Qualtrics - Workflow

Workflow can be used to send an automatic email to you and/or to send a copy of the responses or information to each respondent. Workflow can be defined as an action you want Qualtrics to perform, such as collecting emails and sending out survey links to respondents. This feature offers you the ability to get information each time a user submits a survey.

Workflow - Email Action

  1. Click Workflows tab
  2. Click the button "+ Create a workflow"
  3. Select "Started when an event is received"
  4. Choose the "Survey response" tile.
  5. Check the boxes next to "Newly created response" and "keep the language the response was received in." Click Finish.
  6. Name the Workflow by clicking on the words that say New Workflow. 
  7. Click the + button
  8. Select "add task" or "add a condition"
  9. Find the Email task tile
  10. If you want to send the message back to the respondent, the "To:" field can be piped from the survey by clicking the {a} and finding the email address question or you can type in any email address.
  11. Add a subject for the email
  12. Select when you want the email to be sent, the default setting of "Immediately" is a good choice.
  13. If you are using your own email and using Include Response Report, all you have to do is press the space bar in this box. The space will allow the message to satisfy the requirement. You can pipe the respondent's responses if you would like a cleaner look. 
  14. Check "Include Response Report" (which includes the survey respondent's responses). You do not need to check this if you piped the respondents' responses into the message because it will be repeat information.
  15. If "Include Response Report" is checked make sure that you change the Expiration: to Never
  16. It is optional to change "Embedded Data" if "Included Response Report" is checked.

When attempting to download a pdf of responses from an action or downloaded data, you will see the error "Request expired" if steps 15 and 16 are not changed.

showing Workflow tab

where to find +Create a workflow

Where to find Started when an event is received

Survey response

checking the settings before hitting finish

Add a task

Where to find Email

Email message

Expiration setting

Add a Condition That Would Happen Before a Task

  1. Click "Add a condition"
  2. Decide between "Any of the following are true" or "All of the following are true"
  3. Decide what the condition is based on, "Question, Embedded Data, Quota, Status, GeoIP Location, Response, or Respondent"
  4. If the condition is based on a Question you would select the question option.

add a condition

Deciding the condition

Here is example using Question as the condition.

Example of condition

How To Know If A Workflow Has Failed?

On your Qualtrics home page you will see "Your workflows summary" and if you set workflow notifications.  

Your workflows summary

Setting up Notifications

In the workflow...

  1. Click the "Settings" tab
  2. Search for the person you would like to notify of a workflow failure.
  3. Click Add
  4. Check the boxes next to Trigger failure and Task failure
  5. Click Apply

Workflow Notifications settings

Trigger failure and task failure settings

When You Copy a Survey Using a Workflow, A Warning Message May Appear In The Workflow

Before you can activate the workflow, you must fix the warning notice. A survey's workflow has to be renamed and activated when the survey is copied.

Warning message

showing workflow error message

Name Your Workflows

We recommend naming your workflows. Some ideas are to use the same name as the survey or something else meaningful to you. Without naming your workflows you will see a page of workflows titled, "new workflow" or "new action" which will make it difficult to know what workflow you used.

Deleted Workflows

If you see statuses for a workflow named Deleted Workflow, chances are you deleted the attached workflow. Be sure deleting a workflow is really what you want to do – the records are still there, but the workflow itself is irretrievable.

About Workflows Run & Revision Histories

NOTE: Workflows run and revision history data is only retained for 30 days after a workflow has been triggered. Once this time frame has passed, any reporting on that workflow is deleted.


Keywords:
automatic email, action, Workflow, "email triggers" 
Doc ID:
127197
Owned by:
Linda C. in NDSU IT Knowledge Base
Created:
2023-04-11
Updated:
2024-08-01
Sites:
NDSU IT Knowledge Base