Skip to main content
Surveys is in beta and available to accounts enabled by the Voxworks team. Speak to the Voxworks team if you would like access.

​
What is the Closing section?

Closing is the last fixed section in the Outline on the Questions tab. It is described as “Every code the interview can end with, the closing spoken for it, and the farewell spoken last.” Every survey call ends with an outcome code — completed, refused, screened_out and so on. The Closing section is where you list every code the survey can end with and write what the respondent hears for each. Edit it and click Save; the confirmation is Closing saved.

​
How a survey call ends

When the interview ends, the respondent hears two things in order:
  1. The closing text for the outcome code the call ended with.
  2. The Farewell — “Spoken last on every path, inbound included.”
For example, a completed interview might end: “That’s the end of the survey — your answers will really help.” (the completed closing text) followed by “Thanks so much for your time. Goodbye.” (the farewell). Because the farewell always follows, don’t start closing texts with “Thank you” — the farewell already says it. Two endings are different:
  • Voicemail ends silently after the message or SMS — no closing text, no farewell. See Voicemail and SMS.
  • no_contact (a wrong person, or a screener who would not put the call through) has no closing text, so the respondent hears only the farewell.

​
Farewell

The Farewell group has one field, Farewell. Write one short sign-off that works after any closing text, for example “Thanks for your time today. Goodbye.”

​
Outcomes

The Outcomes group lists every outcome code. Click + Add outcome to add a row. Each row has:

​
The four shell codes

The survey shell always ends calls with one of these, whether or not any rule names them. They must all be listed: A new survey starts with no outcomes listed, so Readiness shows a blocker for each shell code — “Outcome “completed” is missing — the survey shell always ends with it.” — until you add them.

​
Your own codes

Add a code for every other way your survey can end:
  • A Screen out or Terminate interview action on a routing rule — for example screened_out for respondents outside the target group, or under_18.
  • A Complete survey action that ends early with its own code.
  • A Number question’s Screen out setting, which uses excluded unless you choose another outcome (see Number).
Give each one a closing text. A screen-out with no closing text leaves the respondent hearing only the farewell, and Readiness warns about it.

​
The missing-code alert

If a rule or the shell ends with a code that is not listed, the section shows an alert such as “2 referenced outcome codes are missing — completed, refused. Every code a rule or the shell ends with must be listed here before this version can be published.” Click Add them to add a row for each missing code, then write their closing texts and Save. Readiness blocks compiling and publishing on the same problems:
  • “Outcome code “(code)” is listed twice.”
  • “(rule) ends with outcome “(code)”, which is not listed in Outcomes.”
  • “Outcome “(code)” is missing — the survey shell always ends with it.”

​
How outcomes appear in Results

Each survey session records an outcome code and a status. The status is the session’s lifecycle; the outcome code is the business result. They are separate — the Results Terminal statuses card notes “Lifecycle status and business outcome are separate dimensions”. A call that ends at the gatekeeper — declined, not now, wrong person, voicemail — never enters the questionnaire and files no session. It is counted only in the Results Contact funnel. See Results. The outcome code is also on the call as the survey.temp.outcome custom variable, with a readable reason in survey.temp.termination_reason — see Survey variables and piping.