Troubleshoot Survey and Chat Engagements in Bullhorn Automation

This article covers common issues with surveys and chat engagements in Bullhorn Automation, including display problems, notification failures, configuration issues, and engagement delivery errors.

Survey Display and Testing Issues

Text disappears when content is added to the Survey Block field

Adding text in the Survey Block field causes all other content on that page to disappear. This is a known behavior of the Survey Block field.

Do not add text in the Survey Block field. Use other content blocks for text in your survey email.

Survey preview is not populating correctly

The email preview does not render survey content the same way a live survey does and cannot be used as an accurate test of the survey experience.

Use the Test Survey option within the survey itself to preview how it appears to respondents.

Direct survey link is not working in testing

When you copy only the survey URL and open it directly, Bullhorn Automation cannot generate the Candidate ID required to load the survey for a specific record.

Add the survey to an automation and use the Send Test option to test it with a real record. This is the only reliable way to test a survey link.

First survey question is not appearing in the email

The first survey question only renders in emails built with the Drag and Drop email builder, because surveys are rendered through HTML. Plain Text emails do not support this feature. Additionally, the first question only displays in the email if its answer type is set to Buttons. Radio button and dropdown display types are not supported for the first question in an email and render differently across email clients.

Use the Drag and Drop email builder. In the survey settings, set the display type for the first question to Buttons.

Survey is not loading for a candidate

Survey links that have been forwarded may not load correctly. Bullhorn Automation embeds a Candidate ID in each survey link to load the survey for that specific record. Forwarding a link can break the embedded ID.

Confirm the recipient received the link directly through the automation rather than a forwarded copy. If the issue affects multiple candidates, verify the tracking script is installed correctly on your website.

Survey Notifications and Data

Survey notifications are 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.

Weekly CSV of survey responses is not arriving

Check these four things:

  1. Setting not enabled: Go to Survey Settings and verify Send 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.
  4. Blank CSV received: If no survey responses were collected during the 7-day window, you still receive the CSV with question headers but no data rows. A blank CSV confirms the setting is working correctly.

Survey responses are not showing in Bullhorn ATS

Check these three things:

  1. Note setting not enabled: Enable Add Responses to a Single Note in Survey Settings and select a Note Type.
  2. Note Type not available: If the Note Type you need is not 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 will not appear in the Automation tab. They are still visible directly in Bullhorn Automation.

Survey Configuration Issues

Resume Upload is not working

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 address in the uploaded resume does not match the candidate's record, Bullhorn creates a new candidate record instead of updating the existing one.

Branching cannot be added to the 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, NPSClosed Net Promoter Score. A metric used to measure customer satisfaction, loyalty, and enthusiasm., or Rating questions. If the preceding question is a different type, the Add Branch option is disabled.

Candidate went down the wrong survey branch

Two possible causes:

  1. Branch configuration issue: Review your branch settings to confirm each answer is assigned to the correct branch.
  2. Candidate changed their answer: Survey responses save each time an answer changes. Once a candidate passes through a branch step, they are not re-evaluated even if they go back and change their answer.

Survey completion rates are 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 and consider whether a different time would improve response rates.
  4. Try a different delivery method: If you are sending via email, test SMS instead (or vice versa) to see if completion improves.

Chat Engagement Issues

Chat is not appearing on the website

Check these three things:

  1. Tracking script not installed: The Bullhorn Automation tracking script must be in your website header. Verify it is installed on the page where you want the chat to appear.
  2. No default chat configured: Go to Settings > Company Settings > Engagement Branding and set a default chat for the visitor type you are targeting.
  3. Website Tracking not set up: Default chats require Website Tracking to identify visitors. Verify Website Tracking is configured.

Engagement Delivery Issues

Engagement is 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.

Website Tracking shows a failed status

The failed status in Website Tracking is frequently a false negative. The built-in test works by sending a request from Bullhorn Automation to your website, which is the opposite of how actual tracking works. In real use, your site sends data to Bullhorn Automation. Security filters on modern websites frequently block the outbound test request even when tracking is functioning correctly.

The reliable test for website tracking is to load any engagement on your website URL. If the engagement loads, tracking is working.