Survey
A Survey in Salesforce (Survey in the API) is a standard object in Salesforce Surveys (and the more advanced Salesforce Feedback Management product) that represents a single survey definition - its name, current status, default language, and the metadata that drives the survey-taking experience.
Definition
A Survey in Salesforce (Survey in the API) is a standard object in Salesforce Surveys (and the more advanced Salesforce Feedback Management product) that represents a single survey definition - its name, current status, default language, and the metadata that drives the survey-taking experience. Each Survey is the parent of a rich data model: Survey Versions track changes over time, Survey Pages organize the survey into sections, Survey Questions define individual prompts (multiple choice, single select, free text, NPS, rating, ranking, slider, file upload), Survey Invitations track who was asked to take the survey through which channel, and Survey Question Responses capture each individual answer when a respondent completes the survey. Surveys can be sent through email, embedded in Experience Cloud sites, triggered automatically by Flow when a Case is closed (CSAT) or an Opportunity is won, or distributed through public links - with all responses centralized in the same data model regardless of distribution channel for unified analysis.
In plain English
“A Survey in Salesforce is one questionnaire - a CSAT survey after a support ticket closes, an NPS survey after onboarding, an event-feedback form. The Survey record holds the definition (questions, branching, design); when respondents take it, their answers land as Survey Question Response records linked back to the Survey for analysis.”
Worked example
A customer support team wants to measure CSAT after every closed Case. The admin builds a Salesforce Survey called "Post-Case CSAT" with two pages: page one has a 5-point CSAT rating ("How satisfied were you with this case resolution?") and page two has an optional open-text comment box. They configure a Flow to fire when a Case's Status changes to Closed - the Flow generates a Survey Invitation linked to the Case, sends an email to the Case Contact with a personalized survey link, and waits. When the customer clicks the link and submits responses, Salesforce creates one Survey Response record (the completion record), one Survey Question Response per answered question, and writes back to the parent Case via Survey Subject so dashboards can see which Cases have received feedback and what the score was.
Why Survey matters
Salesforce Surveys (the entry-level product) is included with most Salesforce editions and supports unlimited internal-user surveys plus a limited number of external responses per year. Salesforce Feedback Management is the paid upgrade that lifts the response cap, adds advanced features (sentiment analysis, multi-language survey versions, image-question types, distribution at scale), and integrates with Service Cloud Voice for real-time in-call feedback. Most simple CSAT and NPS use cases are well-served by Salesforce Surveys; high-volume or sophisticated programs need Feedback Management.
Surveys support sophisticated branching and conditional logic between questions through Question Choices and Survey Page-level navigation rules. A response of 'Very Dissatisfied' on the CSAT question can branch directly to a 'What went wrong?' page while skipping the standard follow-ups, dramatically improving completion rates by avoiding irrelevant questions. Branching is configured in the Survey Builder UI rather than through direct field updates - the underlying metadata is stored on Survey Question Choice records.
Survey response data is queryable through the standard SOQL and Reports interface, but the relational structure (Survey > Survey Version > Survey Question > Survey Question Response, with Survey Invitation and Survey Subject providing context) makes ad-hoc analysis non-trivial. Most mature survey programs build dedicated CRM Analytics dashboards or export response data to a BI tool for cross-survey trend analysis, with the Salesforce-native reports providing operational rather than strategic insight.
How to create Survey
Surveys are Salesforce's built-in feedback collection tool — NPS surveys, post-Case CSAT, customer pulse questionnaires. The free tier (Salesforce Surveys) ships with most editions; paid tiers (Surveys+) add advanced features like CSAT scoring and embedded question types.
- Make sure Surveys are enabled
Setup → Survey Settings → tick Enable Surveys. Pick a default Public Site host (auto-creates an Experience Cloud site for survey delivery).
- Open the Surveys tab
App Launcher → Surveys.
- Click New
Pull up the Survey Builder.
- Set Survey Name and pick a Category
Category drives reporting groupings.
- Add Pages and Questions
Drag question types onto pages — Multiple Choice / Short Answer / Rating / NPS / Date / Picklist. Each question can be required, conditionally shown, or branched.
- Configure logic and branching
Question Logic ties answers to question visibility. NPS branching auto-routes detractors to a follow-up.
- Activate the survey → distribute
Activate generates a public URL or embeddable link. Distribute via Email Template merge field, embedded in Email Alert, or pushed to Cases on close.
Required.
A blank survey saves but is useless.
- Salesforce Surveys (the free tier) caps at 300 responses per month per org. Past that, responses still record but you need Surveys+ for unrestricted use.
- The auto-created Experience Cloud site for survey delivery has its own Guest User profile. Sharing rules / OWD on Survey Response need to allow public-write — easy to misconfigure.
- Branching logic is per-question, not per-page. Complex skip logic across pages is harder to model than in dedicated survey tools (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey).
How organizations use Survey
Sends a Salesforce Survey after every closed Case via Flow-triggered Survey Invitation. CSAT scores roll up to dashboards by agent, queue, and product line, with sub-3 scores triggering an automatic follow-up Case for the support manager to investigate.
Distributes Surveys through patient portals after each appointment. Multi-language Survey Versions support patient diversity, and sentiment-analysis on free-text Survey Question Responses (via Feedback Management) flags concerning comments for clinical leadership review within 24 hours.
Sends a single-question NPS Survey to every active customer Contact each quarter through Marketing Cloud-delivered Survey Invitations. Promoter, Passive, and Detractor segmentation flows back into Account-level health scoring used by customer success for renewal-risk modeling.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Survey.
- Salesforce Surveys OverviewSalesforce
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