | Single Select | answer_choices |
multiple | Multi Select | answer_choices |
text | Short Free Text, Long Free Text | – |
rating | Rating Scale | scale |
nps | Net Promoter Score (NPS) | scale |
csat | Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) | scale (1–5) |
ces | Customer Effort Score (CES) | scale (1–5 for CES 1.0, 1–7 for CES 2.0) |
smiley_scale | Emojis | – |
matrix | Matrix | answer_choices (rows) |
ranking | Ranking | answer_choices |
mailing | Mailing | – |
button_next | Engagement Trigger | – |
empty | Thank You Message | – |
answer_choicescontainscontent(text) andallows_free_text(option with free input, e.g. “Other”) for each option.- Answer choices have no ID. Answers refer to an option by its text.
scalecontainsminandmaxof the scale.
Answer structure
Every answer contains question_id and question_type. The rest depends on the question type:
question_type | Structure |
|---|---|
single | "answer": { "content": "Option A" } |
multiple, ranking, matrix | "answers": [ { "content": "A" }, { "content": "B" } ] |
text | "answer": "Free text", optionally "sentiment": "positive" |
rating, csat, ces | "answer": { "rating": 4 } |
nps | "answer": { "content": 9, "tag": "promoter" } |
smiley_scale | "answer": { "content": "fiveFaces3" } |
mailing | "answer": "customer@example.com" |
Details per question type
- Single Select: For an option with free input,
contentholds the entered text. In the rare case of several values, they are returned asanswers, like for Multi Select. - Ranking:
answersis sorted by rank. The first entry is rank 1. - Matrix:
answerscontains the chosen rating per row, in the order of the rows inanswer_choices. - Text:
sentimentispositive,negativeorneutral. It is missing if no sentiment analysis is available. - NPS:
tagispromoter(9–10),passive(7–8) ordetractor(0–6). For the emoji display with five faces (scale 1–5): 5promoter, 4passive, otherwisedetractor. - CSAT and CES:
ratingis the chosen value of the scale. You calculate the CSAT score or the CES from it as in the reporting, see How we count impressions, responses and rates.
Emoji values
content contains a fixed key for the chosen emoji:
| Display | Values (from negative to positive) |
|---|---|
| 2 thumbs | thumb1 (thumbs down), thumb0 (thumbs up) |
| 3 faces | face0, face1, face2 or threeFaces0, threeFaces1, threeFaces2 |
| 5 faces | fiveFaces0 to fiveFaces4 or newFiveFaces0 to newFiveFaces4 |
Skipped questions and actions
- Skipped questions are left out of
answers. - If only an action and no answer was recorded for a question, the entry holds the field
actioninstead ofanswer:closed(survey closed),next(Engagement Trigger started),end(survey finished) orcustom_button_clicked(custom button of the Thank You Message).
{ "question_id": "…", "question_type": "empty", "action": "custom_button_clicked" }- Answers to deleted questions are not returned. You get the question itself with
include_deleted=truewhen listing the questions.