If you’re in customer success, you know there’s never enough time. But you do need regular feedback to keep customers happy and spot issues before they blow up. That’s where recurring surveys come in. The trouble: getting SurveyMonkey to send out surveys automatically, on a schedule, isn’t as simple as it should be. This guide is for customer success teams who want to automate feedback without losing hours tinkering with tools.
Let’s cut through the fluff and get straight to how to actually set up recurring surveys in SurveyMonkey, what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid wasting time.
Why Recurring Surveys Matter (But Can Be a Headache)
Regular check-ins are the backbone of customer success. You want to catch churn warning signs, track satisfaction, and prove your value—all without nagging people to fill out forms every week. Automating surveys sounds like the dream, but SurveyMonkey wasn’t built with true recurring scheduling in mind, so you have to work around some limitations. Let’s be honest: it’s not magic, but you can get pretty close.
Step 1: Decide What You Actually Need to Automate
Before you dive in, figure out:
- How often do you really need to send a survey? (Monthly? Quarterly? After onboarding?)
- Who gets it? (All customers? Certain segments? Just new users?)
- Will you tweak questions over time, or keep it static?
Why bother? Because over-surveying will just annoy your customers, and under-surveying means you miss out on insight. Plus, SurveyMonkey’s automation isn’t infinite—you’ll want to keep your setup manageable.
Pro tip: Start simple. Automate one or two key surveys (like NPS or onboarding feedback) before you try to automate everything.
Step 2: Build Your SurveyMonkey Survey
You probably already know how to create a basic survey, but here are a few honest pointers:
- Keep it short. Customers will ghost you if you ask for more than a couple of minutes.
- Test it yourself. There’s always a typo or a weird logic bug hiding somewhere.
- Use templates if you’re in a hurry. SurveyMonkey has decent templates for NPS, CSAT, etc.
Don’t get carried away with fancy branching logic unless you really need it. More complexity = more things to break, especially when automating.
Step 3: Understand SurveyMonkey’s Recurring Survey Limitations
Here’s where things get real. SurveyMonkey doesn’t have a native “recurring survey” button. There are two main workarounds:
- Recurring Email Collectors (only on some paid plans)
- Manual Duplication + Scheduling
- Integrations or third-party automation tools (Zapier, Make, etc.)
Let’s go through these honestly.
Option 1: Recurring Email Collectors (If You Have Them)
If you’re on a SurveyMonkey plan that supports “Automated Recurring Invitations” via Email Collectors—great. Here’s how it works:
- You create your survey as usual.
- Go to “Collect Responses” > “Send by Email.”
- In the invitation, look for “Schedule Recurring Invitations.” (If you don’t see this, your plan doesn’t have it. Sorry.)
- Set the frequency (weekly, monthly, etc.), time, and recipient list.
The upside: This is as close to true automation as SurveyMonkey gets.
The catch: - Not all plans have this feature. - You can’t tweak the survey between sends without breaking the automation. - Recipients in the same collector will get the same survey link every time. If you want separate responses by period, you’ll need to duplicate collectors or surveys.
Reality check: This works for simple, regular check-ins. If you want to change questions often or segment your audience differently each run, it gets messy.
Option 2: Manual Duplication + Scheduling
If your plan doesn’t support recurring invitations—or you want more control—here’s the old-school way:
- Duplicate your survey for each new send.
- Create a new Email Collector each time.
- Schedule the email to send at a future date.
How to do it: 1. In SurveyMonkey, go to “My Surveys,” find your survey, and click “Duplicate.” 2. Rename it (“Customer Onboarding Survey - June 2024” etc.). 3. Set up a new Email Collector for this version. 4. Schedule the send (you can usually pick a date and time). 5. Repeat every period (put a calendar reminder so you don’t forget).
The upside: More control, and you can tweak questions each time.
The catch: It’s not hands-off. You’ll have to remember to do it, or at least batch a few months ahead.
Don’t bother: If you need to send the same survey every week to a small list, this gets old fast. Only worth it if you need to change content or audiences often.
Option 3: Integrations (Zapier, Make, etc.)
If you want real automation and have some budget (and patience), you can connect SurveyMonkey to other tools:
- Use Zapier or Make to trigger survey sends based on dates, new users, or other events.
- You’ll need to set up a “zap” (Zapier) or “scenario” (Make) to automate the duplication and distribution process.
The upside: You can automate almost anything—send surveys after a support ticket closes, or on customer anniversaries.
The catch: - You’ll need a paid plan for both SurveyMonkey and the integration tool. - Setup can be fiddly, and errors can be hard to spot. - Some actions (like duplicating a survey) aren’t supported directly, so you might be limited to sending the same survey repeatedly.
Honest take: Use this if you already use Zapier/Make for other parts of your workflow. Otherwise, it may be overkill.
Step 4: Manage Your Response Data
Recurring surveys are pointless if you can’t make sense of the results. Here’s what to do:
- Export after each period (CSV or Excel). Name your files clearly (“NPS_March2024.csv,” etc.).
- Tag or filter by collector if you’re using new collectors for each round.
- Consider a dashboard tool (like Google Data Studio or Excel) if you want to track trends over time.
Don’t rely on SurveyMonkey’s built-in analytics for long-term tracking—they’re fine for quick checks, but get unwieldy if you’re sending lots of recurring surveys.
Step 5: Close the Loop with Customers
Automation is great, but it can make you look robotic. Always:
- Thank customers for their feedback.
- Share results (even just highlights) so people know you’re listening.
- Show what you’re changing based on their input.
It’s basic, but most teams skip this. It’s the difference between a survey that builds trust and one that feels like busywork.
Pro Tips for Busy Customer Success Teams
- Automate admin, not empathy. You can schedule surveys, but you can’t automate relationships.
- Start with one recurring survey. Get the kinks out before scaling up.
- Don’t overdo frequency. Monthly is usually plenty for most customer success feedback.
- Keep your list clean. Remove bounced emails and opt-outs, or you’ll annoy people and hurt your deliverability.
- Set calendar reminders. For manual steps, a recurring calendar event is better than relying on memory.
What to Ignore (Unless You Have Tons of Time)
- SurveyMonkey Audience: Not for your own customers; it’s a paid panel for market research.
- Overly fancy integrations: Unless you’re at enterprise scale, most teams don’t need a custom middleware stack.
- Every single feedback opportunity: More isn’t better. Only automate what actually drives action.
Wrapping Up: Keep It Simple, Iterate Often
Automating recurring surveys in SurveyMonkey isn’t perfect, but you can get 80% of the value with a little setup and a lot of common sense. Start with the simplest method your plan allows, keep your questions short, and focus on what you’ll do with the feedback. Don’t get bogged down chasing perfect automation. Send, learn, adjust—and move on.
Got a better way? Great. If not, this will get you moving without burning out your team or your customers.