Table of Contents

• Overview
• Creating a poll
• Present poll feature
• Responding to a poll
• Viewing poll results
• Permissions and visibility
• Managing polls
• Example use cases
• Using AI to help create polls
• Polls in Home and Site tiles
• Polls browser notification

• Create & manage access control groups (ACGs) for Polls 

• Daily Email Summaries for Poll Notifications

Overview

Polls allow you to quickly gather opinions, votes, and feedback directly in your intranet through simple, standalone, one-question interactions. This article explains how to create, respond to, and manage polls, as well as how visibility and permissions work.

Creating a poll

Polls are enabled by default in the Manage > Application > Employee Listening menu. App managers can enable or disable polls at any time, as well as control whether or not to allow generative AI in poll creation.

Once enabled at the app level, polls can be created via the Polls menu on the left-hand navigation.

1. From the Polls menu, click Create poll.

   • Note:

     All users will have access to the Polls menu so they can always view applicable polls they can participate in. Only those users granted permission by an app manager can create new polls.
2. If using AI, enter a prompt describing the question you want asked or use one of the suggested prompts. You may see up to five quick-start prompts below the AI field. These are topic ideas generated based on your job title, department, and language settings. They’re designed to help you get started quickly with relevant poll ideas.
3. Your prompt can include keywords the AI should mention, tone, or any other components. You can always generate a question and edit it manually as you need. More on using AI in polls below. Otherwise, click Or create it manually.
4. Input your question and options. Choose Add option to add more. Once finished, click Next.
5. Choose which audience this poll should be for. Toggle All organization if the poll is applicable to all users. Otherwise, we can choose from various audiences like Location audiences.
6. Once you have your audience chosen, click Done.
7. Select the participation window from the dropdown. This is how long the voting window will be open on the poll.
8. Choose whether to allow respondents to :
   • Choose multiple options: Let participants select more than one answer choice.
   • Keep responses confidential: names will be hidden from everyone, including the poll creator and app managers
   • Show results after participation: Allow participants to see results only after they respond. if this toggle is flipped OFF, only poll creators and admins can see results
   • Show results before participation: Display results even before users vote. If this toggle is flipped ON, only poll creators and admins can see results

Present poll feature

The Present feature allows creators and managers to display a poll in full-screen mode during live meetings or events. A QR code is provided so attendees can vote instantly from their devices. The QR code acts as a redirect to the mobile intranet app. If users don't have the app installed, they'll be prompted to log in to the mobile web version via their mobile browser.

Results are displayed live, based on the chosen visibility settings.

Present poll is especially effective as an icebreaker and a way to increase repeat engagement with your intranet. By creating fun, interactive moments in meetings, it encourages employees to participate and return to the intranet to see results and future polls, helping to build ongoing habits of use.

Responding to a poll

Any user included in the Audience you selected when creating the poll can respond to it. 

Respondents select their choice by clicking on an option. Any respondent can change their selection at any time while the poll is active. Vote changes are tracked in the poll's results CSV download available to poll creators and admins.

Viewing poll results

Depending on the parameters set up during poll creation, all existing results become visible to the respondent only after voting themselves, and are visible immediately once a user votes. 

Poll creators can decide how responses and results are shared when setting up a poll:

• Confidential responses - Participant names are hidden from everyone, including the poll creator and managers. Results are shown only in aggregate, and only once five or more responses have been submitted.
• Show results after participation - Participants can view poll results only after submitting their vote. Creators and managers can always view results (with participant names, unless Confidential is enabled).
• Show results before participation - Participants can view poll results before voting. Creators and managers can always view results (with participant names, unless Confidential is enabled).
• Default (no toggle selected) - Results (including participant names) are visible only to the poll creator and poll managers. Participants cannot see results.

To view results from a poll:

• Head to the Polls menu and locate your poll. You can use the Search bar by typing in any words or phrases mentioned in the poll. You can't search by creator name. You can also filter results by: 

  • All 

  • Active 

  • Draft 

  • Closed

And filter by:

• Polls created by me

• Polls I can manage

• Polls I can participate in

Results include:

• Raw vote counts for each option.

• Percentages based on total votes.

• Results update in real time as votes are cast or changed.

Who can see results?

• Poll creators and poll managers can always access poll results. In confidential polls, they only see aggregate results after five or more responses and participant names are never visible.

• If enabled by the poll creator, respondents who are not app managers can results.

• Users who are not part of the chosen audience for the poll will not see results, nor the poll itself.

  

Permissions and visibility

Any user who falls into the applicable Audience the poll is created for can participate. If the audience is "All organization", that means all active intranet users can see and participate in the poll.

Poll creators and app managers can edit (while in Draft mode) or delete polls. 

Permissions:

Managing polls

Editing a poll can only be done while the poll is still in Draft mode. Once published, the poll creator cannot edit a poll. Once a poll has closed and voting has concluded, it cannot be republished in any way. Poll visibility is determined by end date or manual closure.

Polls can be closed (ended) or deleted by an app manager or the creator at any time. A closed poll means voting can no longer take place, but results will be available. Deleting a poll means removing it, along with the results, from the intranet entirely.

Poll options menu

Use the options menu (⋯) next to an active poll to manage or share it. Here’s what each option does:

• Present: Display the poll in presentation mode for meetings or live sessions. This option highlights the poll for participants in real time.

• End poll: Manually close the poll before its scheduled end time. Once a poll is ended, participants can no longer vote.
  Note: This option is unavailable once the poll has already ended.

• Delete: Permanently remove the poll and all associated responses. Deleted polls cannot be recovered.

• Copy link: Copy the poll’s shareable link to invite others to participate or view results (depending on poll settings).

• Download CSV: Export poll results in a CSV file for analysis or reporting.

• View poll configuration: Review the poll’s setup details, including title, options, visibility, and closing time.

You can also download a CSV of all results for easy offline sharing. Depending on how the poll was configured, the CSV will highlight:

• Poll question

• Voter ID

• Full name of voter

• Department name of voter

• Role name (if applicable) of voter

• Selected option

• Time the user submitted their response (changed responses from the same user are tracked here as well)

View poll configuration

Use the View poll configuration to view or cross check who can see your poll, how long it stays open, and how participants can interact with it.

Target audience

Defines who in your organization the poll is shared with. Only members of the selected audience can view or respond to the poll.

• All Organization: Makes the poll visible to everyone in your company.

• Specific Groups or Teams: Targets selected users or departments.

• The number of users in your audience is displayed for reference.

Participation window

Specifies how long the poll remains open for responses. You can choose from preset durations such as 1 day, 1 week, or a custom period. Once the participation window ends, the poll automatically closes and no further votes can be submitted.

Allow multiple options

Enable this setting to let participants select more than one answer. When turned off, participants can choose only one option.

Keep responses confidential

Hides participant names from everyone, including poll managers. Use this setting when anonymity is important for honest feedback.

Show results after participation

Allows participants to see poll results immediately after they respond. When turned off, only poll managers can view the results until the poll ends.

View Poll Results

Poll results help you understand how users responded to a poll. You can view responses by options (total votes per choice) or by participants (individual responses).

Once your poll ends, the Poll results screen shows a summary at the top:

• Total votes: The total number of responses

• Unique participants: The number of people who voted

If multiple selections were allowed, the total votes may be higher than the number of participants.

At the bottom of the poll card, you’ll see:

• The total votes and participants

• The poll visibility (Public or Private)

• The date when the poll closed

Example:
18 votes • 7 participants • Public • Closed on Oct 16, 2025

View by options

Use the By options tab to see which choices received the most votes.

Each option shows its name and the number of votes in brackets.
For example:

• Technical expertise (7)

• Project management (3)

• Communication skills (4)

• Problem-solving ability (4)

Click the arrow next to any option to expand it.
You’ll see the names, departments, and locations of users who selected that option.

If the poll was anonymous, participant names are hidden.

Tip: Use this view to quickly identify which options were most popular.

View by Participants

Switch to the By participants tab to see how each user voted.

Each participant’s row shows:

• Their name, department, and location

• The options they selected, marked with checkmarks

For example:

• Rachel Hublot – QA, Pune
  Technical expertise
  Communication skills

• RH 243 MH, IND – Finance
  Technical expertise
  Communication skills

If a user’s department or location is not available, it appears as Unknown.

Note: The number of options selected by each participant depends on whether multiple selections were allowed.

Export Results

If you need a report, you can download the results.

1. Open the poll results screen.

2. Click the More (⋯) menu in the top-right corner.

3. Select Download CSV.

The file includes participant names, selected options, and total votes.

If the poll is confidential, exporting results may be restricted to poll creators or app managers.

Common Scenarios

• In polls with multiple selections, the total votes can be higher than the participant count.

• In anonymous polls, participant details are hidden.

• Once a poll closes, results remain visible but cannot be changed.

• For restricted polls, only managers can view detailed participant data.

Best Practices

• Review the By options view for overall trends.

• Use the By participants view for individual insights.

• Check poll visibility before sharing results.

• Keep your polls short and specific for better engagement.

Example use cases

While other Simpplr tools like surveys can work for gathering a lot of important information from your users, you might find more success and convenience when it comes to polls in some real-life use cases that typically require shorter, one-off responses, such as:

• Team scheduling: Which time works best for next week’s sync?

• Feedback collection: What format should we use for training?

• Employee sentiment checks: How comfortable are you with the new tool rollout?

• Engagement and fun: Vote for the theme of our holiday party!

Using AI to help create polls

When enabled in Manage > Application > Employee Listening, AI generates quick-start prompts along with suggested poll question and answer choices based on the details you provide. You can review, edit, or regenerate the suggestions before finalizing your poll. By default, AI poll generation is enabled. App managers can disable it in Manage > Application > Employee Listening.

• If using AI to create your poll, you may see up to five quick-start prompts below the AI field. These are topic ideas generated based on your job title, department, and language settings. They’re designed to help you get started quickly with relevant poll ideas. It's worth noting that the AI may not be entirely accurate every time, and you may see fewer than five prompts when creating the poll.

Polls in Home and Site tiles

You can now place Polls directly on Home and Site dashboards using a dedicated Polls tile. This puts surveys where people already work, so participation does not depend on users hunting for links or pages. Active and closed polls are shown in one place, and each user only sees polls they are part of the audience for.

Who can use this

• Home and Site managers can add and manage the Polls tile.
• Poll creators get better reach and higher response rates.
• All users can view and vote in polls from their dashboard.

Add a Polls tile to your dashboard

1. Open the Home or Site you want to update and switch to edit mode
2. Choose Add tile and select Polls.
3. Give the tile a title or keep the default
4. Save and add the tile to the page

The tile lists Active and Closed polls and shows key details like visibility and time left before a poll closes. Users can open and vote without leaving the dashboard.

Language behavior for the tile

The system can translate the default tile automatically based on the user’s language. If you manually edit the title or description, the edited version appears the same for everyone, in one language.

Browser notifications for polls

In addition to email and mobile push, polls can now send browser notifications. Users see timely alerts when a poll is published or about to close, even when they are working in the browser.

Who can use this

• App Managers control the setting.
• All users receive notifications based on their preferences.

How notifications help

Notifications reduce missed polls. Teams see alerts at the moment a response matters, which improves completion rates without extra reminders.

Manage notification preferences

App Managers enable or disable browser notifications from notification settings.
Users can turn notifications on or off from their own preferences.

Practical tips

Use a clear tile title so people know exactly what to expect.
Place the tile near frequently used sections on the dashboard.
Enable browser notifications to boost participation for time-sensitive polls.

This setup keeps polls visible, reachable, and hard to ignore, without adding clutter or extra steps.