Surveys module: readiness checks, feedback, follow-ups

Customer Feedback Forms customers answer from a text

Field Ascend sends customer feedback forms straight from the work order, the quote or the customer record: a readiness check before the visit, a five-star rating request after it, a follow-up when a quote is turned down. The customer taps a link in a text or email, answers in the browser with nothing to install or sign in to, adds a signature if the form asks, and the result comes back to the job as a rating and a signed PDF. A spreadsheet or a free form tool cannot tell you which job a response belongs to, or send the next one by itself the moment a technician closes out the job.

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Surveys register in Field Ascend with sent, completed, open, average rating and NPS tiles above a list of customer forms — Every form sent, who received it, and what came back.

Which customer feedback forms come ready to use?

Four starter forms are added the first time you open Setup. Reword them, add or drop questions, or start from a blank page. Every form has a kind, and the kind sets where it can be sent from and what happens when it comes back.

Pre-visit readiness check. Goes out ahead of a scheduled visit so the technician rolls up to a site that is actually ready: access, parking, permits, hazards, who to call on arrival. The customer signs it. Attach it to every job or to selected job categories and a new job shows it as "not sent yet" until somebody sends it.

Post-job feedback. A short satisfaction check with a star rating, a 0 to 10 recommend score for NPS, and a comment box. The email itself can carry five stars, so a single tap records the rating and opens the rest of the form.

Quote follow-up. For quotes that were declined or went cold: why did we lose it, what would have changed the answer. It sits on the quote, next to the quote itself.

General. Anything about a customer or a site instead of a job: a site orientation acknowledgment, site rules a contact reads and signs, an annual account check-in.

Question types cover what a service company actually asks: yes/no with a not-applicable option, single and multiple choice, text, numbers with units, dates, photos taken on the phone, star or heart or face ratings, the recommend scale, and a declaration checkbox. A yes/no or a choice can reveal follow-up questions one level deep. There are no quotas, no answer piping and no survey-logic engine behind it, on purpose.

A quote follow-up the way the customer sees it: no login, one card per question.

Surveys and forms card on a work order showing a pre-visit readiness check the customer confirmed ready, who completed it, and when — The work order shows what was sent, to whom, and whether the site is ready.

How does a readiness check cut wasted truck rolls?

The customer confirms the things that kill a visit: somebody will be there to let the tech in, the equipment can be shut down, the permit is in hand, the truck has somewhere to park. Then they sign. The job's Surveys card turns green with "Customer confirmed ready," and if the form is set to confirm the preventive maintenance visit, that visit is confirmed at the same time.

When the form allows it, the customer can press We are not ready instead and pick a reason you wrote (wrong date, need to reschedule, no access arranged). The work order shows a NOT READY banner with that reason, and the office alert fires. It warns; it does not block. The appointment stays put until a person moves it, because a customer hitting the wrong button should not empty a technician's day.

Reschedule after the customer confirmed and the form can go back out for the new date, replacing the earlier answer. Readiness forms skip the cooldown that other forms have: every job needs its own.

The register's Readiness outstanding tile counts the checks nobody has answered yet, so dispatch can chase them the day before instead of finding out at the curb.

Can feedback send itself when the job is completed?

Yes, and this is what a form tool bolted on from the outside cannot do. Every form has a Send automatically card. Choose the trigger: when the job is scheduled, when it is completed, when it reaches a status you name, when a quote is emailed, or when a quote is declined. Choose email, text or both. Choose a delay: right away, one hour, the next day, up to a week. Choose the audience: contacts flagged "Surveys and feedback forms," the contacts flagged for the job's category, or the site's contacts. Save it and the rule appears on the Automations tab labeled Managed by Surveys, with its own run history.

Anything more specific is a regular automation using the Send a customer form action, so you can add conditions: only one service line, only when the invoice is above a dollar amount, only for customers on a maintenance agreement.

Three rules keep it from turning into spam. One open link per person per job, so a rule that fires twice never sends twice, and automations never send reminders. A per-form cooldown (30 days by default), so nobody is asked "how did we do?" on every job in a busy month. And an opt-out link in every email footer: a contact who opts out still gets your normal job emails, just without the form. Texts are billed per SMS segment, so a longer message can take more than one credit, and they need the SMS add-on.

The same forms travel inside the emails and texts you already send. Drop the form block into your job-completed email template and the completion email carries the stars. The Email and Text dialogs on a job or quote have an "Include a form" row, and each recipient gets a personal link, so two addresses mean two separate responses.

Send automatically card in the form builder: when the job is completed, by email, next day, to contacts flagged Surveys and feedback forms, live as an automation — One card on the form; the rule runs in the Core.

Where do the responses land?

On the record they were about. A work order's Surveys card lists every form sent for that job with its status: sent, opened, completed with the rating, declined, expired, canceled. Quotes, customers and sites carry the same card, and the customer page adds tiles for that customer alone.

When a customer completes a form the status turns green and the rating shows on the row. A PDF is generated and attached to the job's documents, named by the pattern you set in Setup. The customer can be emailed their signed copy. The answers can be copied into a job note so the technician reads them in the app before heading out. The office alert Survey / form responses goes to whoever is subscribed in Notifications, plus any extra addresses on the form.

The Surveys register is the company-wide view: sent all time, completion rate, open right now, average rating out of five, NPS, readiness outstanding. Below the tiles sits the list of low ratings (two stars or under) nobody has followed up on yet; a Followed up checkbox with the date clears each one. Filter by form, kind, status, rating or source (office, automation, reminder schedule, customer-initiated) and export the filtered list to CSV.

Every view, the signature, the timestamp, the IP address and the device are logged on the response's activity trail. Links expire after the number of days set on the form (30 by default); an expired link tells the customer so, and the office can Reopen or Resend it. A form can also be anonymous. At submit the name, email, signature and device details are removed, the register shows Anonymous, and the answers stay on that response.

Two limits worth knowing. The response PDF uses a default layout for now; a designer for it is on the roadmap. And thank-you links (a Google review, Yelp, your own site) are shown to the customer only when their rating meets the threshold you set. The product shows the link; it does not write or post reviews for anyone.

Can tenants and customers report a problem from a QR code?

Yes. Public links are permanent, multi-use links you create under Customer Options. Print one as a QR sticker on the mechanical room door or inside the elevator cab, or attach it to the request widget on your website. A scan opens the form with your branding; nothing is saved until the person presses Start, and a bot check runs first. Each submission opens a ticket in your ticket inbox with the customer, site and equipment already attached, and shows in the register as customer-initiated.

Every link has its own copy list, so the owner of one property and the manager of another each get copies of their own submissions and nobody else's. Photos become ticket documents. Revoke a link and it stops working; a reprint means a new link.

These request forms map their questions onto the ticket (subject, details, the reporter's name and phone, category, priority), and anything unmapped is still written onto the ticket under "Other answers."

Automations builder showing a Send a customer form action set to the Quote follow-up form, by email, right away, to contacts flagged Surveys and feedback forms — Build your own trigger when the built-in card is not enough.

Customer satisfaction software that lives on the work order

What separates this from stand-alone customer satisfaction survey software is where the data sits. The rating is on the job the technician did, next to the job report and the invoice. The readiness answer is on the visit it protects. The lost-quote reason is on the quote. The Surveys register is where you look across them: filter the list and export it to CSV.

There is no customer feedback app for your customers to download and no account for them to remember. The only app in the picture is yours: the technician reads the readiness answers in the job note before leaving the shop.

Common questions about customer feedback forms

Does the customer need an account or an app?

No. Every recipient gets a personal link by text or email. It opens in the phone's browser with your company name and logo, one question at a time, and a signature pad when the form calls for one. Answers save as they go, and the customer lands on a thank-you page with their PDF copy.

Can a form send itself when the job is completed?

Yes. Every form has a Send automatically card: when the job is scheduled, when it is completed, when it reaches a status you choose, or when a quote is emailed or declined. Pick email, text or both, who receives it, and a delay from right away to a week later. The rule shows up on the Automations tab labeled Managed by Surveys, and anything more specific is a regular automation using the Send a customer form action.

How do you avoid over-surveying the same customer?

One open link per person per job, so a rule that fires twice never sends twice. Each form has a cooldown (30 days by default) so nobody gets the same satisfaction question on every job in a busy month, reminders are capped per form, and every email carries an opt-out link. A contact who opts out keeps receiving your normal job emails without the form.

What happens when a customer says the site is not ready?

A readiness form can offer a not-ready button with reasons you define. The job shows a NOT READY banner with the reason, and the office is alerted. It warns rather than blocks: the appointment stays put until a person moves it. Reschedule after the customer confirmed and the form can go back out for the new date.

Where do the responses go?

Onto the work order, quote, customer or site the form was about, and into the Surveys register with the rating. A signed PDF is generated and attached to the job's documents, the customer can be emailed a copy, the answers can be copied into a job note for the technician, and the office alert stream notifies whoever is subscribed. Low ratings sit in a follow-up list until someone checks Followed up.

Can customers report a problem without us sending them anything?

Yes. Public links are permanent, multi-use links you print as a QR sticker on site or embed in your website's request widget. A scan opens the form, a bot check runs before anything is saved, and each submission opens a ticket with the site and equipment already attached. Copies go to the addresses set on that link, such as the property owner or manager.

Is this a full survey design platform?

It is a form builder for the forms a service company sends: yes/no, single and multiple choice, text, numbers, dates, photos, star or heart ratings, a 0 to 10 recommend scale and a declaration checkbox, with one level of branching off a yes/no or a choice. It is not a general survey-logic engine with quotas or answer piping, and the response PDF uses a default layout for now.

Send your first readiness check this week

Turn the module on in Setup, edit the starter form to match how your technicians actually get on site, and send it from one work order. Automatic sending can wait until the questions are right.

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