Thinkific’s survey feature allows you to get direct feedback from your students and can be used to help improve your offerings.
The feature is available for all subscription plans, which means that even Free plan subscribers can create them.
Key Takeaways:
- You can use Thinkific’s survey feature or integrate similar third-party software
- Even subscribers to the Free plan can use Thinkific surveys
What Is a Thinkific Survey?
A Thinkific survey is a way to get feedback from your students, before, during, or after completing your course.
They can be used to find out which parts of your content they enjoyed, which areas they struggled with, and where they may need more support going forward.
The platform offers a range of question ‘types’ to get the most information, including checkboxes, scales, and open and closed questions.
Quiz vs Survey in Thinkific
As the platform often advertises these features together, it’s essential to understand the differences to ensure you don’t confuse them.
Here are the key differences:
Quizzes are designed to check the understanding of a student. Often, you’ll find them at the end of a module or lesson for a student to complete and are used to test their knowledge about learnt content.
In contrast, a survey is given to students to get feedback on the course.
In addition, quizzes can be taken and submitted multiple times until the student passes, whereas a survey can only be completed once, and the answers, once submitted, can’t be changed.
To reflect the difference, the platform’s quiz and survey features have different questions you can ask.
Types Of Thinkific Survey Questions
Here are the five types of questions that you can use when creating a survey on the platform:
- One Answer – A multiple-choice question where the student can only check one box.
- One or More Answers – A multiple-choice question that allows multiple boxes to be checked.
- Rating – The student can rate a statement out of five stars.
- Scale – The student can select, on a scale, from least to most regarding a statement they are given.
- Free Text – An open response to a question or for feedback you may be asking.
Reasons to Use a Thinkific Survey
Now you understand what a survey is and the types of questions you can ask, you may be wondering, why do I want to create one?
Here are three reasons to use a Thinkific survey:
Audience Research – If you place a survey before the student starts a course, you can find out their current experience and skill level. This can help you with the type of content you include.
How To Improve The Course – Sometimes, although you may think you’ve included everything in your course, there may be a topic or module that students want to know more about. Perhaps there was a section that was too easy or too difficult? By gaining feedback, you can improve the course and customer satisfaction.
Other Products They Might Be Interested In – If you’re unsure about other products that you may be able to sell to your existing students, then a survey can help you. Using them for market research can increase your chances of success when launching a new product or service.
Which Thinkific Plan Do I Need to Create a Survey?
Thinkific offers the survey feature for all subscription plans, including its Free plan.
How to Create a Survey on Thinkific
Here’s how to create a survey:
- Make sure you’re logged into your Thinkific account
- On the left-hand side of the screen, click Manage learning products
- Then select Courses
- Choose the course that you’d like to app a survey to by clicking on it
- Once on the course, select Add a lesson
- Then select Survey under the Assess your students section
- You can now name the survey in the Title section
- To pick the first type of question, you’d like to ask, you can use the drop-down menu
- To do this, click Add choice under the question box
- Go through the lesson settings and select the options that you require
- Click Save
- Scroll to the top of the screen, uncheck the Draft box, then click Save
How to Access Thinkific Survey Results
Now that you have published your survey and students are able to start completing it, you must know how to access the results to understand their feedback.
There are two ways to do this, which we’ll explore below.
How to Export Them in Bulk
If you’d prefer to read the results using a spreadsheet, you’ll need to export the results into a CSV file.
- On your dashboard, Admin Panel, select Support your students
- Then click on Quiz & survey
- Chose the date range you’d like to export from by changing it in the drop-down Completion date box
- Check the box with the survey you’d like to export
- Then click Export
- Check your emails, as once the report is ready, it will be sent there
You can download the CSV file and upload it into your preferred spreadsheet software to analyze the results.
How to View Individual Results
If you get an individual’s results, it will enable you to reach out to them and personalize any response if they’re dissatisfied or are looking to obtain assistance from you.
Here’s how to do it:
- From your dashboard, navigate to Support Your Students, then click on Users
- Scroll through your students’ names and select the user whose results you’d like to see
- Then click on the Quiz & survey tab to access the results
Using Third-Party Survey Tools on Thinkific
If you have built a survey using third-party software, here’s how to integrate it into your course.
Typeforms – You can use this by adding it to your course by using the Multimedia lesson feature. Students will then be able to view it in their lesson.
The platform recommends giving students instructions on how to proceed, so they don’t get confused when the Typeform appears.
Survey Monkey and Google forms – Unfortunately, unlike Typeforms, Thinkific does not offer direct integrations through its Multimedia lesson feature.
Therefore, the platform recommends that if you’ve already made a survey with one, you copy the questions into your Thinkific survey.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Do A Survey On Thinkific?
To make a survey you need to go to Manage learning products > Course > select the course you’d like to add a survey to > Add a lesson > Assess your students > Survey > Add a Title > pick the type of question you’d like to add > continue adding questions until your survey is complete.
Can I Integrate Typeform With Thinkific?
Yes. To integrate Typeform, you must navigate to Multimedia lessons where you’ll be able to include your link. Your students will then be able to complete the survey when they’re completing your course.
Should I Use A Quiz Or Survey On Thinkific?
A quiz is a tool for checking the student’s knowledge and helping them understand if they have any gaps in their learning. In contrast, a survey is designed to get your students’ feedback and help you improve your course. Depending on which solution you’re looking for will determine the feature needed.
Bottom Line
Thinkific surveys are a useful feature on the platform if you are looking to obtain feedback from your students. They are simple to create and, when done well, will provide valuable and insightful information regarding your content and other products that users may be interested in.
