Web Options

Web Options Properties

Access existing test interview - [available in the Test mode] a link is displayed for each language. Click the appropriate link to open the survey tree.
When re-entering, respondent continues automatically from last question answered - check this box to send respondents directly to the last question they answered if they leave the survey before completing and then re-enter. Note that this functionality is only applied if the respondent is entering the survey via a direct link.
Include back button - the Back button allows the respondent to step backwards in the Survey and review/modify previous answers. This option is selected as default. While this box is selected, it also forces the Allow respondents to change their original answer option described below to true.
Override browser back button... - causes the browser's Back button to simulate a click of the Back-button in the survey.
Set focus to first control on page - ignores all the Windows toolbar controls and sets the focus to the first Authoring control on a page to avoid the respondent having to tab through browser menus etc.
Enable short URLs - [The Short URLs functionality is an add-on. Contact Forsta Support for details]. To avoid texts that are too long, users who wish to send survey invitations and reminders through SMS need shorter survey URLs than the standard respondent URLs used by Authoring. When this property is enabled, the respondent URLs will be on the short format. Note that short URLs expire after six months of inactivity; either six months after a link was last accessed, or if never accessed, six months after the link was created. Note also that for performance reasons the short URLs will be recreated each time you view or make changes (you go to the Respondents > Edit menu, launch the survey, email the short URL etc.). Previously created URLs will remain valid.

Note: Due to the shorter key, short URLs are inherently less secure than full encrypted URLs. The Short URL functionality is intended to be used when there are restrictions on the length of the message, as in for example SMS messages. In all other cases you are recommended to use regular encrypted URLs.

Prevents survey page being displayed within a frame - when this option is checked, if the survey page is placed within a frame then it will not appear and it will not be possible to start the survey. Surveys with this enabled will not be displayed without JavaScript being enabled in the browser. This is recommended for security reasons to prevent click-jacking.
Default language for the interview - select the language to be used as default from the list of languages available for the survey.
Respondent links should expire... - you can specify that a respondent's link to the survey will expire a set number of days after the initial invitation email is sent, even if the survey itself is still open. The expiry date is based on the date registered for the first email sent to the respondent for this survey (go to Respondent Data Editor Overview for more information), and the survey will close at midnight (23:59.59) on the specified day. Check the box and type in the required number of days. Note that the day the first email is sent is included in this number. So for example, setting this value to 1 and sending an invitation at 2pm would mean the survey will close for those respondents at midnight the same day.

Include a link that, upon re-entry… - this feature applies to Limited Surveys with the Generate Back Button option selected, and allows respondents to continue where they left off. Use it in combination with the "Continue link" visual component in Theme in Survey Layout. If the respondent returns to a partially completed interview, he/she will be brought to the very beginning of the Survey and, if necessary, will be able to modify his/her answers. If the respondent does not want to modify previously given answers, he/she will be able to click the link to be taken to the point at which they left off, and can then continue taking the survey from there.
Allow respondents to change their original answers - this option controls the way in which the generated interview handles re-entry to a Survey page. Re-entry to Limited surveys can occur if a respondent uses the browser's Back button, or if he/she returns to the Survey using the URL received in the email requesting participation in the survey. If the survey is to be “one-shot”, then do not select this option. The interview will then behave as follows:
If a respondent has completed the Survey and attempts to return to it, then the interview program displays a “Survey already completed” message.
If the respondent returns to a partially completed interview, then a “You have already completed parts of the Survey. Press OK to continue” message is displayed.
If it is detected that the browser's back-button has been used, then a “Previous answers may not be modified. Press OK to continue” message is displayed.
Allow respondents to re-enter a completed interview and change their answers - this option applies to Limited surveys (login page and cryptic link) only and it controls whether the respondents can enter the survey after they have completed the entire interview.

Important
This functionality only works when set by a stop-node or when the survey is actually completed; it will not work based on the status set in a script. As a workaround you can add at the beginning of the survey a condition, with the expression 'GetStatus()=="complete" and containing a stop-node.

Note: The generator supports two kinds of surveys: limited and open, and there are two types of limited surveys: cryptic link and login-page-protected surveys. Limited surveys can only be accessed by respondents identified in a respondent list (go to Handling Respondents in Limited Surveys for more information).

When you do not choose the Limited Survey option in the Web Interview Generator, an open survey will be generated. Respondents will be able to access the survey through the same link. You can generate a pop-up survey, or you can also protect an open survey with a password by programming a password in the Survey and distributing it to all respondents.

Open Survey - open surveys may be answered by anyone who wishes to do so. As such, they are suitable for surveys where the respondents' identities cannot be established in advance, for example Web site evaluations.
Inline survey - allows you to embed your survey into any web page without having to use iFrames. When you select this option and launch the survey, a script tag is generated which you can then include on the web page. When someone goes to that web page, the survey will be displayed "in-line" (as an overlay). When you select this option, additional properties become available, and the Inline Survey Preview item becomes available in the Designer menu (click this to preview the survey as an "inline" page; click Survey Settings to return to the Survey Settings page). Note that for inline surveys a limit is imposed on the length of responses allowed - an error message is displayed on launch if the survey includes unrestricted open text questions or questions with a field width greater than 500 characters. Note also that you can set a theme to be the "Inline theme" (go to Themes for more information). This theme will then be used by default for inline surveys.
Web site intercept overlay survey - enables you to place a button on for example your company website, that will ask a visitor if they wish to complete a short survey, for example to rate the website or information they have been given.
Pop-Up Survey - you can create a survey that pops up automatically when for example someone enters your website. Check this box to create the necessary code, which you can then copy to the website. The browser window will close automatically when the respondent reaches the last page. If you launch the survey in the Test database first, the Pop-up Wizard opens in which you can set up the pop-up window.
Create database row only after first page submission - when this setting is enabled, delivery of the first page of the interview to the respondent will no longer be considered as the respondent starting the interview. The survey will therefore no longer create database rows (in the respondent, responseX and response_control tables), and the “Incomplete” count will also not be incremented, at this point. Instead the rows will be created only when a response to the first page is received. This applies to all areas of Authoring, the only exception being that the Interview Progress overlay will contain a additional field “Total interviews initiated” (go to Interview Progress for more information). The field displays the count of respondents who have received the first page of the interview irrespective of whether or not the page has been submitted. This field will only appear if the survey is open with this setting enabled and there is at least one respondent who falls into this category. It is possible with either setting to perform scripting before the first interactive node is displayed to the respondent; however if the setting is enabled, the response data will not be stored in the survey database until the first page has been submitted. Surveys with no interactive pages are accommodated and will have the appropriate rows created, and the interview will complete with the appropriate status. When this setting is enabled, respondents who have not yet submitted the first page will not have a “Dropout Question” system variable assigned, so those respondents will not be available for analysis in Reportal. Note that although with this setting enabled the survey will not create database rows until the first page is received, the respid is still considered used by the system so will not be reallocated to any subsequent interview.

Important
If you have a chart in your survey then you should ensure an interactive item is located before the chart, otherwise the chart may display double results.

Limited Survey - email invitation - this requires that a list of respondents, with their email addresses, be uploaded to the survey. You can then set up an e-mailing task via Respondent > Emailing(go to Handling Respondents in Limited Surveys for more information), and each respondent will then be sent a unique link, which includes identification credentials, to the survey. If you choose to run the survey from a secure site, a cryptic link to the survey could for example look as below:

http://survey.confirmit.com/wix/pXXXXXXX.aspx?r=112&s=VDDNCVPK&l=9 or

https://survey.confirmit.com/wix/pXXXXXXX.aspx?r=112&s=VDDNCVPK&l=9

where r = a sequential respondent number assigned by the system.

s = a randomly generated 8-digit code, uniquely produced for each respondent (giving 268 alternatives).

L = the language in which the respondent receives the survey.

Limited Survey with Login Page - select this option if you wish to create a limited survey with a login page where the respondent enters a user name and a password to participate. This requires that a list of respondents, including the user id and password fields, is uploaded to the survey (go to Preparing the Respondent List for more information). You can edit the login page and the page texts as required (go to Editing the Respondents' Login Page for more information).

Note: When sending emails to respondents, do not choose the Include Link option, but paste in the general open link to the survey (go to Handling Respondents in Limited Surveys for more information).

Note: To prevent unauthorized access, a respondent will be locked out of a survey after 10 failed login attempts. The message "This user cannot be logged on" will then be displayed to the respondent. To allow further login attempts, the project owner or an administrator must reset the counter. To do this, go to the Respondent Data Editor (go to Respondent Data Editor Overview for more information) and reset the "FailedLoginAttempts" value for that respondent to 0.

Enforce entry of username and password after secure survey link timeout - if enabled, access to the limited survey is more strictly controlled. When enabled, links that are generated have an internal validity period (they expire after a period of time). This period is controlled as a site configuration value (default of 30 minutes). If a link timeout has occurred, the respondent must enter their username and password (userid and password respondent data fields) to participate in the survey. The setting is disabled by default. When enabled, expired emailed survey invitation links will not allow respondents to go directly into the survey, but will additionally require respondents to enter their userid and password. Also, if during the survey the respondent is redirected out of the survey to a different URL and later redirected back, upon redirection back the timeout may have expired and the user will be required to re-authenticate.
Require Only User ID... - this checkbox is active when you select the Limited survey with login page option. Check the box to allow the respondent to log in to the survey without having to specify a password.

Note: When the userid is the only authentication mechanism, the surveys will be more vulnerable to unauthorized access; it will be much easier for a prospective intruder to find just a matching userid than a userid/password combination. This mode is therefore not recommended for surveys where it is required that only designated respondents gain access.

Limited Survey with External Respondent Creation – this survey option is only available if the company has an AES encryption key defined. This option is only valid for the Web Survey channel; the other channels do not support this mode.

Note: Once this option has been selected and the database has been created, the option is set for the database. If the option is later de-selected, then the survey database must be recreated.

Single sign on survey - this option is only available to users who have the Single Sign On (SSO) add-on. The add-on enables respondents who are already logged in to a site "approved" by Authoring to enter the survey without logging in again.
Professional Panel - this option is only visible when the user has licensed the Professional Panel functionality. For further information, refer to the Professional Panels documentation.

Inline Survey

The Inline Survey functionality allows you to embed your survey into any web page without having to use iFrames. When you select this option and launch the survey, a script tag is generated and presented on the Survey Overview page (go to General for more information), which you can then include on the web page. When you check the Inline Survey box, a panel of options appears - .

The options that become available when you check the Inline Survey box

Figure 2 - The options that become available when you check the Inline Survey box

The properties and fields are as follows:

Display options - the survey does not have to appear to every person going to the web page - you can set the frequency at which you want the survey to appear. For example, type in 3 to have the survey appear to every third person who enters the web page.
Cookie options - you can add a cookie to the survey that prevents respondents re-entering the survey within a preset time limit. Select the desired option, then set the cookie name and expiry time as appropriate.
No cookie - no cookie is added to the survey, so respondents can return to the survey if/when they wish.
Prevent repeat respondents on same machine - the cookie is "browser-specific", meaning that when this option is selected the survey cannot be reentered from the same browser on the same pc within the expiry time. The cookie will be set when the respondent reaches the status/end page.
Remember respondent on same machine - the respondent data will be remembered such that it can be changed but not entered as data from a "new" respondent.
Window options - type in the desired width and height of the survey window, in pixels.

Note: A limit is imposed on the length of responses for an Inline Survey. An error message is displayed on launch if the survey includes unrestricted open text questions or questions with a field width greater than 2000 characters. Note that for the respondents, IE and some other browsers cannot support 2000 characters.

Show as overlay - check this box if you want the survey window to be displayed as an overlay.
Overlay opacity - when the survey is presented "inline", it is displayed in front of and smaller than the viewer's current web page. In addition the background area surrounding the overlay can be shaded to indicate to the viewer that the survey page is now in focus. Overlay Opacity specifies how opaque the background area around the overlaid question is to be. A setting of 0 gives no shading; a setting of 1 makes the background area dark. Go to the Designer > Inline Survey Preview menu item to preview the survey and adjust the opacity using a slider (click Survey Settings to close the preview). Save any changes you make while in the preview.

Note: Inline surveys are not intended to be integrated with portals. Problems will occur in the event current responses are deleted and an attempt is then made to open another survey page.

Web Site Intercept Overlay Survey

When this Web Options box is checked and the survey is launched, a code snippet is created that you can copy into a web page or web template. The snippet causes a pop-up to appear to a visitor after a preset time, asking the visitor if they would like to participate in a survey. The survey could for example ask for the visitor’s opinion on the web page or web site.

Note: The messages and texts presented to the visitor, for example the text in the survey prompt, are set in the Survey Messages (go to Survey Messages Overview for more information).

To activate and set up the functionality:

On the Survey Management > Survey Settings > Web Options tab, check the Web Site Intercept Overlay Survey box.

A box of options is presented - .

The Web Site Intercept Overlay Survey display options

Figure 3 - The Web Site Intercept Overlay Survey display options

Display survey to every ... - you do not have to invite everyone who visits your website to take the survey. If you wish to invite for example every third visitor, type 3 into the box.
Only trigger after respondent visits ... - you might not want to be too intrusive - wait until the visitor has viewed a few of your pages before presenting the survey invitation. Type the number of pages “delay” here.
Delay - give the visitor time to see the page and form an opinion before you present him/her with the survey invitation. Type the delay in seconds here.

Name - a cookie will be placed onto the respondent’s pc to ensure he/she is not invited to participate in the survey every time they access your website. Type the name of the cookie and the number of days you want it to remain active here.
Allow re-invitation... - if the visitor doesn’t complete the survey the first time they visit your website, check the box if you want to invite them again the next time they visit. Note that if you have added a number into the "Display survey to..." box (see above) then the visitor will only be invited if they are in the correct position in the sequence of visitors.
Web site data - fields you add here are passed via the querystring to the start of the survey. You can then manually move this data into the survey using a script node. Fill in querystring parameter names and css selectors, for example: parameter1=selector1; parameter2=selector2 etc. to capture the data from the web site and pass it to the survey.

Survey prompt location - select where in the web page you want the prompt to appear.
Prompt width/height - how large do you want the prompt to be; input the dimensions in pixels.
Survey width/height - how large do you want the survey page to be; input the dimensions in pixels.
Enable templates - this functionality can be enabled on request for Professional users. Check the box to open some additional options.

Note: When templates are enabled, any settings made in the above properties will not be used.

Show invite - check if you wish the invitation to the survey to be presented to the potential respondent before the survey opens.
Persistent invite - a key characteristic of a feedback button on a website is that it is permanently available. Check this box if you want the survey initiation button to remain visible even after it has been pressed.
Invite templates - allows you to set up the look and feel for the invitation by editing the HTML and CSS code for the template.
Overlay templates - allows you to set up the look and feel for the survey itself by editing its HTML and CSS code.
Custom triggering script - you can use custom JavaScript code to trigger the survey. Examples of triggering scripts could be: "Nth visitor, N pages visited, N seconds delay", triggering when on a specific page only, triggering on intent to leave the web site, triggering based on clicking a button on the web page, do not trigger after a certain date/time.

Make the settings as required.

On launch, an Intercept survey script is presented towards the bottom of the Launch Survey page - and on the Survey Management > Options page General tab.

The resulting link on the Launch Survey page

Figure 4 - The resulting link on the Launch Survey page

Copy the script to your clipboard then paste it into an email that you can send to your web site manager. The web site manager can then add the script to the website template so the invitation appears to visitors as specified.

Pop-up Script Wizard

When you have checked the Pop-up Survey box in the Survey Settings > Web Options tab, if you then go to the Test database and launch the survey, when the task has completed the task list will include a link for each language selected for the survey - .

Example of the links resulting from the launch task

Figure 5 - Example of the links resulting from the launch task

Click a link to open the Pop-up Wizard, as shown below, and an example pop-up window with the survey as it will appear to the respondent.

Note: The links open the survey in the example window in the selected language. Settings made in the wizard apply identically to all the languages - you cannot set up the window differently for different languages.

Example of the Pop-up Script Wizard

Figure 6 - Example of the Pop-up Script Wizard

Use the properties in the Wizard to set up the window as you require. Both the "example" window and the script in the Script field towards the bottom of the Wizard are updated as you make changes to the properties. Once you have the window looking as you wish, save the changes and copy the script from the Wizard to your website.

The script created here is merely an example of a script that will open a pop-up window with the specified settings. You can of course create your own script "manually" to do the job.

Any changes you make to the Pop-up script will be applied to the survey the next time you generate the web interview in the Production mode. Note that you cannot return to the wizard once you more away from it; you must re-launch the survey in the Test mode to re-open the wizard.

An Example of a Script for Pop-up Surveys

If you wish to create a pop-up survey on a website, you will need to include a script in the code for the page from which you want the pop-up to be opened. There are many different solutions for this depending on how you want the pop-up window to look, when you want it to open etc. Below is an example of a script you could use.

<script>
if (document.cookie.indexOf ("FIRMpXXXXXXX=true")==-1
{
 if ( Math.random() < 0.2
 {
document.cookie = "FIRMpXXXXXXX=true;path=/;Expires=Mon, 1 Jan 2001 12:00:00 UTC"window.open("http://www.yourconfirmitserver.com/wix/pXXXXXXX.aspx", "windowname", "toolbar=no,location=no,directories=no,status=no,menubar=no,resizable=yes,copyhistory=no,scrollbars=yes,height=360,width=300")
 }
}
</script>

Change pXXXXXXX to the actual survey number.

The script first checks if the respondent already has a cookie (in which case he/she already has the pop-up and it should not be opened again).

Math.random gives a random number between 0 and 1. Math.random() < 0.2 will mean that 20% of those who open the web page (for the first time) will get the pop-up.
document.cookie will send a cookie.
Expires: The lifetime of the cookie. Set this to a date some time after the survey is finished.
Window.open opens the pop-up window. Change the URL to the URL of your survey.
windowname may be changed into a name of a specific window if there already is a window opened that you want the pop-up in, or you may use it to refer to the window from other scripts. You may leave this empty ("").

The other parameters control the pop-up window:

toolbar=no - allows the window to have or not have a toolbar.
location=no - allows the window to display its location or not.
directories=no - allows the window to display directory buttons or not.
status=no - allows the window to have a status bar at the bottom or not.
menubar=no - allows the window to display a menu bar or not.
resizable=yes - makes the window resizable, boarders are dragable.
copyhistory=no - allows for tracking of links activates the back or forward buttons.
scrollbars=yes - automatically include scrollbars on the window if needed.
height=360 - the height of the window in pixels.
width=300 - the width of the window in pixels.

Pop-up Surveys

You can create surveys that pop-up automatically in a new window when for example someone enters your website.

If you select the Pop-up Survey option in the Survey Settings > Web Options tab, then launch the survey in the Test database, then the Pop-up Wizard opens. Here you can set a number of properties for the survey and the window; for example you can define that the pop-up window opens for every alternate visitor, you can set the size of the window and you can set an expiry date. Once you have set up the properties as required, you can copy the activation code from the wizard into the appropriate place in your website. You must then launch the survey in Production mode to create the "finished" survey.

To define a survey as a Pop-up, go to the Survey Settings > Web Options tab and check the Pop-up Survey box, then save the changes.

Single Sign-on Functionality

Note: SSO is a company add-on and is subject to payment. If the client company does not have the add-on, then the option will not be available in the Web Options page.

The Single Sign-on (SSO) functionality enables clients to use their own authentication infrastructure when logging on to the Authoring environment, Reportal (designers and report viewers) and limited surveys. If a respondent has already logged on to the system, they will be able to access the survey without the requirement for additional in-logging.

Note: If someone is using SSO to access Reportal, the end user list that is referenced for access MUST have been created by a Professional user who is a member of the same company.

For a client to be able to use SSO, the client must provide Forsta with a 256-bit AES key for establishment of the trust, and this should be done over a secure file transfer channel. This key will be used when decrypting the tokens that are presented by the users during log-in. The SSO company add-on must also be enabled for the client.

Authentication

SSO authentication is performed by sending a clear-text company identifier (“co”) and an encrypted token (“key”) via HTTP(S) POST or GET to a Single Sign-on enabled log-in page in Authoring.

The “co” parameter should contain the client company id.
The “key” query parameter should have a value equal to the base 64 encoding of the encrypted value of the string composed of semi-colon delimited key value pairs for id, timestamp, and in some cases destination URL:
id – Authoring user id
ts - UTC timestamp of the form “2007-01-10 23:39:39”
url - Destination URL

Sample decrypted “key” value: id=abc123;ts=2007-01-10 23:39:39

The value for the “key” parameter must be encrypted by the client using the same 256-bit AES key that was sent to Authoring previously when enabling SSO. ECB blocking and PKCS5 padding must be utilized.

Authoring will attempt to decrypt the “key” parameter using the key associated with the client identified by the “co” parameter. If this fails, the authentication request will be rejected. Otherwise authentication will be successful as long as the timestamp parameter is not older than a predefined (but configurable) number of seconds. This leeway is used to address lack of systematic clock synchronization across client and Forsta systems. Every effort should be made to reference a common time source and narrow the timestamp timeout period. After a successful authentication, authorization is performed using the decrypted “id” value.

Surveys

Generic SSO can be used to access open surveys. If it is, when returning to an already started interview via the use of “__sid__” or “r” and “s”, if “co” and “key” are also supplied, the “username” field is updated with the value of “id” from the “key” parameter.

To use Generic SSO when logging on to a limited survey, the survey must be deployed as “Single Sign On survey". This option is selected under Survey Settings > Web Options > Survey type, which is available if the user's company has the SSO add-on. Note that SSO requires respondents to be uploaded with a "username" column.

The survey can then be accessed using two different endpoints:

Normal survey link: <deployment server url>/wix/<project id>.aspx.
SSO survey link: <deployment server url>/wix/sso.aspx. In this case the Destination URL parameter should be used, and given a value that equals the normal survey link. The user will be redirected to this URL after successful authentication.

The “co” and “key” parameters must of course be included to enable the authentication.

If SSO is used to access an interview, after the respondent is located by “__sid__”, the “username” value is matched against the “id” value in the “key” parameter. If the values do not match, the interview does not start.

Using Your Own Domain Name for Authoring Surveys

The question is often asked, "Can we use our own domain name for Authoring surveys?".

The answer is "Yes, as follows":

A domain name can be pointed towards Forsta's deployment servers' load-balanced IP address in DNS in order to use a custom domain name instead of the default setting. To do this you will need access to the domain name DNS tools to change the DNS records; most registrars offer online services for setting up domain names. You may also wish to manage your own records on your own DNS server, in which case your network group/administrator should be able to assist you.

To do this, create a record that points to the required site and IP address.

When the domain name is set up and working, you can use it in batch emails or popup scripts on your website to open up surveys. Note that there are some limitations however:

If you are using the 'include link in email' checkbox or the ^slink^/^secureslink^ primitives, the default deployment URL in emails will resolve to the default 'http://survey.confirmit.com' or 'http://survey.euro.confirmit.com'. If you wish to change this, contact support to have the domain set on your company level. The ^slink^/^secureslink^ primitives will then use your custom domain instead. If you wish to use a different domain for a specific survey, this can be set on the survey level.
Surveys hosted on a different domain should not be deployed over HTTPS as the respondents will then get a warning message stating that the certificate does not match the domain name if they visit a secure link with a custom domain name. As the certificates reside on the load balancers, alternative certificates will have to be set up on a separate IP address in the load balancers. This would be a chargeable service, so contact support if you need to use your own certificate on our servers.

Using Your Own Email Address for Survey Invitations

The question is often asked, "Can I use my own email address when sending survey invitation emails to respondents from Authoring?".

The answer is, "Yes, as follows":

Forsta has registered its servers that are responsible for sending respondent email invitations, with proper DNS entries. This ensures that emails sent by these servers comply with emailing standards, and delivery reports for invitations are logged within Authoring for each survey. In order for this to work, the email sender addresses used for sending respondent email invitations must be of the form <somename>@us.confirmit.com for our US SaaS environment, or <somename>@euro.confirmit.com for our EURO SaaS environment.

If a customer wishes to use their own email address for sending the respondent invitations from Authoring, this is possible using three different methods:

The customer uses their own or a dummy domain name on the email invitations without having set up the necessary DNS records.

Result: There will be a mismatch between the sender address and the server domain name, so the email will be classified as a spoofed email. This will result in lower deliverability expectations, the possibility of our servers being blacklisted, and the sender domain being reported as a source of unsolicited email. Delivery reports will not be available in Authoring. This method must therefore NOT be used.

The customer registers their own domain name or sub-domain for emailing, and configures DNS with Forsta’s servers as ‘allowed sender servers’ in DNS (usually through an SPF record).

Result: Delivery rate expectations increase as the email will not be classified as spoofed if the target server performs an SPF check. The domain name can be assigned to the company level in Authoring and used for all surveys as the default domain, which will enable delivery reports as long as the domain name is used. Using a different sender domain name with this setting active will revert the emailing task back to the previous option, so do not do this.

The customer registers their own domain name or sub-domain for emailing, and purchases the Dedicated IP add-on. Authoring then sets up a dedicated mailing server with its own Internet-facing IP address that is only available for use by the customer through the add-on.

Result: The server will be separate from Forsta’s other emailing services and will not be subject to the possibility of blacklisting due to other customers’ activities on the shared servers. A PTR (reverse) DNS record can be added for the server IP to match the domain name registered for the server. The domain name can be assigned to the company level in Authoring and used for all surveys as the default domain, which will enable delivery reports. Bounce-backs can also be forwarded to a specific email account. Using a different sender domain name with this setting active will revert the emailing task back to the first option, so do not do this.

Bounce Back

A bounce back message is an email that is sent to your account after you have attempted to send a message but that message has not arrived at the recipient or has not been accepted for some reason. This message is generated either by your mail server or the mail server that was the destination of your email. Bounce back messages are to inform you, the email sender, that something has happened to disrupt the delivery of your email. This method of providing an error is standard on all email servers, but the actual text used in the messages can vary.

Hard Bounce

If for example you entered the intended recipient's email address incorrectly and your mail server attempts to deliver the email to another remote server that doesn't handle email for the intended recipient, then you will almost immediately receive a bounce back error. A hard bounce can often be a permanent problem, as it is essentially the remote mail server telling you that because the user you tried to email doesn't exist on their server, it's probably not going to start working any time soon.

A hard email bounce back can also occur when multiple email servers within a company or ISP infrastructure are responsible for the delivery of email; an initial mail server can accept the email for delivery but the actual receiving mail server then rejects the email. Previously, as the initial server had accepted the email, Authoring would interpret this to mean the email had been delivered. Now however, additional processing means the SMTP status within Authoring is updated to indicate the email was actually not delivered. This will therefore give a more accurate response rate.

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