Add a “How did you hear about us” survey to your website

Artem Tiulnikov Artem Tiulnikov 5 min read

If you advertise your business on different channels, you’re probably wondering what’s really working for you and what’s not. Sure, there are various web analytics tools showing where your website visitors come from, but they won’t provide you with deeper insight.

So, why not ask your visitors directly: “How did you hear about us?”

A quick survey will eliminate the guesswork and help identify the channels you otherwise might be unable to track.

You can display this survey anywhere on your website and it may look somewhat like this 👇


In this post, you’re going to learn how to create a simple “How did you hear about us” survey using Getsitecontrol online form builder. It’s a powerful tool to help you create any type of forms and popups requiring zero coding knowledge or experience.

Once we’re done with a brief technical part, we’ll go over the tips and tricks to help you maximize the survey completion rate.

How to add a survey to your website using Getsitecontrol

To kick things off, use one of the templates from the quick-start gallery. Click on each template to see it in action, and once you find what you like, follow the instructions on the right-hand side to add it to the Getsitecontrol dashboard.

How to create a “How did you hear about us?” survey for your website

From there, you’ll be able to customize the copy and the look of the survey, as well as set up the rules for when and where it should pop up on your website.

Step 1. Adjust the copy (if needed)

Most “How did you hear about us” surveys have a standard set of response options. However, if you’d like to add or remove some of the default responses, make a click on them right on the popup and make the changes on the second screen.

How to customize the copy on the survey form in Getsitecontrol

To remove a response option, click on the gear-wheel and select ‘Remove’. To change it, just type new text over the old one.

Those who fill out the form on your website will see a submission success message. In your dashboard, it’s located on Page 2.

Submission success page example

Use this page to thank the respondents for participating. You can leave the default message or write another one using the tone of voice that is closer to your brand’s.

Step 2. Adjust the design

Now, if you’d like to change the color theme, font, or style of the survey, open the Theme menu. You can select one of the pre-made themes from the dropdown list or select the colors manually.

How to change the design of the “How did you hear about us?” survey

You’re able to survey mobile visitors, too! Use the mobile preview button at the bottom to see how the form will look on smaller screens.

Step 3. Decide when the survey should be displayed

The last step before activating the form on your website is to set the rule for when the survey should be displayed. To get started, open the Targeting tab and find the following fields:

  • Start to display the widget
  • Stop to display the widget

Remove the default settings from these fields and set your own rules. For example, we recommend displaying the survey after a visitor spends some time on a website or scrolls down the page.

How to set the rules for when to display a survey

For when to stop displaying the survey, you can follow the example above. These settings indicate that the survey will stop displaying to those who have filled it out. Those who closed the survey without responding will see it again in a week, provided they visit your website repeatedly.

💡Want to display the survey on selected pages only? Type their URLs in the field titled Show widget on these pages.

When you’re done, proceed to the Save & close button in the top right corner. Then activate the form and it will go live right away on every page of your website.

How to view survey responses

When your survey starts collecting submissions, you’ll see it right in your Getsitecontrol dashboard. To view the responses, open the Statistics report and proceed to Responses. This is what the report will look like 👇

How to view survey responses in Getsitecontrol

And you’re done! Now that you know how to create a basic “How did you hear about us” survey, let’s talk about how to maximize responses.

How to maximize the completion rate of your survey

Surveys might be easy to participate in, but still, people often ignore them. To help you get as many survey responses as possible, we’ve shared three proven tips below.

1. Display “How did you hear about us” survey at the right moment

What is the right moment to ask visitors where they learned about you? To answer this question, you need to figure out when your website visitors are more likely to engage with you.

Technically, you can display this survey:

  • At once — as soon as a visitor opens your website.
  • With a delay — several seconds after the visit session starts.
  • Right before they leave — by creating a website exit survey.

You can also ask your visitors to fill out the survey after they’ve had a positive interaction with the website: for instance, right after they sign up for your newsletter, buy from you, get their questions answered, or issues resolved.

To display the survey according to your preferences, select the desired conditions in the Targeting tab.

Conditions for when a survey should pop up on a website

You can also make the survey pop up on a button click or display it based on your site logic.

2. Add a welcome page to your survey

A welcome page is an extra page displayed before the survey question. It is typically used to explain the purposes of the survey and entice visitors to participate — for example, with a coupon. Having a welcome page might be a good idea because it creates higher chances of grabbing visitors’ attention.

A welcome message may look something like this 👇

Welcome page example for the “How did you hear about us?” survey

To add an extra page to your survey, open the editing mode and use the “+” button at the end of the page list. From there, you’ll be able to customize the copy and design of the page, as well as drag it around to achieve the desired page order.

3. Tailor your survey to mobile screens

If you know a large chunk of your audience comes from mobile devices, you should ensure seamless user experience for them, too. To see how the survey will look on mobile, switch to the mobile preview mode using the corresponding button.

Survey mobile preview mode in Getsitecontrol

As you can see, Getsitecontrol makes it a no-brainer for you. All the popups adapt to smaller screens automatically, so typically you don’t have to do anything.

Wrapping up

Now you’re perfectly capable of creating a simple “How did you hear about us” survey for your website. Congratulations! This is only one of the many surveys you can build with the help of Getsitecontrol. Feel free to check out what else lies in store for you.

You’re reading Getsitecontrol usecase collection where we talk about the best practices for using website popups. This usecase is a part of Collect feedback section.

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