Sending Surveys From Your Domain

What is client domain sending?

By default, invites to your ClearlyRated survey come from our email - survey@clearlyrated.com. Client domain sending allows the survey to come from your own email domain instead.

For example: customercare@yourb2bfirm.com

What are the advantages of sending survey invites from my domain?

The two biggest advantage to consider are:

Increased survey response rates: Your survey recipients already know and trust your email domain, making it more likely they'll open the survey invite and click on the survey link.
Better email deliverability: Email providers (like Gmail, Outlook, etc) may provide preferential treatment to emails coming from a domain the user has already interacted with.

It's important to keep in mind that many factors influence the two points above and that results will vary between firms. However, one early adopter saw a 20% increase in responses after implementing client domain sending.

What does it take to set up client domain sending?

Short Answer: Our mail server and your mail server need to connect so that ClearlyRated has permission to send survey invites from your domain. This will require some help from your IT team. You will also need to choose the email address that will be the "from" address for your survey invites - see the example email above.

Long (Technical) Answer for Your IT Team: The process involves implementing the following settings:

Set up a subdomain for use with client domain sending. We use crsurvey.yournormaldomain.com for this. We don’t want to implement these settings on your main domain because we don’t want to interrupt your normal email.
Setup SPF and DKIM, which are basically the permission and the password used to prove we are allowed to send on your behalf.
Set up the MX records. This is somewhat un-intuitive because MX is meant for receiving mail. However, many recipient mail servers (like Outlook) will check for MX records as a way of sniffing out spam servers. We’ve seen 15%+ bounce rate in tests where we didn’t include MX in client domain sending.
Set up the CNAME record. This is mainly used to track things like open rate.

The exact steps depend on what email provider you use, but guides for doing this are available for just about any of them.

What is the cost of client domain sending?

It's included in your current package at no extra cost!

Do response rates always go up with client domain sending?

Not always. The main benefit of client domain sending is piggybacking off of the "sender reputation" of your company's email domain. ClearlyRated has a very high sender rep, as it is core to our business. In cases where the client domain's reputation is much lower than ClearlyRated's, it may actually be a downgrade to send this way.

Fortunately, once client domain sending is setup, it can easily be turned on and off based on its affect on your response rates.

How do I get started?

Reach out to your Customer Success Manager!

Templates for Responding to Common Survey Questions

In our years of fielding surveys, we've collected a handful of answers to common questions and scenarios that will come up from your respondents. You can find a template of answers to these common questions below. We encourage you to copy and paste, or use the responses below as a template for your own responses.

1. Survey respondent provides feedback in the email instead of their survey

The Scenario:

A respondent leaves a score and/or feedback directly in the email. This may happen with our embedded links as the respondent may not know how to access the survey. You can provide the survey link to them by selecting the embedded link, then copying the URL.

Suggested Response:

Hello [NAME],

Thanks for the great feedback! Unfortunately, we can’t compile feedback sent by email. Please leave it as a response in the survey. If you click on the numbered bar in the email it should take you to the survey; however, if you’re having trouble accessing the survey this way, try using this direct link: [LINK]. If you’re willing to provide your response we’d really appreciate it!

Thanks,

2. Survey respondent replies that they've already left feedback, but they haven’t actually taken the survey

The Scenario:

A respondent may let you know that they’ve already completed the survey (but they haven’t). This also can happen if you are a client who sends daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly surveys. In this case, if a recipient has any new comments, let them know they have the option to complete the next survey as part of your company’s survey cadence.

Suggested Response:

Hi [NAME],

This survey came from ClearlyRated, the third-party administrator of this survey. These surveys are sent on a regular basis. While we do have your responses from the previous round of surveys, we do not have a response from you on the most recent survey. If you have some feedback you are willing to provide, we'd love to hear from you. But if not that's ok too!

Thanks,

3. Survey respondent requests to retake the survey

The Scenario:

A respondent wants to retake the survey for one reason of another. If you receive any of these requests, please reach out to us at support@clearlyrated.com and we will take care of this for you!

Suggested Response:

Hi [NAME],

This survey came from ClearlyRated, the third-party administrator of this survey. Thank you for letting us know you’d like to retake the survey.

Please note that this action will clear your previous answers and is irreversible. If you could confirm that this is what you'd like to do, then I will go ahead and reach out to ClearlyRated and ask that they reset the survey. You should see the survey in your inbox within 24 hours.

Thanks,

4. “Why am I receiving this survey?”

The Scenario:

Some survey respondents may feel they have not worked with you long enough to leave feedback, maybe, they don’t recognize your brand name in the email or are generally confused why we’re asking for their feedback. In these cases, you can let them know they aren’t obligated to complete the survey.

Suggested Response:

Hi [NAME],

This survey came from ClearlyRated, the third-party administrator of this survey. This survey was sent out to all individuals who are involved with the [insert industry] relationship. The email is just to make sure you weren't having any issues with any interaction you may have had. Please don't feel obligated to respond if you don't feel you have any feedback to provide.

Thanks,

5. Survey respondent requests to be unsubscribed from our survey

The Scenario:

A respondent wants to unsubscribe - some requests are unfortunately more polite than others. You can unsubscribe the contact by using the “Unsubscribe” button at the bottom of the survey invite email, then let them know you’ve carried out their request.

You can also use this link to unsubscribe someone: https://dashboard.clearlyrated.com/unsubscribe

Suggested Response:

Hi [NAME]

This survey came from ClearlyRated, the third-party administrator of this survey. I have clicked the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email sent to you and removed you from our lists. If you receive any other survey emails, please let me know ASAP.

Thanks,

If you would like further assistance, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager!