How to create and use beehiiv surveys

Surveys are a powerful tool for gathering insights directly from your subscribers through your newsletter. They offer a quick and efficient way to collect data, which you can then use to refine your content and improve the subscriber experience.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about creating and using surveys in beehiiv. We’ll start with tips and resources for setting up your survey, followed by ways to leverage the data you collect. 

You’ll find a video tutorial that walks you through creating a survey for new subscribers, as well as written instructions for designing surveys for any purpose. We’ll also explore different question types and explain what actions you can take after publishing your survey.

Quick tips to get you started

• Survey forms are not the same as subscribe forms, which only collect emails for subscription purposes.
• Your subscribers will need to be logged in to take your survey so that their responses will be attached to the correct subscriber.
• Each response that you collect in your survey is connected to a custom field attached to each subscriber’s profile.
• If you have gathered information about your subscribers outside of beehiiv, you can manually edit a custom field for each subscriber.
• You can use custom fields to segment your audience for insights and personalization.
• Survey responses can be used to create automations.

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Ways to use surveys 

Surveys are a flexible way to engage subscribers and gather meaningful insights at key moments in their journey. While the video below shows how to create a survey for new subscribers, there are many other useful applications, including:

• Unsubscribe surveys: Collect feedback on why a subscriber chose to opt out.
• Downgrade surveys: Prompt readers to share why they’re downgrading from a paid subscription. This option can be used as a part of the Subscriber Retention Flow, or used as a stand-alone survey.
• Statistical information for advertising purposes:
  • Demographics
  • Income
  • Occupation
• Address and mailing information: Useful for giveaways or shipping products.
• General surveys relative to your audience and newsletter topics:
  • How often have you used AI this week?
  • What is your favorite Dad Joke?
  • How did you hear about us?
  • Is a hot dog a sandwich?
• Feedback Surveys: Collect direct feedback from your audience. (For more details on creating feedback surveys, see our beehiiv blog article here.)

For those using the Website Builder, you can also use surveys to collect more info from your audience as a part of your signup flows. Users will be redirected to the survey immediately after signing up to your newsletter. 

To do this, you will create a survey, then set it as your Subscribe survey by following the instructions in our guide: Adding signup flows to your website subscribe forms.

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Watch and learn: How to create a subscribe survey + automation

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How to create a survey

1. From the left panel, go to Subscribers > Surveys.
2. Your Surveys dashboard will open, click on the Create survey button.
   
   
   
3. A module will appear for you to add your first question. 
   
   
   

• Title (required): Enter the first (or only) question into the Title field.  
• Question type (required): Choose from Short response, Multiple choice, Dropdown, or Long response. More details about each response type are provided below. 
• Custom field value (required): Select a custom field to associate with the question. The options are based on the custom fields you've created in your account. Or, you can click + Create new to add a new custom field to use. 
• Add question: Review your form details and when satisfied, click the Add question button. 
   

4. The form builder will open with your question on the canvas. To add additional questions, click the plus sign and continue adding as desired. 
   
   In the bottom left corner of the form builder, you’ll find controls for zooming in and out, centering, and locking your form. 
   
   
   

5. To rename your survey, click the pencil icon next to the title in the center. The form Settings will open. 
   
   

   
   
   Update the Title of your new survey, then give it a Description, if desired. Decide on the text you’d like to appear on the call-to-action (CTA) button of your form, and add a Thank you message for when the form has been submitted. 
   
   Review your form details and when satisfied, click the Update survey button. 
   Note: Keep in mind that everything you add to the survey, including the title and description, will be visible to your subscribers.
6. You’ll return the form builder where you can continue adding onto your survey. Click the plus icon below the first question to bring up the new question module. 
   
   Add a new question as the Title, select a Question type, and Custom field value, then click Add question. 
   
   
   
7. After each question has been added, you’ll see them load beneath each other in the survey form builder. You can drag and drop the questions into the order you desire, or click the trashcan icon to delete. 
   
   To make any question required on your survey, enable the Required on form option in the bottom right corner of the question on the canvas. Changes are saved automatically. 
   
   
   
8. Once you’re done adding questions, be sure to review the look of your form. Click on Preview in the top right corner to see it as your subscribers will see it. A new tab will open with the preview of your survey. 
   
   
   
9. When you are satisfied with the look and content of your survey, click the Publish button in the top right corner of the form builder. 
   
   A confirmation message will appear, informing you that you won’t be able to edit the survey details once it is live. Click Publish again to confirm and make your survey active.  
   
   
   

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Managing your published surveys

After you’ve published a survey, you’ll be returned to your Surveys dashboard. Here, you can manage your surveys and perform various actions by clicking the 3 dots menu next to each survey, as detailed in the chart below.

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Survey question type options 

When creating a survey, you can choose from the following question types: Short Response, Multiple Choice, Dropdown, or Long Response. Here’s what each type entails:

Short response: A short response question type allows your readers  to enter a brief text answer. It’s ideal for collecting short pieces of information, such as first or last names.

Multiple choice: With a multiple choice question type, you can provide a list of options from which respondents can choose. Once added, drag and drop them into your preferred order. Click the pencil icon to edit or the trashcan icon to delete an option. 


Dropdown: The dropdown question type allows you to create a list of options that your readers can select from using a dropdown menu. Once added, drag and drop them into your preferred order. Click the pencil icon to edit or the trashcan icon to delete an option. 


Long response: A long response question type lets your readers input text of up to a specified character limit. You can set the minimum and maximum characters limit up to 1,000.

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