In-App Survey Quickstart
This guide will help you go from zero to your first live in-app survey in just a few minutes.
By the end of this guide, you will:
- Install Refiner in your app
- Identify your users
- Launch your first survey
- Collect and analyze responses
- Close the feedback loop
What this guide covers
This Quickstart focuses on in-app surveys, which are Refiner’s flagship product.
In-app surveys allow you to:
- Trigger surveys based on user behavior
- Target users precisely using traits and events
- Collect feedback directly inside your product
Refiner also supports Survey Pages (standalone hosted surveys) and Email Surveys (sent via email). For these survey types, steps 1–3 (installation, identification, event tracking) are different or not required – please refer to their respective documentation.
The rest of this guide (creating surveys, collecting responses, and analysis) still applies.
Step 1: Install Refiner
Refiner in-app surveys can be launched inside web and mobile applications. Choose your platform and follow the installation guide:
- JavaScript SDK (for web apps)
- Mobile SDKs (iOS, Android, React-Native, Flutter)
Installing the SDK enables you to send user data (user traits, events) from your app to Refiner and display surveys inside your app.
Step 2: Identify your users
Identifying your users ensures that every response is linked to a specific individual, making it possible to segment users and control survey delivery with precision. This leads to more relevant feedback while avoiding unnecessary interruptions for users outside your target audience.
To get the most out of Refiner, we recommend sharing user traits that help you target the right users at the right time. These traits provide context about your users, such as their plan, role, or lifecycle stage, and allow you to tailor when and to whom surveys are shown. You are completely free to choose which user traits you want to share with Refiner.
Here is how to identify for web and mobile:
Step 3: Track events (optional)
Events allow you to trigger surveys based on user behavior. Events represent actions users take in your product, such as:
- Completing onboarding
- Using a feature
- Upgrading a plan
Here is how to identify for web and mobile:
Step 4: Create your first survey
Now create your survey in the Refiner dashboard, using one of our survey templates or from scratch.
We recommend to start with a ready-to-use survey templates that you can customize (questions and design) later on.
For the Targeting of your survey we also recommend to start simple. For example you can set the Target Audience to “All logged-in users” and the Launch Trigger to something like “After one minute”. Once you feel more comfortable using Refiner, you can start creating surveys for certain user groups at specific moments in their user journey.
Best practices
- Avoid showing surveys too early
- Keep surveys short (start with 1–2 questions)
- Focus on one clear goal per survey
Step 5: Publish and verify
Once your survey is published, Refiner will automatically display it to eligible users according to your Target Audience and Launch Trigger settings.
How to test
- Log into your app as a test user
- Ensure the user is properly identified
- Trigger the survey conditions
Troubleshooting checklist
If the survey does not appear:
- Is the user identified?
- Does the user match the targeting rules?
- Is the survey published?
- Are you in the correct environment (production vs development)?
Our JavaScript SDK provides a Debug Mode which will help you narrow down the issue. Please feel free to contact support for assistance.
Step 6: Collect responses
As users interact with your survey:
- Responses will appear in real-time in your dashboard
- Each response is linked to a specific user
What you can do with responses
- View individual feedback
- Filter by score, attributes, or segments
- Identify trends
Step 7: Filter and tag responses
Use filters to create response lists and analyze your data.
Tags help you organize feedback. You can create your own tagging system, for example:
- feature request
- bug report
- pricing feedback
Tags can be added manually, or using AI.
Tags can also be used to trigger alerts or integrations.
Step 8: Create a dashboard
Dashboards help you track performance over time.
You can:
- Monitor NPS or CSAT trends
- Break down results by segment
- Share insights with your team
Step 9: Close the feedback loop
Refiner becomes most powerful when connected to your tools.
Common integrations
- Slack → notify your team about new responses
- CRM → enrich customer profiles
- Data warehouse → advanced analysis
Example workflows
- Send detractors to Slack for follow-up
- Sync promoters to your CRM
- Trigger actions based on tags
What to do next
Now that you have your first survey running, you can:
- Improve targeting using attributes and events
- Create additional surveys (onboarding, churn, feature feedback)
- Set up integrations and automation
- Explore advanced segmentation
Summary
You’ve now built a complete feedback loop:
- Installed Refiner
- Identified users
- Launched a survey
- Collected responses
- Analyzed and acted on feedback
🎉 You’re ready to start collecting actionable user insights with Refiner.