July 20th, 2006 by Scott McDaniel

Two new features: Email Validation (by DNS) and a Rate-by-Stars Question Type

This week we turned out two new customer requested features.

Email Validation (by DNS)

SurveyGizmo now goes a step further in email validation. Like most survey apps we used to just do simple format-checking for email validation. Now we have upgraded! Any question that collects email addresses will perform something called a “MX-lookup” (Mail-eXchange lookup) to ensure there really is a mail server for that email address. If the check fails, that means the website/email address doesn’t exist — and the respondant is prompted to fix the problem.

While not fool-proof (what is) this feature is a vast improvement and a great tool to help you filter out bad emails and invalid survey responses.

Rate-by-Stars Question Type

We also added a new Star Rating question. If you have a group of questions or items that you want rated on the same set of criteria, this is just what the doctor ordered. Your survey-takers can mouse over the stars and select how many to award each criteria. A single click sets the number of stars they want to give.

Survey stars rating question

If you want to use this table: Add the question type Table of Textboxes, then under the basic formating in the advanced editor the choose “Rating Question - use stars” option.

These new features make your surveys more accurate and easier to fillout (resulting in more responses). If you don’t have an account then signup for free! This is not a trial, it really is a free basic account — yours forever!

Scott McDaniel
Scott McDaniel is the co-founder, CEO and lead designer at SurveyGizmo. He has been passionate about entrepreneurism and designing friendly, usable web applications for over 10 years at companies such as MarketingSherpa, LexisNexis, MessageMedia, and DoubleClick.

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