Let’s be honest: most survey tools dump all your responses into one big spreadsheet, and then you’re left squinting at columns, hoping you’ll magically spot your best sales leads or churn risks. If you’re using Survicate, you can do better—much better. This guide is for anyone who wants to stop guessing and start sending targeted follow-ups based on actual answers.
Whether you’re in marketing, product, or customer success, I’ll walk you through how to segment survey responses in Survicate so that your follow-ups aren’t just smarter—they’re actually useful.
Why Segment Survey Responses Anyway?
Let’s get this out of the way: if you treat every survey respondent the same, you’re wasting both your time and theirs. Segmentation lets you:
- Send the right message to the right people (no more generic “Thanks for your feedback!” emails).
- Spot high-value customers, churn risks, or potential advocates fast.
- Actually do something with the data, instead of letting it rot in a CSV somewhere.
But don’t overthink it. Most teams only need a handful of useful segments to get started.
Step 1: Plan Your Segments Before You Build the Survey
Don’t skip this. The biggest mistake is launching a survey and only then wondering how you’ll follow up. Get clear on:
- What actions do you want to take? (e.g., follow up with unhappy customers, upsell to promoters, etc.)
- What data do you need to do that? (e.g., NPS score, product usage, company size)
Pro tip: Sketch out your ideal segments on paper before touching Survicate. For example:
- Segment 1: Detractors (NPS 0-6) who mention “support” as an issue
- Segment 2: Promoters (NPS 9-10) using Feature X
If you can’t write a clear rule for a segment, you probably don’t need it.
Step 2: Build Your Survey with Segmentation in Mind
Survicate gives you a lot of question types and logic options. A few things to keep in mind:
- Use closed-ended questions for easy filtering. Multiple choice, NPS, or yes/no questions are much easier to segment than open-text.
- Don’t go overboard on branching logic. It’s tempting to build elaborate flows, but most of the time, simple is better.
- Tag responses on key answers. In Survicate, you can assign tags based on how someone answers a question. These tags are gold for segmentation later.
What to ignore: Fancy question types and endless open-text fields. They’re fine for qualitative research but a pain for automated follow-up.
Step 3: Set Up Response Segmentation in Survicate
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Survicate offers a few ways to slice and dice your data:
3.1 Use Filters in the Survey Results
- Go to your survey’s “Responses” tab.
- Use built-in filters to view responses by answer, tag, or metadata (like user properties if you’re passing them in).
- Save filtered views for quick access later.
3.2 Tag Respondents Automatically
- In the survey builder, set up rules to add tags based on specific answers (e.g., tag as “NPS-Promoter” for a score of 9 or 10).
- Tags travel with the response—super helpful for automation.
3.3 Leverage Attributes from Your CRM or App
- If you’re passing user data into Survicate (like plan type, signup date, industry), you can filter or segment responses by these attributes too.
- This is worth the setup if you want to get fancy, but don’t stall your project trying to wire up every possible integration.
What works best: Tagging based on key answers and filtering by those tags. Attributes are great if you already have them, but not worth delaying your launch over.
Step 4: Set Up Automated Targeted Follow-Ups
This is the whole point—getting the right message to the right people. Survicate plays nicely with a lot of email and CRM tools, but the process is mostly the same:
4.1 Connect Your Email or CRM Platform
- Head to Integrations in Survicate.
- Connect to your tool of choice (think HubSpot, Intercom, Mailchimp, etc.).
- Map survey fields to your contact records if needed.
4.2 Define Trigger Rules for Each Segment
- In your email or CRM tool, create lists or segments based on Survicate tags or response data.
- Set up automated workflows: “If contact has tag ‘NPS-Detractor’, send apology email and note for CS team.”
- You can get as fancy as you want here, but start simple: one segment, one follow-up, test it.
4.3 (Optional) Use Survicate’s Native Follow-Up Features
- Survicate does basic follow-up emails, but honestly, you’ll get far more power and flexibility in your email/CRM platform.
- For quick wins (like sending a thank-you note or a coupon), Survicate’s built-in options are fine.
What to ignore: Complicated, multi-branch automations until you’ve proven the basics work. The more complex your setup, the more likely it is to break.
Step 5: Review, Clean Up, and Iterate
No matter how careful you are, your first round of segmentation will probably be too broad or too narrow. That’s normal. Here’s how to tighten things up:
- Check your segments after the first batch of responses. Are you actually getting the people you wanted? If not, adjust your filters or tagging rules.
- Look for “garbage in, garbage out.” If your survey questions are ambiguous, your segments will be too.
- Don’t be afraid to delete or combine segments. If you’re not using a segment, it’s just clutter.
Pro tip: Run a manual export and spot-check the people in each segment. If you’re surprised by who shows up, your rules might need tweaking.
Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
1. Creating too many segments.
Start with 2-3 segments that will actually get follow-up. You can always add more later.
2. Overcomplicating survey logic.
If you’re drawing decision trees on a whiteboard, you’re probably making it too hard.
3. Forgetting about privacy and data hygiene.
Make sure you’re not sending sensitive data where it doesn’t belong. Check your integrations and who has access.
4. Relying on open-text answers for segmentation.
Text analytics are fun in theory but rarely work well for automating follow-up. Stick to structured responses for anything you want to segment.
Real-World Example: NPS Survey Segmentation
Let’s say you run a simple NPS survey. Here’s how you might segment:
- Promoters (9-10): Tag as “NPS-Promoter.” Send a referral request or testimonial ask.
- Passives (7-8): Tag as “NPS-Passive.” Send a feedback form asking what would make them love you.
- Detractors (0-6): Tag as “NPS-Detractor.” Trigger an alert to the CS team and a personal follow-up email.
You don’t need a PhD in data science for this stuff. Just use tags and basic filters.
Keep It Simple — and Iterate
Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Start with a couple of meaningful segments, use Survicate’s filters and tags, and send something helpful to each group. If you only ever segment by one question (like NPS score or satisfaction), you’re still way ahead of most teams.
You can always add complexity later. For now, focus on actually talking to the people who need it. The rest is just noise.