External Task
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      1. InsightHub Help Centre
      2. Research Tools
      3. External Task

      Using the External Task tool

      The External Task tool allows for participants to be directed to tasks which are hosted externally from the InsightHub, such as surveys or UX testing platforms.

      Using the tool via InsightHub allows for sample to be applied directly from your database, to send invites and reminders to existing InsightHub members, which maintain the site branding already in place within your InsightHub.

       

      The External Task tool allows you to use InsightHub to:

      • Manage participation (of consumer accounts & CSV upload / external participants)
      • Send email invites and reminders to the task that are consistent with other site emails in terms of the branding and templated footer text in place
      • Allocate reward points to participants

       

      Note: The External Task is turned off by default. If you would like this to be turned on within your InsightHub, please just reach out to us via support@flexmr.net and we will be able to assist.

      Before you begin

      You will need to set up your task in the 3rd party system which you are using, such as ‘Qualtrics’, for example.

      Once this is done, you will need to find out from the 3rd party provider:

      • What the link to the survey or task will be.
      • How they accept, record and pass back values appended to a URL. This is important as you will need to know this information for when you prepare your external task within the InsightHub.

      Adding a new task

      The External Task tool can be accessed via Back Room > Research Tools > External Task Tool

      • In the top-right hand corner of the page, click on the ‘Add External Task’ button
      • Set a title (required) and an internal name (optional)
      • Under ‘Admin rights’, you can add any client-type accounts who will need administrator rights to view and amend the settings within the external task

      • Click ‘Save’.
      • You will then be redirected to the ‘Settings’ tab

       

      Base External URL 

      This is the ‘open access’ type URL of the External Task which you will need to copy over from the 3rd party system:

      For example - https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/M3PIPJ/ , https://test.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/forms/SV_abc3def58h

      Note: Do not use these particular example links within your own external task

       

      This would be the link that participants can click on without being logged in to the InsightHub, to take part in the survey/task, (once your 3rd party survey / task is live).

      The Base External URL is required before you can click ‘Save’ and continue from the ‘Settings’ tab, and in order to set your survey live.

      InsightHub will automatically append a unique ‘token’ value to the end of the base URL when it redirects to the survey/task provider. The link will then appear in the format of the below example:

      https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/M3PIPJ/token=abcd?!123345

      Note: As this is an automatic process, you do not need to add any ‘passback’ data to the end of the link yourself.

       

      Statuses

      There is one status which will always appear as a default, called ‘Completed’.

      Note: This status cannot be deleted, as it is required for your participants who complete the survey / task, to be redirected back to the InsightHub. This will ensure that their points earned and completion status can be recorded.

       

      • Add any additional statuses you need, using the ‘Add another status’ button in the bottom right-hand corner to add any new statuses. These may include a ‘routed out’ status, for example, for participants whose answers do not meet the criteria to continue through the survey / task. You would also typically want a Disqualified and Over Quota status, but you may also want a Quality status, for example, and any other statuses indicated as required by the 3rd party task provider.

       

      End Messages

      You can optionally add an end page message. There is a default message which states ‘Thank you for completing {title}. Your responses have been recorded.’ which is shown if you do not choose to overwrite the message text.

      Points

      You can optionally award points for the task. There are no default points set, so these should be added per completion status for any participants you would like to be rewarded with points.

      • Once you have completed all settings and fields, to continue, click ‘Save’.
      • You will then be redirected to the ‘External Links’ tab.

      The External Links Tab

       

      The external links tab contains a return link for every Return Status you previously set up within the 'Settings' tab.

      • These are the links you will need to copy and paste into the survey / task completion settings for the 3rd party task provider you are using.
      • You will need to append the 'token variable' back to the end of the link in order to pass it back to InsightHub. How you will do this varies depending on the 3rd party tool you are using and their instructions, but will broadly follow the format:

      https://online.flexmr.org/external_task/return/41?token=[tokenvalue]

       

      Some examples are shown below:

      https://online.flexmr.org/external_task/return/41?token=${e://Field/token}

      https://online.flexmr.org/external_task/return/39?token=[variable(token)] 

       

      This will ensure that the unique token for each participant will be per user which was passed through at the start of the survey, will be passed back through to InsightHub for easy identification.

      The unique token value within the redirection link is required to match the participant up to their InsightHub account and therefore, any user data we have for them. This will allow for points to be allocated to the correct participants. If the token is added in an incomplete format, is missing or is corrupted, it will not be possible to award points to participants, or confirm they have answered all of the questions / task.

       

      Sample Tab

      The ‘Sample’ tab functions in the same way as the SurveyMR 2.0 sample tab, with the exception that no open access link is available. This is because the 3rd party survey link replaces the open access link which, for internal InsightHub tasks, is usually generated via the ‘Sample’ tab.

      Within the ‘Sample’ tab, you have the option to add an ‘Internal Sample’ and / or upload a CSV file of external users, as you prefer.

      Scheduling Tab

      The ‘Scheduling’ tab controls when the InsightHub links are ‘active’ for a survey / task. As well as setting the survey / task live via InsightHub, you would also need to ensure it is set live on the 3rd party task tool in order for participants to be able to take part.

       

      Invite Tab

      The 'Invite' tab allows you to send invite and reminder emails to both participants with InsightHub accounts, and external 'CSV upload' users. The invites will automatically include a link which will redirect to the relevant task on the 3rd party system. This link will include the required token.

      Note: The link in the example below is encrypted and therefore, the ‘token’ value Is not visible In this case.

      https://online.flexmr.org/ta/bIlvGkdBJtrXlOAqEQQwu-lSJgt7FhOJa6ouRC5gwO8EBpaSAyaj6XbzDViSLjks

       

      The External Tasks List page

      Via the main page which shows all upcoming, live and closed tasks, you can view the number of responses to live surveys.

       

      You can also download a list of responses from each external task via the Actions drop-down menu.

      Note: This download option will generate a CSV type file. The downloaded file will contain the Completion status, user ID and user fields and the token which is passed to the 3rd party. However, this will not include the survey / task results. This will likely be accessible via the 3rd party task provider, but this should be checked with them directly.