Filter survey results by division and custom attributes

Overview

Survey creators and managers can now filter survey results by Division and eligible custom user attributes, in addition to existing filters such as Location, Department, and Manager. These filters apply across both the Overview and Comments tabs, making it easier to analyze feedback by employee segment and uncover more meaningful insights.

Before you begin

This enhancement is available as part of the 26.07 AWS release for survey reporting. It is intended for survey creators and managers who analyze survey results.

What is new

• Division is now available as a survey results filter.

• A new Custom filters section shows eligible custom user attributes.

• Selected filters apply consistently across the Overview and Comments tabs.

• Filters work alongside existing demographic filters such as Location, Department, and Manager.

• CSV exports and reporting surfaces respect the same applied filters.

How it works

On the survey results page, Division appears with the standard demographic filters. Custom user attributes appear in a separate Custom filters section when they are eligible for reporting.

When you apply filters, the reporting view updates accordingly. The same selected filters carry across tabs, so you can move from high-level results in Overview to qualitative feedback in Comments without reapplying them.

Filters are evaluated together. Combining Division, Manager, Department, Location, and custom filters progressively narrows the result set.

Which custom user attributes are eligible

Not every custom profile field appears as a reporting filter. Eligible custom attributes must meet all of the following criteria:

• The field existed when the survey was sent.

• The field type is Select, Multi-select, or Text.

• The field is not user editable.

• The field does not contain a unique value per user, to help protect respondent anonymity.

If eligible fields are available, each one appears as its own filter under the Custom filters section. If no eligible fields exist, the Custom filters section does not appear.

Important behavior and privacy safeguards

Send-time snapshot: Filter values are based on recipient profile data captured when the survey was sent. Profile changes made after the survey was sent do not retroactively affect existing survey reporting.

Cross-tab consistency: Applied filters persist across the Overview and Comments tabs.

Combined filtering: Standard and custom filters work together to refine results.

Privacy protection: Reporting suppression and anonymity protections still apply when filters narrow the audience. If a filter combination narrows the audience below the reporting threshold, some results, comments, exports, or AI-driven surfaces may be hidden or masked to protect respondent confidentiality.

Troubleshooting

The Custom filters section is not appearing on the survey results page.

What happened: The Custom filters section only appears when there are eligible custom user attributes available for the survey. If no custom attributes meet the eligibility criteria, the section is hidden entirely.

What to do: Review the custom user attribute fields configured for your tenant. Confirm that at least one field existed at the time the survey was sent, is of type Select, Multi-select, or Text, is not user editable, and does not contain a unique value per user. If no fields meet these criteria, the Custom filters section will not appear for that survey.

A custom attribute that should be eligible is not appearing as a filter option.

What happened: Custom attributes are only eligible if they existed at the time the survey was sent. If a field was added after the survey was sent, it will not appear as a filter option for that survey, even if it otherwise meets the eligibility criteria.

What to do: Confirm when the custom attribute field was created relative to when the survey was sent. If the field was added after the survey was sent, it will not be available as a filter for that survey. For future surveys, ensure that all desired custom attribute fields are configured before the survey is sent.

Filters applied on the Overview tab are not carrying over to the Comments tab.

What happened: Applied filters are designed to persist across both the Overview and Comments tabs. If filters are not carrying over, there may be a display or session issue with the reporting view.

What to do: Reapply the filters on the Overview tab and then navigate to the Comments tab. If the issue persists, refresh the page and reapply the filters. If filters are still not persisting across tabs after refreshing, raise a support request with details about the filters applied and the survey in question.

Results, comments, or exports are hidden or masked after applying filters.

What happened: When a filter combination narrows the audience below the reporting threshold, Simpplr hides or masks results, comments, exports, or AI-driven surfaces to protect respondent confidentiality. This is expected behavior and is part of the platform's privacy and anonymity safeguards.

What to do: Broaden the filter selection to include a larger audience segment. If the results remain masked, the filtered audience may be too small to report on without compromising respondent anonymity. Consider analyzing results at a higher level of aggregation.

Division filter values are not reflecting recent changes to user profiles.

What happened: Filter values for all demographic attributes, including Division, are based on a snapshot of recipient profile data captured at the time the survey was sent. Profile changes made after the survey was sent do not retroactively affect the filter values or reporting data for that survey.

What to do: This is expected behavior. If updated Division values need to be reflected in reporting, they will apply to future surveys sent after the profile changes have been made. For the current survey, the filter values reflect the data that was accurate at send time.

The CSV export is not reflecting the filters applied on the results page.

What happened: CSV exports are designed to respect the same filters applied on the survey results page. If the export does not reflect the applied filters, the export may have been triggered before the filters were fully applied, or there may be an issue with how the export is processing the filter state.

What to do: Confirm that the desired filters are applied on the survey results page before triggering the export. Apply the filters, wait for the results to update, and then initiate the CSV export. If the exported data still does not reflect the applied filters, raise a support request with details about the filters used and the survey involved.

Frequently asked questions

Where do Division and custom filters appear on the survey results page? Division appears with the standard demographic filters on the survey results page. Eligible custom user attributes appear in a separate Custom filters section.

Do filters apply to both the Overview and Comments tabs? Yes. Selected filters apply across both tabs so you can analyze scores and comments for the same employee segment without reapplying filters.

Why are some custom user attributes not appearing as filter options? Only eligible fields are shown. A field must have existed at the time the survey was sent, be a supported field type, not be user editable, and not create a risk of identifying individual respondents.

Will profile changes made after a survey was sent affect the filter results? No. Reporting uses a send-time snapshot of recipient attributes for consistency and privacy. Changes made after the survey was sent do not rewrite historical reporting data.

Can Division be used alongside other demographic filters? Yes. Division can be combined with Location, Department, Manager, and eligible custom filters to refine your analysis.