Survey and Chat Engagement Best Practices and Troubleshooting

This article covers best practices for creating effective survey and chat engagements in Bullhorn Automation, along with solutions to common problems with engagements not displaying, notifications not sending, low completion rates, and other issues.

Best Practices for Creating Surveys

How do I improve survey completion rates?

Keep surveys short. Surveys with 5-10 questions have higher completion rates than longer surveys. Only ask for information you will act on, and use branching to show relevant follow-up questions instead of asking everyone every question.

What question type should I use?

Use the question type that makes responding easiest:

• Choose One Answer or Choose Multiple Answers: Best when you have predefined options. Faster to complete than free text.

• NPS Net Promoter Score. A metric used to measure customer satisfaction, loyalty, and enthusiasm. or Rating: Best for measurable feedback you want to track over time.

• Single Line Text: Use sparingly, only when predefined answers won't work.

• Date: Use to capture availability instead of asking candidates to type a date.

How do I write good survey questions?

Write clear, specific questions that can only be interpreted one way. Instead of "How was your experience?" ask "How would you rate your onboarding experience with our team?"

Use plain language and avoid jargon, acronyms, or specialist terms.

Which survey entity type should I choose?

Choose the entity type that matches your use case and gives you access to the merge tags you need:

• Candidate-based: General candidate communication, data updates, and surveys that need branching

• Sales Contact-based: Client feedback and relationship management

• Submission-based: Feedback tied to a specific job application

• Placement-based: Post-assignment satisfaction surveys and check-ins

When should I use survey branching?

Use branching to personalize the survey experience based on answers. Common uses include:

• Asking follow-up questions only when relevant

• Routing low NPS scores to questions about how to improve

• Skipping sections that don't apply

Branching is only available for Candidate-based surveys and must follow a Choose One Answer, NPS, or Rating question.

Should I turn on survey notifications?

Yes, if you need to act quickly on responses. Enable notifications to alert the record owner or a specific team member immediately when a survey is completed. This is especially useful for following up with unhappy candidates or time-sensitive feedback.

Best Practices for Creating Chatbot Engagements

How do I get Chatbot to appear on my website?

Configure default chats in Settings > Company Settings > Engagement Branding:

• Default Candidate Chat: Displays to known candidates returning to your site

• Default Sales Contact Chat: Displays to known clients returning to your site

• Default New Visitor Chat: Displays to unknown visitors or people on new devices

If no default chats are configured, no chat will appear on your website.

Should I create different chats for candidates and clients?

Yes. Candidates and clients have different needs. Create separate chat engagements tailored to each audience to improve engagement and data quality.

How do I make Chatbot conversations feel more natural?

Use keyword branching. Chatbot can analyze keywords in free-text responses and select the next question based on what the person typed. This creates a conversational flow instead of rigid multiple-choice paths.

How do I connect a chat visitor to a recruiter?

Use the Send Text step to hand off high-value conversations to a real person via SMS. This works well for urgent inquiries or candidates ready to move forward immediately.

Can Chatbot show job openings to candidates?

Yes. Use the Display Jobs step to show candidates matching opportunities based on their profile. This keeps candidates engaged and can drive applications directly from the chat.

Can I personalize New Visitor Chats?

No. You cannot use merge tokens, dynamic jobs, or personalization in New Visitor Chats because there is no stored information about the visitor. Focus on capturing basic information (name, email, what they're looking for) first, then direct them to more personalized experiences.

Best Practices for Managing Engagements

How do I make sure recruiters see survey responses?

Enable "Add Survey/Chat Responses to a Single Note" in Survey Settings. This saves all responses as a single note on the candidate or contact record in Bullhorn ATS, so recruiters can review feedback without logging into Bullhorn Automation.

How do I automate follow-up based on survey responses?

Create lists based on survey responses and add those lists to automations:

• List of candidates with low NPS scores → Add to recovery automation

• List of candidates interested in new opportunities → Send matching jobs

• List of contacts who haven't completed a survey → Send reminder

How often should I review my engagements?

Review engagements periodically to keep them effective:

• Archive or delete engagements no longer in use

• Update questions that reference outdated information

• Check completion rates and revise engagements with poor performance

How do I make my engagements accessible?

Accessible engagements ensure all candidates and contacts can respond, including those using screen readers or with color vision deficiencies. For guidance on accessible branding colors, writing clear questions, and supported screen readers, see Best Practices to Promote Accessibility.

Troubleshooting Survey and Chat Problems

Why is my survey or chat not showing on my website?

Check these three things:

1. Tracking script not installed: The Bullhorn Automation tracking script must be in your website header. Verify it's installed on the page where you want the engagement to appear.

2. No default chat configured: Go to Settings > Company Settings > Engagement Branding and set a default chat for the visitor type you're targeting.

3. Website Tracking not set up: Default chats require Website Tracking to identify visitors. Verify Website Tracking is configured.

Why are survey notifications not sending?

Check these three things:

1. Email addresses formatted incorrectly: Look for typos or extra spaces in the notification email addresses.

2. Sender address is blocked: Notifications come from notifications@herefish.com. Ask your IT team to whitelist this address.

3. Survey is inactive or misconfigured: Verify the survey is active and tied to a valid entity type.

Why am I not receiving the weekly CSV of survey responses?

Check these three things:

1. Setting not enabled: Go to Survey Settings and verify "Send Survey/Chat Responses as CSV Once a Week" is checked.

2. No recipient email listed: At least one email address must be entered.

3. Email went to spam: Check spam or quarantine folders. The CSV sends every Monday at 11:00 AM ET.

Why are survey responses not showing in Bullhorn ATS?

Check these three things:

1. Note setting not enabled: Enable "Add Survey/Chat Responses to a Single Note" in Survey Settings and select a Note Type.

2. Note Type not available: If the Note Type you need isn't in the dropdown, contact your ATS admin to add it.

3. Confidentiality is enabled: If "Hide Survey Responses from ATS Activity Feed" is checked, responses won't appear in the Automation tab. They're still visible in Bullhorn Automation directly.

Why is Resume Upload not working in my survey?

Check these four things:

1. Feature not enabled: Resume Upload requires activation. Contact Bullhorn Support to enable resume parsing and get your parsing email address, then send that address to Bullhorn Automation Support.

2. Unsupported file type: Only .pdf, .doc, and .docx files are supported.

3. Resume is heavily formatted: For best results, resumes should not contain images, headers, footers, columns, or tables.

4. Email mismatch: If the email in the uploaded resume doesn't match the candidate's record, Bullhorn creates a new candidate record instead of updating the existing one.

Why can't I add branching to my survey?

Check these two things:

1. Wrong entity type: Branching is only available for Candidate-based surveys. Sales Contact, Submission, and Placement-based surveys do not support branching.

2. Wrong question type before the branch: Branches can only follow Choose One Answer, NPS, or Rating questions. If your previous question is a different type, the Add Branch option will be disabled.

Why did a candidate go down the wrong branch in my survey?

Two possible causes:

1. Branch configuration issue: Review your branch settings to ensure each answer is assigned to the correct branch.

2. Candidate changed their answer: Survey responses save each time an answer changes. However, once a candidate passes through a branch step, they are not re-evaluated even if they go back and change their answer.

Why are my survey completion rates low?

Try these fixes:

1. Shorten the survey: Reduce the number of questions or use branching to create shorter paths for some respondents.

2. Clarify confusing questions: Review questions for clarity and test the survey yourself to identify friction points.

3. Adjust timing: Review when your automation sends the survey. Consider whether a different time would get better responses.

4. Try a different delivery method: If you're sending via email, test SMS instead (or vice versa) to see if completion improves.

Why is my engagement not sending from the automation?

Check these three things:

1. Entity type mismatch: The engagement entity type must match the automation entity type. For example, a Placement-based engagement only works in a Placement-based automation.

2. Engagement deleted or renamed: Verify the engagement still exists and is correctly selected in the Send Engagement step.

3. Recipient is opted out: Check that the candidate or contact is mailable (for email delivery) or textable (for SMS delivery) based on your delivery method.