You build a survey in the Survey Builder after enabling Surveys in Setup. Here is the path from an empty org to a sendable survey.
- Enable Surveys in Setup
In Setup, use Quick Find to open Survey Settings and toggle Surveys to Enabled. Choose a default Experience Cloud site to host the survey runtime if prompted. This one-time step turns on the Surveys app and the underlying objects.
- Grant the right permissions
Create or assign a permission set that lets users create, send, and respond to surveys. For paid capabilities, enable Salesforce Surveys Advanced Features so merge fields, data maps, and translation become available to those users.
- Create the Survey and add questions
Open the Surveys app, click New, and name the survey. In the Survey Builder, add pages and questions, choosing the type that fits each prompt, such as NPS, rating, single-select, or free text. Set the default language for the first version.
- Add logic and personalization
Configure branching so respondents skip irrelevant pages, and insert merge fields to reference the participant or related record. Optionally build a data map so answers create or update records like Cases or follow-up tasks.
- Activate and distribute
Activate the survey to lock a version, then choose a channel: email invitation, public link, QR code, Experience Cloud embed, or a Flow-triggered invitation. Send a test to yourself before going live.
The label that identifies the Survey record and appears in the Surveys list. Pick a name that signals the program and audience, such as Post-Case CSAT.
The base language for the first survey version. Additional languages are added as translated versions under Feedback Management.
A survey needs one or more SurveyQuestion records before it can be activated and sent. The builder will not let you distribute an empty survey.
- Surveys require a default Experience Cloud site to serve the survey runtime, so enable a site before you expect public links to work.
- The included tier caps external responses. Confirm your license covers expected volume before launching a high-traffic survey.
- Editing a live survey creates a new SurveyVersion rather than changing old responses, so historical answers stay tied to the version that collected them.
- Merge fields and subject context only populate when the sending channel passes the right participant and record, so test each distribution path.