# Conduct an SMS Survey with Twilio Studio

Running surveys can be a great way to get feedback from your customers and end-users. SMS surveys allow them to give that feedback on the go. In this tutorial, you'll look at how to build a Twilio Studio Flow that hooks into your application via REST API and conducts a brief SMS survey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTZRooIdy6U

## Prerequisites

Before you get started, you'll need:

* A Twilio Account. If you are new to Twilio, [create a free account](https://www.twilio.com/try-twilio). You can review the [features and limitations of a free Twilio account here](/docs/usage/tutorials/how-to-use-your-free-trial-account).
* A Twilio Phone Number. View instructions for [purchasing a Twilio Phone Number here](/docs/usage/tutorials/how-to-use-your-free-trial-account#get-your-free-twilio-phone-number).

New to Twilio Studio? Before completing this tutorial, you should familiarize yourself with the mechanics of working with Studio by reviewing the [Getting Started guide](/docs/studio/user-guide/get-started).

## Create Your Flow

You'll start with a new Twilio Studio Flow. A Flow is an individual workflow you create to handle your use case. For example, in this case you're going to be creating an SMS Survey, which conditionally responds to an incoming message with another message. All the logic for this will exist in the Twilio Studio Flow you create.

To create a new Studio Flow:

1. Log into your Twilio account and navigate to the [Studio Dashboard](https://www.twilio.com/console/studio/).
2. Click the **Create a Flow** button to create your first Studio Flow. If you already have some Studio Flows (awesome!), tap the **+** icon instead.
3. Name your Flow. You can name your Flow anything you like; we're calling ours "Simple Survey".
4. Click **Next** to select a template. You'll see a few different templates you can use but you'll want a blank Canvas for this tutorial, so select **Start from scratch** on the template selection screen.

   ![New flow creation screen with flow name 'Simple Survey' and options to cancel or proceed.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/feb20ff5a576aa681b6aba1e6ddec0a38f61d41393cfb31583093fd7d5619f98.png)

After you've created the Flow, you'll see the Flow's Canvas. The Canvas is where you will build out the rest of the logic for the survey.

### Trigger widget

You'll notice that the Canvas comes with a widget already in place - that's the **Trigger widget**. It will kick off your Flow when the trigger you specify is fired. In this case, your trigger is going to be a REST API call. See the [REST API section of the Studio User Guide](/docs/studio/rest-api/v2) to learn how to make these calls.

![Trigger widget with options for Incoming Message, Incoming Call, REST API, and Subflow.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/ad64dcdb113beaaf97f9dd608303128e9438909871ad9d513e5ece80c6e51369.png)

## Build Survey Questions

You'll now build out some questions for your survey. In the **Widget Library**, scroll down to the **Messaging** section. Click and hold the **Send & Wait for Reply** widget, and drag it onto the Canvas. This widget allows you to send an outgoing message, wait for a reply, and collect the user's response. [Check out the Send & Wait for Reply documentation for more info](/docs/studio/widget-library/send-wait-reply).

Once the widget is on the Canvas you can configure it in the widget's configuration menu on the right side of the Canvas. Give your widget a name *(ours is first\_question)*, and write out your first survey question in the **Message Body**.

Next, connect the Send & Wait for Reply widget you just added to the REST API Trigger. Click the red dot under the **REST API Trigger** and drag the red arrow to the gray dot on **Send & Wait for Reply** widget. This will send an SMS to the user with a survey question to reply to.

![Flowchart showing two questions with response checks based on 1-10 scale ratings.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/bdac0ee6127cc4ffe8ab8add2abfa359fe2b53517a81b7cd57ca2616068b901d.png)

## Split Based on Response

Your survey participants will reply to the first question with a number between 1 and 10. To check that the response *is* a number between 1 and 10 you will use the **Split Based On…** widget.

The **Split Based On…** widget allows you to split up your Flow and connect to specific widgets based on certain conditional logic. Using this widget, you can check that the value of the inbound message you receive from your survey participants fits the condition you set. [Read more about it here.](/docs/studio/widget-library/split-based-on)

Start by dragging a Split Based On… widget onto the Canvas from the **Flow Control** heading in the Widget Library. Give the widget a name *(ours is check\_response\_1)*.

Next, you'll set the **Variable to Test**. Find the Send & Wait For Reply widget in the dropdown *(in our example, it's called first\_question)*, and select `inbound.Body` from the list. This will allow you to test the reply body of the message you receive in response to the first survey question.

![Flowchart showing a question node asking for a session rating, leading to a response check node.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/1c07099b7e4e43ef5bf3f06ce456609d4b9600d9524d2b0b1a88effcd8eadf5f.png)

### Adding Transitions

Next, you'll need to state the choices you're looking for in the user's responses — numbers between 1 and 10. Tap the red **New** at the bottom of the Split Based On… widget to reveal the **Transition On...** dropdown menu. Select **Condition Matches** to create a new Transition.

Transitions define how the Flow advances from one widget to the next based on specified conditions. [Read more about Transitions in the Studio Getting Started Guide.](/docs/studio/user-guide/get-started#define-widget-transitions)

![Flowchart showing condition matches with check\_response\_1 widget and transition options.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/1429f0a1b0e63830201f09b1df6ddc7b14c2f438c876af7ae43479ea69da8c52.png)

In the right sidebar, find the new Transition that you just created, and select **Regex** from the dropdown. Set this value to `^(?:[1-9]|0[1-9]|10)$` (a [regular expression](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regular_expression) that evaluates to integers between 1 and 10).

**Save** the new Transition and it will appear on the widget.

![Regex configuration for values 1 to 10 with transition to second\_question.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/d95835e297ae0c91b22f8772edd8a9ddb6e74e25ad733340272f4b10a68085d4.png)

### Prompting the Next Question

If the user enters something that the survey Flow recognizes (a number between 1 and 10), you should prompt them with the next question. Drag another **Send & Wait For Reply** widget onto the Canvas, and repeat the steps you just took to add a question and evaluate the response. Continue to repeat for each question in your survey, adjusting the Transition conditions each time based on the expected format of response.

![Question sequence.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/43c15505585df082643cdd4fadfdebc6df422b2482f1bc6528d4d69599c7c73f.png)

## No Matches Condition

What if the survey participant enters something other than a number between 1 and 10? You can account for those cases with the **No Matches** condition on your Split Based On… widgets.

Ideally, you'll guide the user towards a correctly-formatted response by gently suggesting the correct format.

To send a message that guides the user to a correctly-formatted response:

1. Drag a **Send Message** widget from the Messaging section of the Widget Library onto the Canvas.
2. Set the **Message Body** to something prompting the user to try again. We used: *"I'm sorry, I didn't understand. Please enter a number from 1 - 10."*
3. Connect the new Send Message widget to the **No Matches** condition on your Split Based On… widget.
4. Connect the **Sent Condition** from your Send Message widget back to your original question to give the user a second chance to answer.

![Flowchart showing a question prompt with no matches handling for responses 1-10.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/42ebfdc6cdace36ae75577f1b178712c0302215e2b5d5f21cb25b09f6a390218.png)

## Make an HTTP Request

Now that you have your survey questions in place and a simple handler for unexpected inputs, you're ready to send the survey data back to your servers!

1. Drag an **HTTP Request** widget onto the Canvas from the **Tools & Execute Code** section of the widget Library.
2. Connect the HTTP Request widget to the last question's **Split Based On…** widget.
3. Set the **Request URL** in the widget's configuration menu to your endpoint (we'll use `http://example.com/survey`, but yours will look different).
4. Scroll down to the **Field and Value Section** of the HTTP Request widget's configuration menu. Add new Fields for each question in your survey. **Note:** The corresponding Value will be the same variable you tested in the Split Based On… widget for that question. For example, our first Field "question1" has a value of `{{widgets.first_question.inbound.Body}}`, formatted in the Liquid template language.

![Twilio Studio flow with HTTP widget sending survey results to server.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/d46807a0a869ff9b36284f61030fa0f110fba31dd74a7686000b8f664576a1d6.png)

> \[!NOTE]
>
> [Studio supports the Liquid template language](/docs/studio/user-guide/liquid-template-language), which is a language used to load dynamic content throughout your Studio Flow. Using Liquid, Studio dynamically interprets the text between the two curly braces based on something — in this case, the Message Body we receive in the user's SMS response to our question. When we send our HTTP request, the parameters with our survey data will be included and we can track results.

## The Finished Product

The final state of your Canvas starts with a Trigger widget that receives an incoming REST API request. The Trigger widget then sets off **Send & Wait For Reply**, **Split Based On...**, and **Send Message** widgets to prompt the user with questions and evaluate their responses for format. Finally, an **HTTP Request** widget allows us to send the survey responses back to our servers.

![Survey flowchart with questions on rating, recommendation, and feedback, ending with results submission.](https://docs-resources.prod.twilio.com/4056f8b51fd2af3bd224bca3fc9060f7f1c0d1f7163f1b226d846967949c878d.png)

### Testing your Studio Flow

Time to test it out! You can make a request from your API to Studio and kick off this survey Flow, then text responses to each question (try entering something other than a number between 1 and 10 to test the No Matches condition).

Get ready to get instant SMS feedback from your users!

## What's Next?

If you're ready to dive a bit deeper into endpoint details, parameters, curl requests with Twilio Studio, [see the REST API section of the Studio User Guide.](/docs/studio/rest-api/v2)