Polls

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Creating a poll
• Present poll feature
• Responding to a poll
• Viewing poll results
• Permissions and visibility
• Managing polls
• Example use cases
• Using AI to help create polls

Overview

Polls allow you to quickly gather opinions, votes, and feedback directly in your intranet through simple, standalone, one-question interactions. This article explains how to create, respond to, and manage polls, as well as how visibility and permissions work.

Creating a poll

Polls are enabled by default in the Manage > Application > Employee Listening menu. App managers can enable or disable polls at any time, as well as control whether or not to allow generative AI in poll creation.

Once enabled at the app level, polls can be created via the Polls menu on the left-hand navigation.

1. From the Polls menu, click Create poll.

   1. Note:

      All users will have access to the Polls menu so they can always view applicable polls they can participate in. Only those users granted permission by an app manager can create new polls.

2. If using AI, enter a prompt describing the question you want asked or use one of the suggested prompts. You may see up to five quick-start prompts below the AI field. These are topic ideas generated based on your job title, department, and language settings. They’re designed to help you get started quickly with relevant poll ideas.
3. Your prompt can include keywords the AI should mention, tone, or any other components. You can always generate a question and edit it manually as you need. More on using AI in polls below. Otherwise, click Or create it manually.
4. Input your question and options. Choose Add option to add more. Once finished, click Next.
5. Choose which audience this poll should be for. Toggle All organization if the poll is applicable to all users. Otherwise, we can choose from various audiences like Location audiences.
6. Once you have your audience chosen, click Done.
7. Select the participation window from the dropdown. This is how long the voting window will be open on the poll.
8. Choose whether to allow respondents to :
   • Choose multiple options if applicable
   • Keep responses confidential - names will be hidden from everyone, including the poll creator and app managers
   • Show results after participation - if this toggle is flipped OFF, only poll creators and admins can see results

Present poll feature

The Present feature allows creators and managers to display a poll in full-screen mode during live meetings or events. A QR code is provided so attendees can vote instantly from their devices. The QR code acts as a redirect to the mobile intranet app. If users don't have the app installed, they'll be prompted to log in to the mobile web version via their mobile browser.

Results are displayed live, based on the chosen visibility settings.

Present poll is especially effective as an icebreaker and a way to increase repeat engagement with your intranet. By creating fun, interactive moments in meetings, it encourages employees to participate and return to the intranet to see results and future polls, helping to build ongoing habits of use.

Responding to a poll

Any user included in the Audience you selected when creating the poll can respond to it. 

Respondents select their choice by clicking on an option. Any respondent can change their selection at any time while the poll is active. Vote changes are tracked in the poll's results CSV download available to poll creators and admins.

Viewing poll results

Depending on the parameters set up during poll creation, all existing results become visible to the respondent only after voting themselves, and are visible immediately once a user votes. 

Poll creators can decide how responses and results are shared when setting up a poll:

• Confidential responses - Participant names are hidden from everyone, including the poll creator and managers. Results are shown only in aggregate, and only once five or more responses have been submitted.
• Show results after participation - Participants can view poll results only after submitting their vote. Creators and managers can always view results (with participant names, unless Confidential is enabled).
• Show results before participation - Participants can view poll results before voting. Creators and managers can always view results (with participant names, unless Confidential is enabled).
• Default (no toggle selected) - Results (including participant names) are visible only to the poll creator and poll managers. Participants cannot see results.

To view results from a poll:

1. Head to the Polls menu and locate your poll. You can use the Search bar by typing in any words or phrases mentioned in the poll. You can't search by creator name. You can also filter results by: 

   • All 

   • Active 

   • Draft 

   • Closed

And filter by:

• Polls created by me

• Polls I can manage

• Polls I can participate in

Results include:

• Raw vote counts for each option.

• Percentages based on total votes.

• Results update in real time as votes are cast or changed.

Who can see results?

• Poll creators and poll managers can always access poll results. In confidential polls, they only see aggregate results after five or more responses and participant names are never visible.

• If enabled by the poll creator, respondents who are not app managers can results.

• Users who are not part of the chosen audience for the poll will not see results, nor the poll itself.

  

Permissions and visibility

Any user who falls into the applicable Audience the poll is created for can participate. If the audience is "All organization", that means all active intranet users can see and participate in the poll.

Poll creators and app managers can edit (while in Draft mode) or delete polls. 

Permissions:

Managing polls

Editing a poll can only be done while the poll is still in Draft mode. Once published, the poll creator cannot edit a poll. Once a poll has closed and voting has concluded, it cannot be republished in any way. Poll visibility is determined by end date or manual closure.

Polls can be closed (ended) or deleted by an app manager or the creator at any time. A closed poll means voting can no longer take place, but results will be available. Deleting a poll means removing it, along with the results, from the intranet entirely.

You can also download a CSV of all results for easy offline sharing. Depending on how the poll was configured, the CSV will highlight:

• Poll question

• Voter ID

• Full name of voter

• Department name of voter

• Role name (if applicable) of voter

• Selected option

• Time the user submitted their response (changed responses from the same user are tracked here as well)

Example use cases

While other Simpplr tools like surveys can work for gathering a lot of important information from your users, you might find more success and convenience when it comes to polls in some real-life use cases that typically require shorter, one-off responses, such as:

• Team scheduling: Which time works best for next week’s sync?

• Feedback collection: What format should we use for training?

• Employee sentiment checks: How comfortable are you with the new tool rollout?

• Engagement and fun: Vote for the theme of our holiday party!

Using AI to help create polls

When enabled in Manage > Application > Employee Listening, AI generates quick-start prompts along with suggested poll question and answer choices based on the details you provide. You can review, edit, or regenerate the suggestions before finalizing your poll. By default, AI poll generation is enabled. App managers can disable it in Manage > Application > Employee Listening.

1. If using AI to create your poll, you may see up to five quick-start prompts below the AI field. These are topic ideas generated based on your job title, department, and language settings. They’re designed to help you get started quickly with relevant poll ideas. It's worth noting that the AI may not be entirely accurate every time, and you may see fewer than five prompts when creating the poll.