How to Use Piping in Your Survey

Piping allows you to personalize your survey by reusing an answer that a respondent selected in an earlier question.

You can insert that answer into the question text or helper text of a later question. This gives respondents a clearer connection between their earlier answer and the follow-up question.

Piping changes the text respondents see. Branching changes the path they follow through the survey.

Example

Imagine you are creating a Community Needs and Opinions Survey. An earlier single-choice question asks:

What do you consider the biggest challenge facing our community?

• Lack of affordable housing
• Insufficient public transportation
• Limited access to healthcare
• High crime rates
• Other (please specify)

In a later question, you want to ask respondents how that problem could be solved.

Instead of asking a general question, you can use piping:

What do you think we can do to solve the problem of {{pipe:Q1}}?

If the respondent selects Insufficient public transportation, the later question will read:

What do you think we can do to solve the problem of Insufficient public transportation?

The reference {{pipe:Q1}} is replaced with the respondent’s answer when they take the survey.

How to add piping to question text

Step 1: Open the survey builder

Open the survey you want to edit and click Edit.

The survey builder displays your questions on the left and a preview on the right.

Step 2: Open the question where the answer should appear

Click the later question where you want to reuse an earlier answer. This is the destination question.

For the example above, open the follow-up question that asks what can be done to solve the community problem.

Make sure the question you want to take the answer from appears before this question.

Step 3: Open Advanced and find Answer Piping

Inside the expanded question, click the Advanced tab, next to Main.

Find the Answer Piping section. It contains two options:

• Insert into question text
• Insert into helper text

Step 4: Click Insert into question text

Click Insert into question text.

The Insert Answer Piping panel opens on the right-hand side of the screen.

At the top of the panel, check that it says Target field: Question text. This confirms where the piping reference will be inserted.

Step 5: Find the earlier question and click Insert

Under Pick a previous Single/Multiple question, find the question whose answer you want to reuse.

For this example, find:

What do you consider the biggest challenge facing our community?

Click the purple Insert button next to that question.

This inserts a piping reference into your destination question. In this example, the reference is {{pipe:Q1}}.

You do not select a particular answer such as Healthcare or Public safety in this panel. You select the earlier question, and Enquete uses the answer each respondent gives to that question.

You can click Insert next to other listed questions to add references from several earlier questions.

Step 6: Close the panel

When you have inserted the references you need, click the X in the top-right corner of the panel.

There is no separate Done step in the panel shown. Clicking Insert adds the reference; closing the panel returns you to editing the question.

Step 7: Place the reference within your sentence

Open the Main tab and review the Question text field.

You will see the inserted reference, such as {{pipe:Q1}}. Edit the surrounding text so the answer fits naturally into the question.

For this example, the complete question text should be:

What do you think we can do to solve the problem of {{pipe:Q1}}?

If the reference appears on a separate line or at the end of existing text, move the complete reference to the position where you want the answer to appear.

Keep the reference intact, including both opening and closing braces. Use the reference inserted by Enquete rather than changing its question identifier yourself.

Step 8: Understand the builder preview

The question list in the builder may show the reference directly:

What do you think we can do to solve the problem of {{pipe:Q1}}?

The builder preview can instead show a descriptive placeholder:

What do you think we can do to solve the problem of
Answer from: What do you consider the biggest challenge facing our community?

This placeholder identifies the question that supplies the answer. It is not the respondent’s actual answer.

Step 9: Test with an actual answer

Click Open Live Preview at the top of the survey builder.

1. Answer the earlier question used as the piping source.
2. Continue to the question containing the piping reference.
3. Check that your selected answer appears in the correct place.
4. Repeat with a different answer to confirm that the text changes.

If the source is a multiple-choice question, also test selecting several answers. Check that the resulting sentence remains clear.

If the source includes an Other option, test entering your own text and check how it appears in the follow-up question.

Add piping to helper text

Helper text lets you add context while keeping the main question short.

Using the same community survey example, you could write:

Question text:
What improvements would you suggest?

Helper text:
Please focus on the challenge you selected: {{pipe:Q1}}.

If the respondent selects Lack of affordable housing, the helper text will read:

Please focus on the challenge you selected: Lack of affordable housing.

Step 1: Open the destination question

In the survey builder, open the later question where you want the personalized helper text to appear.

Step 2: Choose Insert into helper text

Go to Advanced → Answer Piping and click Insert into helper text.

In the Insert Answer Piping panel, check that the target field is Helper text.

Step 3: Insert the earlier question’s answer

Find the earlier single-choice or multiple-choice question whose answer you want to reuse.

Click Insert next to it. When finished, close the panel using the X.

Step 4: Edit the helper text

Return to the Main tab and find the helper text field.

Write your explanation around the inserted reference. For example:

Please focus on the challenge you selected: {{pipe:Q1}}.

Keep the complete reference intact and place it where the respondent’s answer should appear.

Step 5: Test the helper text

Click Open Live Preview, answer the source question, and continue to the destination question.

Check that the helper text includes your answer and reads clearly.

Best practices for using piping

• Use an earlier question. The respondent needs to provide the answer before it can appear in a later question.
• Write around the answer. Check that the sentence makes sense with every available answer option.
• Keep references intact. Avoid deleting braces or changing the identifier inside an inserted reference.
• Check multiple answers. If the source allows several selections, make sure the follow-up wording works with more than one answer.
• Check skipped or unanswered sources. If the earlier question is optional or can be skipped through branching, test that path and adjust the survey so the follow-up remains understandable.
• Test the respondent experience. The builder’s “Answer from” placeholder shows the source question; use the live preview to check the actual answer.