In this article
1:Overview
The Invitation feature in Forsta Plus allows you to send survey invitations to selected respondents via channels such as email or SMS.
Before you can create and send an invitation, the following prerequisites must be completed:
The survey must be launched (published and ready to collect responses).
A list of respondent contacts (sample) must be uploaded to the project.
Once these steps are complete, you can create a survey invitation to send a batch of messages (e.g., email or SMS) to your selected respondents.
2: Accessing Invitations
Open your survey project.
Navigate to the Deployment tab.
Select the Invitations section (envelope icon on the left).
From here, you can view existing invitations or create a new one.
3: Step 1: Creating a New Invitation
Click + Create New Invitation.
A new invitation wave will be created (e.g., Invitation 1). Click on the edit button (pencil icon) if you wish to rename it.
You can configure recipients, content, and scheduling within this setup.
4: Step 2: Respondent Selection & Respondent Preview
In the Selected respondents section:
By default, the system will target all contacts in the survey who have not yet been sent an invitation.
The system will display the total number of respondents who will receive the communication (e.g., 1000 respondents).
You can use Edit to refine or filter the audience if needed.
4.1: Editing the Selection
You can adjust the recipient list using filters and conditions. Common use cases include:
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Sending reminders
Target respondents based on their status (e.g., Not answered, Incomplete).
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Sending to a specific group
Apply conditions (e.g., based on profile data like company, region, or demographic).
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Sending in batches
Set a maximum limit and schedule multiple invitation waves to control volume, helping to throttle the send rate and reduce the risk of messages being flagged as spam by email providers.
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Randomizing distribution
Enable randomization to select a random subset of respondents.
4.2: Previewing Respondents
The Preview respondents section allows you to:
Review a sample of respondents who match your selection criteria.
Verify that the correct audience is being targeted.
Confirm that required data is present, such as:
Personalisation fields (e.g., names)
Contact details (e.g., email or phone number)
Background variables used for survey routing
View a default set of columns, and customise the preview by selecting additional variables from the dropdown list.
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See the first 10 matching records by default, with the option to:
Search across the full list of respondents
Use LOAD MORE to expand and view additional records
Sort by ‘respid’ column (ascending/descending) to quickly review different parts of the list, such as checking the most recent or oldest records
Once you are satisfied that the correct respondents have been selected, click Apply & Close to confirm your selection.
This step is especially important to ensure your invitation will be correctly personalised and that respondents will follow the intended survey paths.
5: Step 3: Configure Invitation Settings (Optional)
The Invitation settings section allows you to customise how your invitation is sent. Default values are provided, so completing this step is optional, but it can be useful for aligning with your organisation’s sending policies and preferences.
General Options:
From email / From name
Defines who the invitation appears to be sent from.
Reply to email / Reply to name
Specifies where any recipient replies will be directed.
Advanced Options:
Recipient field
Select which field from your contact data contains the destination (e.g., email address or phone number).
Send email forward
Optionally forward a copy of each invitation to another address.
Send confirmation email
Send a confirmation once the invitation has been dispatched.
Increment send count
Tracks how many invitations have been sent to each respondent, which can be useful when managing reminders or controlling re-contact.
Additional link parameters
Append extra parameters to the survey link if required.
Custom headers
Add custom metadata to invitations (typically used for advanced configurations or integrations).
5.1: One-Click Unsubscribe Settings
To support email client requirements and improve deliverability, invitations can include a one-click unsubscribe header.
You can define the level at which respondents will be unsubscribed when using this feature:
Survey level – Unsubscribe from this specific survey only
Company level – Unsubscribe from all surveys from your organisation
Panel level – Unsubscribe from all surveys within a panel
Contact database level – Unsubscribe from all survey communications
Option to disable (not recommended)
5.2: Tracking
Enable tracking
Allows tracking of invitation engagement (e.g., open rates where supported).
Once you have reviewed or updated the settings, click Apply & Close to return to the main setup screen.
6: Step 4: Define Invitation Content
In the Invitation content section, you define the message that will be sent to your respondents. This includes selecting languages, choosing the format, and composing the message content.
6.1: Select Languages
Choose the activated languages that will be used for the invitation.
Set a default language, which will be used when a respondent does not have a language specified.
You can create content for each selected language using the language tabs (e.g., English, French).
6.2: Choose Send Format
Select whether to send the invitation as:
HTML (recommended for rich formatting), and/or
Text (plain text version for compatibility)
Both formats can be enabled to ensure better deliverability across different email clients.
6.3: Define Message Content
For each language, configure the following:
Subject
The subject line of the invitation.
HTML body
The main message content using a rich text editor.
You can optionally view and edit the underlying HTML source.
Text body
A plain text version of the message.
Survey link label
The text used for the survey link (e.g., “Start survey”).
Leave this field empty if adding the link via the toolbar button (see below).
6.4: Adding Links to Your Invitation
There are different ways to include survey and unsubscribe links depending on the format you are using:
HTML Content (Rich Text Editor)
Use the link tool (chain icon) in the editor toolbar to insert links.
This opens a dialog where you can choose:
Survey link
Unsubscribe link
Custom URL
Enter the link label (e.g., “Click here to take the survey”) and click Save to insert it as a hyperlink.
You can use the link examples provided in the right-hand panel (e.g., survey link and unsubscribe links) to quickly copy and paste them directly into your message.
6.5: Unsubscribe Links
It is strongly recommended to include unsubscribe links within your message content.
Available options include:
Unsubscribe from this survey
Unsubscribe from panel
Unsubscribe from company
Unsubscribe from contact database
6.6: Including Images in HTML Emails
You can include images in your HTML email using two supported methods:
Hosted Images (Recommended)
Images can be referenced via a public URL.
You may:
Upload images using the File Manager in Forsta, or
Use an external image hosting service
6.7: Embedded Images (Drag & Drop)
You can drag and drop images directly into the HTML editor. These will be embedded as binary (base64-encoded) images within the email.
Guidance:
Suitable only for small images (e.g., logos, icons)
Avoid for larger images, as this increases email size and may impact deliverability or loading performance
Large embedded images can also increase the likelihood of emails being flagged by spam filters
Best Practice:
For most use cases, hosted images are preferred due to better performance, reliability, and email client compatibility.
6.8: Personalising Invitations with Respondent Data (Piping)
You can personalise your invitation content by inserting respondent-specific data (e.g., name, company, or other background variables) into your message.
There are two supported methods:
Insert Pipe Respondent Values (UI Method)
Use the Pipe respondent values button in the editor toolbar.
This opens a selection window where you can choose from available respondent variables (e.g., RespondentName)
Click Add Value to insert the selected field into your message
Manual Entry (Syntax Method)
You can also type the variable directly using the following format:
^VariableName^
For example: Dear ^RespondentName^,
Important:
Both methods produce the same result - the system inserts a placeholder (e.g., ^RespondentName^) that will be replaced with the actual respondent data when the email is sent
Ensure that the referenced variable exists in your respondent sample and contains valid data, otherwise the field may appear blank in the final email
Best Practice:
Always preview the email to confirm that personalisation fields are rendering correctly.
7: Reviewing Invitation Content Status
After clicking Apply & Close, you will return to the main setup screen where a summary of your invitation content is displayed.
The system will automatically validate your configuration and highlight any missing or incomplete elements using warnings or error indicators (e.g., missing subject, plain text version, or unsubscribe link).
Items marked as Missing or flagged with warning icons should be reviewed and corrected before sending.
You can click Edit to return to the content editor and make updates.
Use the Preview option to review how the invitation will appear to recipients.
The system will provide warnings about missing subject, content, survey link or unsubscribe link in any of the activated languages (save or send functionality is only permitted when there are no red errors)
8: Saving Your Invitation
At any point during setup, you can click Save at the top of the screen to store your progress.
This is useful if you are still preparing your invitation and are not yet ready to send or schedule it. Saved invitations can be returned to and completed at a later time.
9: Step 5: Schedule the Invitation
In the Scheduling section, you define when your invitation will be sent.
9.1: Scheduling Options
You can choose from the following options:
Not scheduled
The invitation is saved but will not be sent until a schedule is defined.
Now
The invitation will be sent immediately after confirmation.
Future
Schedule the invitation to be sent at a specific date and time.
9.2: Scheduling for a Future Date
Target timezone
Define the timezone used for scheduling.
Start date and time
When the invitation should begin sending.
Repeating and Continuous Schedules (optional)
If enabled, invitations can be sent automatically using either a Repeating or Continuous schedule.
Repeating schedules send invitations at defined intervals (for example, hourly, daily, or weekly). This can be combined with a Maximum limit (configured in the Respondent Selection step) to control how many emails are sent during each task execution.
For example, if 10,000 respondents match your selection criteria, you could set a maximum limit of 1,000 and schedule the invitation to repeat every 15 minutes. The system will then send up to 1,000 invitations every 15 minutes until all matching respondents have been contacted.
Continuous schedules are typically used when new respondents are regularly added to the survey. The system continuously evaluates the selection criteria and automatically sends invitations to newly eligible respondents as they become available.
Important: Each recurring or continuous execution re-evaluates the respondent selection criteria.
By default, Previous emails sent is set to None, helping ensure respondents are contacted only once. However, other values may be appropriate for reminder campaigns and other follow-up communications.
Before enabling a repeating or continuous schedule, review your respondent selection criteria carefully. If respondents continue to match the criteria after an email is sent, they may be included in subsequent executions and could receive additional invitations.
Time window
Restrict sending to specific hours of the day (e.g., 09:00–21:00).
Exclusion dates
Prevent sending on specific dates (e.g., holidays).
End date
Define when the schedule should stop.
A summary of your schedule will be displayed to confirm the setup.
Once your schedule is defined, click Apply & Close to save your settings.
Click on the ‘SCHEDULE EMAIL’ button to activate the schedule. A final confirmation will be displayed reminding about unresolved warnings and showing the count of invitations that will be scheduled.