Create a live poll

Add gamification to email with Live Polling to boost click through rates, engagement and revenue. Live polls encourage interaction and increase open rates as recipients re-open to check in on the results which update live as the campaign unfolds and the votes roll in.

Learn how to create your Live Polling template and tag with our step-by-step guide.

Create a polling template

To create a poll, you'll need to first set up your template.

Navigate to the Templates tab and select the Polling tab (all of your poll templates will live in this tab). Select + New Template to open the canvas.

polling templates tab with the new template button indicated

Add a name in the Description field, and select the Anti-Alias and High-Resolution options above the canvas to ensure any images will look great in your email. Select the canvas to change the background color and size using the options on the right.

polling template canvas with high-resolution, anti-alias, and inspector indicated

If you want to have your poll/vote numbers overlaid on images, then follow the steps below to add background images. If you just want a solid color background, proceed to add your voting.

Add your background image

Your background images need to be hosted for you to add them to your template. Once you have the links to your hosted images ready, follow these steps:

Select the "Add Block" button (the + icon). This adds a block with "Lorem ipsum" text to your canvas.
Click on the block and paste your hosted image link where you see the "Lorem ipsum" text in the formatting editor.
In the Inspector menu on the right, change the Object Type from Text to Image.
Click on the block again and select the "Natural size" icon on the top left corner of the image (this ensures the image is set to its original dimensions).
Select the canvas to adjust the Layout dimensions in the Inspector menu, otherwise the total size will be 500x300. Move your image to the top left corner (Top and Left coordinates both at 0) to make it easy to resize your canvas.

Tip: Wait until you've added your voting before you create Answer 2. This is just setting up how you want your first answer to look.

Add and format voting

Now that you have your background image or color set, it's time to add your voting block. This is what will connect the live feed of clicks to display the votes in your email.

Select the "Add Block" button (the + icon) and position the block on your background.
Select the Connect source icon to the right of your block and select "Content Source"
Select the arrow to expand the "root" and then the arrow to expand the 0 and here you'll see your vote options appear.
Choose the vote option that fits your use case and select done.
Click on the block to format your vote font, color, and more with the formatting editor.

Add another answer

Once your background and vote options are all formatted how you would like for Answer 1, it's time to add your additional Answer options. Your additional Answer options will carry on the formatting (including canvas size) of your first answer, so it saves you a lot of time to get your first one exactly right before duplicating.

Select the "+" icon to the left of "Answer 1" to add Answer 2.
If you have an image you want to update, select the image block and change the Object Type from Image to Text.
Replace the hosted image link in the text of the formatting editor and then change the Object Type back to Image.
No need to change the vote block!
Repeat these steps for as many Answers as you would like to add.

Now you're ready to set up your campaign!

Create a poll campaign

Before you start your campaign, you'll want to make sure you have your Polling Template built. Then, you can set up your campaign, mailing, and TAG:

Go to the Campaigns tab and select the "New Campaign" button (or choose the "Edit campaign" icon on an existing one). Name your campaign.
Within your campaign, choose the + icon to create a new mailing and TAG.
From the dropdown, select the green arrow icon for Polling under the "Contextual" heading and follow the steps to name your mailing and TAG.
Choose the polling template you'd like to use in step 3.
In step 4 you set the landing page for your poll. If you want each answer to go to a separate landing page, check the box for "Use multiple landing pages"
Select "Generate TAG" to get a href and img src for each answer.

That's it! Now you're ready to add polling to your email.

Looking for ideas of how to use polls/voting in your emails?

Vote options in the content source

You have the option to show different numerical formats for the live click feeds depending on the use case:

votes – also known as click count and very often used in social signals setup, i.e.. "x people are viewing this product" which shows the number of clicks on each poll option.
votesPercentage – showing the percentage as a decimal, i.e. 0.8.
votesPercentageInt – the most popular option showing the percentage of votes, i.e. 80.
votesPercentageDisplay – showing the percentage with two decimal places, i.e. 80.00%.
totalVotes – the total votes across all answers, i.e. 2

Tip: If you would like to add a percentage sign (%) to the votesPercentageInt option, go to the Text tab in the Inspector menu and add "%" as a suffix.

Use cases for Live Polling

Check out some ideas of when to use polling and then get started with our guides!

Click count on popular items

Encourage users to scoop up an item before it's too late by incorporating social signals with calls to action. Show the number of people who have clicked on an item or who are shopping a certain offer.

Interactive email polls

Listen to and engage your audience by making it easy for them to share their feedback via interactive polls. Show which options others have chosen and use the data you gain to inform future personalization efforts.

Subscriber sentiment tracker

Find out exactly how your subscribers feel about the content your sending by including a sentiment tracker (such as a frowny face, neutral face and happy face that customers can easily select to reflect their feelings). Utilize feedback from that tracker to inform your content strategy for future sends, boosting loyalty and customer retention.