---
title: Starting the First Survey / Data Collection Tool Instance, and Emailing Participants
description: In order for participants to receive and complete a survey, each instance needs to be started and participants notified.
---

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# Starting the First Survey / Data Collection Tool Instance, and Emailing Participants

This article describes how to start a survey in Compyle and automatically notify participants to complete the survey. If you prefer to notify participants manually, by email or text or social media, you can [send out a survey instance as a URL](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/notifying-participants-of-a-survey-/-data-tool-instance-via-url?hsLang=en).

In order for participants to receive and complete a survey, each instance needs to be started and participants notified. After sending out the first instance as detailed here, you can [create additional instances](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/adding-or-changing-participants-for-a-survey-/-data-tool-instance?hsLang=en) and follow the same process to send those out as well.

Note that you can also [complete a survey instance on behalf of participants](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/completing-a-survey-/-data-tool-on-behalf-of-participants?hsLang=en).

Find the data collection that contains the survey, and click its name to open it.

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/jq0hnR9sUXYQFAf9iddSnoqnRG2ze5T1U8WI9j6zNmRGOZ5x5yBVFUp88ewZormypeCrblUHk1cFJPg3pEbuxUu62uRM-UsLsZirIR1XeG7rkaOaiJp4VS9W69NaUCU_wD-k5ING-uJJgZNe9g)

 

Then click the name of the survey to open it. 

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/gkYEzVZ1u44UfCNY3xuxATl8ovYMUl_je32K1ve6TMMVSfDRJh6DvwgAdss9kmoSkSXQYn8W5W0odXdXE8XbelKg5KRkL1yPyARpkoSlhl1g6P45xzGqtocKvGRdnconIU1E2wHwE6dXKji12g)

Under **Instances**, the status of the first instance will be **Pending** until the survey is started. Click the ID or name of the instance, or any other instance field.

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/RYoeY9V0E-dQ-MrIZJewnWMBEux63t8ek883a__uFYOeWAYqUbqFv76B0YQqS6_aFw5peIXA8lMMCQL4wRDQafz0loRnaJhINV2YxNZKnFgL1OziJlvyyWGAdpBEu1OdUhXGxEAPN6TUZI_ngA)

The instance name is listed at the top, and you can edit instance details by clicking the **Edit** icon at the top. Any participants or organizations added to the survey will be listed under **Participants**, and you can add more, individually or by group, by clicking the three-dot icon. ([Participants can also be added after the instance has started](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/adding-or-changing-participants-for-a-survey-/-data-tool-instance?hsLang=en).)

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/VnaWhZuwRFPH-xVvrky3JrahDcHqKmXs5ENabutRHd8AZrFrCXd7PNWHlbzQiwTAiFplslRmDMOa7t0GaoMbWGhShddz1am3ZD3gYO0zG4uVLNmiw91bvAGfOyuy-QDX0phcrmmR95EpBBqpXg)

To open the survey for responses, click **Start**. 

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/FjWq8UjCWI2sWfZrjsdlG0eBHAUEEiKzMSjCurGXVkEkGOF23g0l4utC0eeeCRlvSQaTBZhcH8UV3nFLOY8t9FkTEoXPnNsiUiM7bFyoy8-o-5BgCYyGjrwxVkcDezcf2GXAbPyO2QyvTckUVg)

Once started, the instance status is **In Progress**, and will remain so until the survey is ended. 

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/Qd6hAcWIZ0vRQut4KeRP8rul2MM7obrAZH02XD6d65lTEKcVHnglFlvtEh3GhtmHJZDZ-QW_hGoIiHimAD51xVcxfXm3CM_2XqfSMGWTn4ZlMoCJRCG3MV-n8EQsr1lIrJTT-1hT-gZ12vcWvg)

Note that analytics can only be performed on ended surveys. And from within ended surveys, only participant-completed answers will be included in analytics. In other words, responses from **Pending** or **In-Progress** participants will not be included in analytics.

To send the initial Compyle-generated survey email to each participant, go to the **Email Notifications** section below the participant list, and click to send a one-time email.

![](https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/GQK6b6e_PEmQI-hJGXP8cQ9yoxsXDxE1ntK5gxlDuwY8pvg5hErmWggdaXM79K3y3-eqPANxraNEiButQ30DBJsHxFwDNS3o0yU4v3_-nIM-hhI09d7QflSHtAIoxNTymsf9JQP8h0p9I0bjaw)

You can keep the default email subject and text, or customize either as needed. An email preview appears on the right. You can also send a test email to yourself.

![](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/UxNhwe1NwtY5WwjrbcWO29zCMV-zyyUojhRAKV4wTV_FRcTY2YNrnxRfmfRABk0xwFdJzVX49WWsEG_1Z895c2QLuyValjYmHX_AK1R7UMKfdRbrEwlxzTlhgt06qbowzc7PjKJC0HWE1_7i9Q)

Below the **Create Email** section, choose the participants who will receive the email, or select them all, and click **Send Email**.

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/dq7LJMTjJwCGik1GAjQ9tJNwQgjuW-DTiRZOJBDu-uQ7tszHyGNg95UC2_5qtdLQtNhS049-qFovNXmEqRt3Lmn1Qz1NuyO8KFe09AEgXqXXwVzXOLDCCf9c-42H2XU14jcB0PrOmZuBNgwANQ)

Once emails are sent, participants can start the survey and [submit their responses](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/participant-survey-/-data-tool-responses?hsLang=en).

Note that if you [add participants to a survey instance](https://support.clearimpact.com/en/adding-or-changing-participants-for-a-survey-/-data-tool-instance?hsLang=en) after the initial set of emails goes out to the original **Participants** list, you will have to email the new participants separately.

For each instance, you can also set up recurring email reminders. 

![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/NoAMHqT7oM6K8v7Tj86CxFsPndBeYyVXn6G4zd2K3OR26gkiN9293ES8EQO3tbrrL-7Wkl5kSzQZ9qfHGlP_7vq1lqPpr9uH4Iggnyrq6oleI_5ZkldyeX9PGEQgQXE6fymP2ZfvmV18qcNkEQ)

Below the **Create Email** section you can configure the reminder frequency and settings. Reminders can be set to end after all participants have completed the survey, or on a specific date, or after a specific number of emails have been sent. After clicking **Save Settings**, the email reminder schedule will start.

![](https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-j4gGSbkuVSvgbYtObkte8WJh-T2ZGkdWEKpQigAZSVw_j_4HeYz-6tdpACArQoTMnzgH4T3lRpLoVJAqLj63e73nYK2I8-q4anPspUfe5QMCyYh0S0HA2hb2_j7jldLKCU0buDzZdR8q8kXxA)

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