Hidden Fields: Using URL parameters to enrich participant profiles with external data

Hidden Fields is a new enrichment method on OpinionX surveys, enabling you to associate external data together with survey answers so that you can conduct advanced analysis using OpinionX's built in segmentation and clustering features.

Unlike the manual data imports, the most common form of enrichment on OpinionX, the Hidden Fields feature uses URL parameters (data stored inside the survey link) to associate data against survey participants. Once a participant completes their survey, this URL data gets saved on the Enrichment Tab and will appear throughout the results pages on OpinionX, just like how normal enrichment data appears.

Imagine you are planning a customer segmentation study. You'll use a ranking method like MaxDiff Analysis to measure what problem statements your target customers are most urgently interested in solving. You already have a lot of data on your customers that you'd love to use during the analysis afterwards so that you could compare differences by pricing plan, country, or industry — so how do you get this data into OpinionX for analysis?

You could manually import this data into the Enrichment Tab before downloading a list of unique links or sending email invites, but if you have a very large userbase, this becomes impractical very quickly. Instead, you could create a template link with 'gaps' for each type of data you'll want to add, and then run this through an external data source like your CRM to programmatically generate a customized link for each survey participant.

Once they finish the survey with this link, you'll see an "Enrichment Data" section on your Results Overview tab and this enrichment data will be included in all of OpinionX's segmentation and clustering tools:

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To start, you'll need to define the structure of your Enrichment Tab. You'll need to create a list of data point you want included as URL Parameters. Next, create a spreadsheet where each column represents one data type. Here's an example with Email, ID, First Name, Last Name, Gender, Region, and Product Usage Frequency:

This sheet needs at least 2 rows. The first row should have the name of the data type ("first_name") and a second row with one example of the data that will go in here ("Dorine"). Save this spreadsheet as a .csv and then import it into your Enrichment Tab on OpinionX:

After you import this .csv, you'll need to define each column from the spreadsheet. The two main tasks here are:

1) Data Type: Is this data Unique or Categorical? Categorical data is when many participants share the same answer (eg. Gender). It's used for tagging participants into groups so that you can filter and segment your results later on. Unique data is free form text where people generally have their own values, like for names, ID numbers, and addresses.

2) Data Name: This step is particularly important for Hidden Fields. Give each field its own name, avoiding any duplication of names, using only lowercase text, adding underscores instead of spaces, and excluding special characters otherwise. This will prevent potential issues later on with your URL parameters.

Once you're ready, hit 'Next' to finish your data imports. Once the Enrichment Tab populates, you'll see a button for Hidden Fields. Clicking this button will reveal your smart link in a popup menu. You can see in the example below how the structure of your smart link matches your data import:

Now you're ready to copy your smart link and get your survey started! Alternatively, import a full dataset and use our built-in features for downloading a list of unique links for each participant or trigger email invites directly from inside OpinionX.

URL Parameters come in two common formats, some with a question mark (?) and some with a hashtag (#). OpinionX allows both formats, but you need to specify which you intend to use when copying the link from the Hidden Fields menu.

▸ Special Characters: Ampersand (&) symbols are not allowed in hidden fields. If you include & in a value, the ampersand and all text after it will be ignored. For example, if for first_name you included Robert&Mary, the saved value will be just Robert. In general, the fewer special characters, the less likely something will go wrong.

▸ Data Gaps: You can exclude a data name from the Hidden Field or put the values in a different order, it will not break the link.

▸ Character Limit: If your URL is over 2000 characters once enriched, there is a chance that the data will not be saved (different browsers have different URL character limits). As we cannot know the length of the URL until you have enriched the value fields with participant data, this is something that you must ensure on your end. If you are limited by character count, I would suggest prioritizing identifier data (like user ID or email) and using a post-survey enrichment import to get the remainder of the data into OpinionX for analysis.

▸ New Categories: If you include a value for a categorical field that doesn't already exist on your survey, it will be added as a new option.

▸ Pricing Plan: While the Hidden Fields link is visible to all users, it will only collect and store data if your survey is on the Analyze tier or higher.