What's inside this article:
- About Polls
- Start editing
- Add question and possible answers
- Display results
- Add introduction
- Set close date
- Add the Poll to a Category
- Set the status and save the Poll
- Update site localization
- Further recommendations
About Polls
What is a Poll?
A Poll lets you run a public survey on your site. Effective use of Polls can increase audience engagement and encourage visitors to return to your site.
How can I promote a published Poll?
After publishing a new Poll, we recommend sharing it via a Poll widget to boost visibility and participation. More information here:
Can visitors vote more than once in a Poll?
It is not possible to vote more than once from the same device. After voting, a visitor continues to see results from the Poll, but the Vote button is not available.
What happens after a Poll closes?
After a Poll closes, the URL for the Poll page will still work. The results are visible with a note that the Poll has closed. This also applies on the Poll widget.
Start editing
Create a new Poll via New > Interactive > Poll.
To edit an existing Poll, hit the title in the main search results. For information about using search in Pangea CMS, see the following article:
Add question and possible answers
Add the question for the Poll via General > Question.
To add possible answers, go to the Content tab. Enter each answer under Answers. It is required to provide a minimum of three possible answers. We recommend providing no more than six possible answers.
To provide more than three possible answers, select Add Answer.
The following additional options are available:
- To change the order of the answers, use the Up and Down icons.
- To remove an answer, select the Delete icon.
We do not recommend removing, adding, or changing the possible answers after a Poll is published. Changes can cause a poor user experience for visitors who already voted.
Display results
On the Content tab, you can set how the results will be displayed. Choose one or both of the options below:
- Display percents: Show the percentage of voters that selected each answer.
- Display votes: Show the number of voters that selected each answer.
The screenshots below show the different possible configurations (percentage, votes, or both):
Add introduction
Via General > Introduction, optionally provide a brief introductory text.
If you tick the box next to Introduction, the text will be visible on the Poll page. This is useful for providing background information / context for the Poll.
The introduction might also be visible as follows (regardless of whether the box is ticked):
- In search results on the public site
- On Category archive pages (when the List with thumbnails layout is enabled)
- On Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)
- When the Poll is promoted on a Content widget
The introduction is never visible when the Poll is displayed on a Poll widget.
Set close date
Set when the Poll will close via Content > Expiration date.
The Poll will close on the date shown under Expiration date. Adjust the default value if you want the Poll to run for more or less time.
After the Poll closes, the Poll results are visible with a note explaining that the Poll has closed. This applies on both the Poll page and the Poll widget.
Add the Poll to a Category
Before saving the Poll, you need to add it to at least one Category. Select the General tab and tick the box next to your chosen Category on the right side of the screen.
The yellow alert marks the Primary category. Optionally tick additional Secondary categories. To mark a different Category as the the Primary category, click the gray alert icon so it turns yellow. The Poll can have only one Primary category.
Information about the differences between Primary and Secondary categories is available here:
Set the status and save the Poll
If you want the Poll to be available on the public site immediately after you save it, select Published under Status. To save the Poll, hit Save.
Update site localization
The following configuration keys are available for Polls in the Site Localization tool:
- (A): Widgets.PollWidget.ButtonVote: The text that appears on the vote button
- (B): Widgets.PollWidget.Statement: The disclaimer that appears below the results
- (C): Widgets.PollWidget.MessageClosed: The text visible after the poll has closed
- (D): Widgets.PollWidget.MessageThankYou: The thank you message that appears after a visitor votes
We recommend localizing these values to the local language for your site. For detailed information about using the Site Localization tool in Pangea CMS, see the following article:
Further recommendations
The following articles might be helpful:
