Background Variable: Text

Professional

About Text Background Variables

Text variables have multiple purposes:

• Forms
• Conditions
• Merge fields in surveys and messages
• Filters
• Benchmarks
• Report versions

This variable type can be formatted to accept text, numeric, email, and other custom inputs. The different formats for a Text variable are: 

• Text: The variable accepts open-ended inputs.
• Numeric: The variable only accepts numbers/numerical inputs. You can define your preferred decimal separator.
• Email: The variable accepts only email addresses.
• Custom: The variable accepts whatever validation you input using a regular expression, e.g. US zip codes. Learn more about regular expressions.

Add Text Background Variables

You can add background variables while creating a form field or directly under your survey settings. To add them from your survey settings, all you have to do is:

1. Go to your survey and select settings on the side menu. If the menu is closed click on the menu icon () to open it first.
2. Click on list of background variables.
3. Click on the add background variable icon ().
4. Select text and click next.
5. Name the variable and select a format: text, numeric, email, or custom.
• The text format is open-ended. This means it accepts any data input but the output is only available as text. The data stored by Text variables with a text format can be encrypted. Learn more about encrypted text background variables.
  
  To add a Text variable with a text format, all you have to do is:
  1. Select the text format in the drop-down menu.
  2. Enable the require answer setting if you want the variable to be mandatory.

     The answer will only be required if the variable is used in the survey via a form question.

  3. Enable the encrypt data setting if you want the variable to be encrypted.
  4. Click add to create your variable.
• As the name suggests, this format only accepts numbers.
  
  To add a Text variable with a numeric format, all you have to do is:
  1. Select the numeric format in the drop-down menu.
  2. Use the drop-down menu below to select your preferred decimal separator. You can choose between a comma (,) or a dot (.).
  3. Enable the require answer setting if you want the variable to be mandatory.

     The answer will only be required if the variable is used in the survey via a form question.

  4. Click add to create your variable.

     Numeric formats cannot be used in the Reports area.

• As the name suggests, this format only accepts email addresses.
  
  To add a Text variable with an email format, all you have to do is:
  1. Select the email format in the drop-down menu.
  2. Enable the require answer setting if you want the variable to be mandatory.

     The answer will only be required if the variable is used in the survey via a form question.

  3. Click add to create your variable.
• With this format, you can use regular expressions to define the validation for the variable. For example, you can validate the variable to only accept US zip codes, Linkedin URLs, Gmail email addresses, etc.
  
  To add a Text variable with a custom format, all you have to do is:
  1. Select the custom format in the drop-down menu.
  2. Now you have two fields:
     • Example text: Insert an example that matches your regular expression. In this case, it could be 94101, which is a San Francisco zip code.
     • Enter regular expression for validation: Insert a regular expression. In this case, the regular expression is ^\d{5}(-\d{4})?$.

       Learn more about regular expressions.

  3. Enable the require answer setting if you want the variable to be mandatory.

     The answer will only be required if the variable is used in the survey via a form question.

  4. Click add to create your variable.

Encrypting Text Background Variables

An encrypted text background variable is a feature that enables you to handle personal information securely. When you mark a text background variable as "encrypted", the data it contains is automatically encrypted and access to it is logged. This ensures that you have control over when respondents' personal information is accessed.

When you or a survey collaborator accesses an encrypted text background variable, the data is automatically decrypted so that you can view or edit it as needed. However, all access to these variables is logged to ensure that any potential breaches can be detected and addressed quickly.

Overall, encrypted text background variables are a useful tool for protecting personal information and ensuring that respondents' data is kept safe and secure.

There are two ways to access the data for encrypted variables:

• Individual responses: Survey owners and collaborators can view and edit the data for each individual respondent. When you access the individual respondent, you'll have the option to view the decrypt the data to view it and/or edit it.
• Response data download: Survey owners and collaborators can view the data if they include background variables in their response data download. 

All access to the data will be logged to ensure security. To view your survey log, you have to:

1. Go to your survey and select settings on the side menu. If the menu is closed click on the menu icon () to open it first.
2. Click on log.
3. All your survey logs will be there.

Encrypted variables cannot be used in reports.

Import Values to Text Background Variables

If you already have the respondent data stored, you have the ability to upload these values into your survey when you share it via organization, email, and Digital Post.

• Organizations allow you to import your employees as members and thus store their background information. When sending a survey to organization members, you have the option to import member stored information to the survey. Learn more about sharing surveys with your organization.
• When you share your survey via email and Digital Post, you can import Text variables with a respondent list (CSV file). Learn more about setting up respondent lists here, as well as sharing via email and Digital Post.

Whether it's from organization member profiles or a respondent list (CSV file), to import data into a Text variable, the value has to match the variable's format or the data will not be imported.

Text Background Variables in Response Data Downloads

You can download your survey responses from Enalyzer for several purposes. You can use the file for analysis in other software, share it with your team, or import it to another Enalyzer survey.

In the response data download, Text background variables are found in one column. The column is named after the variable.

• By default, each response option under the variable will be displayed as text. You can read about data formats here.
  
  
• By default, each response option under the variable will be displayed as the numeric value. You can read about data formats here.
  
  
• By default, each response option under the variable will be displayed as text. You can read about data formats here.
  
  
• By default, each response option under the variable will be displayed as text. You can read about data formats here.
  
  

FAQs

• Enalyzer is a brilliant tool for marketing purposes and therefore you might want to share your survey with your customer, employees, etc. through a newsletter. Email marketing services such as MailChimp and SendGrid give customers tons of tracking possibilities. For this to be possible, they use link-tracking features to pass information about a specific campaign back to their reports.

  For example, they will add a variable called "utm_campaign" to the links you insert in your newsletter/email. However, adding variables to Enalyzer links that are not set up in your survey, will break the link.

  Enalyzer links are designed to fail if a value outside of what is expected is fed into the link. To fix this, you have to add these variables to your survey. All you have to do is:

  1. Start by identifying the variables that are being added to your survey. To do this, set up the newsletter and send yourself a test.
  2. In the test email, right-click on the hyperlink/button that contains the Enalyzer survey link, copy the link, and paste it into notepad. It might look like this: https://surveys.enalyzer.com?pid=fpbbekq3&utm_campaign=53c8cfea6c-Sales-Campagin.
  3. The Enalyzer survey link is https://surveys.enalyzer.com?pid=fpbbekq3. Everything after "&amp" are variables that your email marketing application is adding to your links. In this example, the variable being added is "utm_campaign".
  4. Add all these variables as Text Background Variables with a text format. Make sure to name the variable the exact same name, in this example, it would be "utm_campaign".