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Using the 1KA system to send invitations
A new, redesigned interface for sending email invitations is now available.
The 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' system is designed for users who want to send a link to a survey to a large number of email addresses and track which respondents have answered the survey and which have not. This is particularly advantageous when sending reminders to those respondents who have not completed the survey. In addition, the 1KA system also supports (documents) the sending of invitations by post, SMS, etc.
If you want to activate the use of the 1KA system for sending invitations, you need to enable the system in the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' tab by clicking on the 'Enable 1KA system for invitations' button. The tab 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' - 'New invitation' - 'Creating new email invitation' opens.
In the Recipient list field, select the previously created recipient list. You can edit and add lists in the 'Lists management' tab. Clicking on 'New list' will open the interface for creating a new list.
Click on the 'Edit columns' button to select the fields you want to add - email, first name, last name, password, title, phone or other. You can enter recipients manually in the fields or import them by clicking on the 'Import list' button. If you are entering recipients manually, you can add them by clicking on the plus icon 'Add' to the right of the last recipient.
Once you have created a list of recipients, you select it when you send it, in the 'New invitation' tab. The sender of the invitation is configured according to the selected mail server, which can be edited in the invitation settings. You can change the reply to email field as you wish.
Below the 'Creating new email invitation' tab, you will find the window for creating the message. Insert variables such as a link to complete the survey, a tracking code and an unsubscribe link by clicking on the 'Insert variable' checkbox. You can also save the message as a template by clicking on the 'Save as template' button.
In the right tab 'Settings', you can edit the following invitation settings:
- Sending method: email or code generation, for sending by letter, SMS,...;
- Sending server: 1KA Arnes or your own server;
- Status tracking: whether you want to track respondents - in this case each respondent receives their own personalised code;
- Code entry method: in URL or manual entry.
In addition, you can use the settings to allow access to the survey without a code - only to the survey author or to everyone.
An overview of the invitations sent can be found in the 'Invitation status' tab and a list of all recipients in the 'All recipients' tab. You can also send a reminder or a thank you to respondents in the 'Invitation status' tab next to each list, or in the 'All Recipients' tab, where you can send a reminder or a thank you to all recipients of a particular survey. You can specify that the reminder or thank you is sent to everyone, or only to certain statuses of recipients (e.g. those who have not yet completed the survey).
Advanced Module: Voting
The advanced 'Voting' module supports the process of conducting a completely anonymous vote, with all paradata turned off and without any possibility of linking data to email addresses and other identifiers.
The module allows sending invitations within the 1KA system, but only the information that the invitation has been sent is recorded, not the status (whether the person has opened the poll, whether they have responded).
To use the 'Voting' module, click 'Voting' in the left hand side menu in the 'EDIT' - 'SETTINGS' - 'Advanced Modules' tab, then select the checkbox to enable the module.
The questions you want to include can be edited in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab.
The recipients of the invitations and the message to invite respondents to the poll can be edited in the interface for sending invitations in the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' tab.
- First, edit the mail server settings.
- Add recipients.
- Format the message and send it.
Specific features when using the Voting module
- Once you have enabled the 'Voting' module, it is no longer possible to disable it. If you want to carry out a normal survey and you have accidentally switched on the 'Voting' module, then a new survey (or a copy of the current survey) must be created.
- When sending invitations, personalised invitations (codes) are used, but these are personalised for the purpose of sending invitations only. Invitation settings (manual entry, access without code, etc.) cannot be changed.
- The overview of added recipients only contains information on whether the invitation has been sent, when the recipient was added, who added them and which list they are in. There is no information on the status of the respondent in the overview.
- The last step shows all e-mail addresses to which the invitation has not yet been sent. If you would like to send a reminder, this means that you have to add the same recipients again and send them the invitation. However, this means that the person can complete the survey twice (if they receive the invitation with the link to the survey twice). If you send to the same email addresses multiple times, each entry from the same recipient will be recorded as a new entry.
- Once the invitations have been sent, linking between the email address and the respondent's answers is not possible.
- If the 'Voting' module is enabled, the respondents' access settings and the settings of the paradata cannot be changed. By default, the settings are arranged so that no paradata is recorded and no cookies are stored, which allows a fully anonymised survey to be carried out.
The functionality is available for users of the 3KA package for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.
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Combining Lists of Email Invitations
1KA allows you to merge lists of existing emails at any time:
- Add and save lists of respondents in the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' - 'Add' tab;
- In the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' - 'Lists' tab, you will find an overview of all saved lists, where you can choose between 1) lists of respondents for the current survey, 2) lists of respondents of all your surveys, 3) sending archives;
- If you wish to combine respondents of multiple lists and include them in a new survey, you can select the desired lists and then check 'Editing' on the right-hand side. The system will open a new list of all selected email addresses of respondents, which you need to save again.
When generating a new list, the system will filter out duplicate records or email addresses. In a new survey, where you want to use such a merged list of respondents, you must select the option to see the respondent lists of all your surveys (as explained in bullet 2).
The functionality is available for users of the 3KA package for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.
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Survey preview
When editing a survey in the 'EDIT' - 'Questionnaire' tab, you have the option to preview the survey before the survey is activated. To open the preview, click on the 'Preview' button at the top of the page. This allows you to check the order of the questions, the functioning of the conditions and warnings, etc. In preview mode, no data is saved.
To preview the survey in the basic view, select 'Computer'. If your survey will also be answered on mobile devices, there is also a preview for mobiles and tablets.
Regardless of the preview device you choose, you can switch between devices within the preview page by selecting the device you want from the menu on the right.
Additional settings are also available in the preview for easier viewing:
- Disable verification of conditions and alerts;
- Display conditions and blocks above questions;
- Display variable names.
In the case of longer surveys where you have a large number of pages, you can also use the 'Jump to page' option, where you can select the page you want to see in the preview.
Example of a survey in a preview mode >>
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Sending Email Invitations
Standard ways of conducting online surveys
Two emails or untracked invitations sent to the entire list of respondents are almost always sufficient, as follows:
- In the first email, you invite all potential respondents in the form "I invite you to complete the survey ...".
- The second email should follow 2-3 days after the first, but no more than a week. In it, you should again address the entire list of potential respondents (both those who have already completed the questionnaire and those who have not yet done so) with the same salutation to the effect: "A few days ago you were invited to complete the survey .... We sincerely thank all those who have responded. For those of you who have not yet responded to the survey, we once again invite you to do so ..."
The two messages are sent to the entire list of potential respondents in the usual way of sending emails, where you send an email invitation with the URL of the survey in your client (Gmail, Yahoo, MS Outlook, Thunderbird, etc.). It is true, however, that there are restrictions that need to be taken into account, as in some places there is a limit on the number of emails sent per day (e.g. Gmail has a limit of 500 addresses for individuals in 2023 when sending via the web application). This can be solved by spreading the sending of your invitations across several days, or by sending from several different email accounts.
Special cases:
When you want to send a large number of invitations (three, four, etc.) or when you have a list containing thousands of people, you most likely need a system to send invitations.
When using the 1KA e-mail system for sending invitations, which is available for users of the 3KA package for individuals and for users of the business packages for groups, the following should be taken into account:
- Using 1KA to send invitations is usually not necessary, especially if there are only a few hundred addresses, as it is quicker and easier to send email invitations from your own email account (Gmail, Yahoo, MS Outlook, Thunderbird ...).
- The system allows tracking the status of the respondent or non-respondent and related reminders to the remaining non-respondents.
- It is worth considering whether we really need a third or fourth e-mail reminder. It has been shown that a third and fourth reminder only minimally increases the participation rate, while complicating and prolonging the data collection phase.
- It should be noted that the use of e-mail addresses for the purposes of the survey is not allowed without the addressee's permission. You may therefore only send survey invitations to addressees who have given their prior consent or whose email addresses have been collected in a related administrative process of an organisation where you have the authority and permission to send email invitations, as it is undeniably clear from the context of the survey that this is a specific internal evaluation of users. It is therefore the user's responsibility to ensure that they do not abuse respondents' privacy by using the 1KA system, e.g. for the purposes of spam invitations or for any other purpose, as also defined in the terms of use and the anti-spam policy.
- If you do not need to track the status of the respondents, we advise you to send the same (non-individualized) survey URL in the invitation, which should also be mentioned in the invitation, e.g. "We guarantee you complete privacy of your answers, so the survey URLs are not individualized...". This helps to increase the response rate, as many respondents are increasingly annoyed by the fact that they receive an individualized URL, knowing that this in principle gives insight into the individual response.
The right to use the 1KA email system and the Terms of Use
The user may obtain the right to use the 1KA invitation system by purchasing a 3KA package for individuals or by purchasing a business package for groups, whereby the 1KA invitation system may only be used with the user's own SMTP server settings. In doing so, the user agrees that in accordance with the terms of use and the anti-spam policy, invitations will only be sent to known recipients who have either previously explicitly agreed to participate in the study, or to recipients where it is clear that this is an evaluation of a group for which the user has administrative responsibilities and data (members of an association, course attendees, subscribers, personal network, etc.)
On 1KA.Arnes.si, a new, redesigned interface for sending email invitations is available. More >>
Some of the functionalities described are only available for users of the 3KA package for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.
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Setting a Custom Survey URL
When you create a survey in 1KA, it is assigned a random string of numbers and letters, which then appear in the survey URL; for example www.1ka.si/a/4669.
In the 'PUBLISH' – 'Links' tab, you can click on the 'Create custom URL' button to add a URL that is more engaging and appealing to respondents. You can use a minimum of three characters (č, ć, š, ž, đ characters can not be used). The system distinguishes between upper and lower case letters.
The functionality is available for users of the 2KA and 3KA packages for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.
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Adding Respondents When Sending Email Invitations
When using the 1KA system to send email invitations in the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' tab, you must first add the respondents. There are no limitations for adding new respondents, so you can add any number of respondents at once.
You can create the list of respondents yourself according to your sample and enter it in the box in the 'Add' step. The respondents can also be inserted via manual entry, from an external CSV file, or from the existing system variables.
The preset selected variables (ie. respondents' data) are email, first name and last name. You can also choose the variables password, salutation, phone and custom variable. The order of variables can be changed via drag and drop. You should separate the variables using an appropriate operator. By default, the selected operator is a comma (,) but you can also use the 1KA separator (| ~ |), semicolon (;) or a pipe (|). When adding respondents, add each respondent in a new row.
Example: We add two respondents manually, with all default settings:
john.smith@gmail.com,John,Smith
mary.smith@gmail.com,Mary,Smith
Invitation system at 1KA.arnes.si
On 1KA.Arnes.si, there is a new, redesigned interface for sending email invitations. In the 'PUBLISH' - 'Invitations' tab, you must first activate the 1KA invitation system by clicking on the 'Enable 1KA system for invitations' button.
You can edit and add recipient lists in the 'Lists management' tab. By clicking on 'New list', you will be taken to the interface for creating a new list.
The functionality is available for users of the 3KA package for individuals, and for users of the business packages for groups.
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