What you will learn #
Use visitor widgets to collect feedback, run a poll, send a survey, or capture leads directly on your website. This chapter explains how to create each type, control where and when a widget appears, read the responses, and export the results. You manage everything in the Hitsteps dashboard. Visitors answer on your site through your existing Hitsteps tracking code, so there is no separate embed script to copy for each widget.
Before you begin #
Availability: This feature is being opened gradually. An eligible plan or trial does not by itself enable it for every website. The following instructions apply when your website has access; follow its displayed access message.
- Sign in to the Hitsteps dashboard and choose the site you manage.
- The widgets are part of Experience. The Experience access page states Experience is included with active Pro plans and above, and a free 14-day Experience trial is offered to eligible accounts. Availability depends on your account access and rollout. If the Experience menu or the Widgets view is missing or shows an access message, check the account's current feature access before assuming the feature is unavailable or universal.
- In the site's Experience settings, turn on Visitor widgets (described as: show enabled feedback, poll, survey, and lead widgets that match their display rules. The setting is off by default). This is a site setting change; only do it when the site owner intends to collect the data and the site's privacy and consent setup permits it.
- Management actions (create, edit, enable, pause, duplicate, delete) require a user role with permission to manage the site. Users with read-only access to the site can view widgets and responses but cannot change them.
- Widgets reach visitors through the site's normal Hitsteps tracking code. The site must run the tracking snippet; there is no per-widget code to paste.
Step by step #
The four widget kinds
The Widgets list can filter by Widget type: All widgets, Polls, Surveys, Feedback, Lead capture. The create menu describes each kind:
- Feedback: ratings, comments and screenshots. Good for a quick "how are we doing" signal with an optional screenshot of the problem area.
- Poll: one question at a time. Visitors answer a short question and see a thank-you message.
- Survey: a complete questionnaire with headings, descriptions, choices and ratings, presented on one screen.
- Lead capture: names, emails and contact details. A lead form asks for the fields you choose, then submits the contact.
Create a widget
1. Start and name it
Open Experience → Widgets → Create a widget and pick a kind. Give the widget an Internal name; the editor notes the internal name is only visible in your dashboard. Then write the messages visitors see:
- Title is the main heading inside the widget.
- Introduction is the opening text. For feedback it is not shown; feedback instead shows the launcher button, then the form.
- Invitation button (polls and surveys) or Intro button (lead capture) is the first button visitors press.
- Submit button is the final button. For feedback it reads "Report the feedback" by default and uses a green highlight; for polls it is "Send". Lead capture uses "Continue" for its intro and "Submit" for the final step.
- Thank-you message shows after a response. The default is "Thank you for sharing your thoughts."
2. Add questions (poll and survey)
Polls present one question at a time; surveys present the whole questionnaire on one screen. Add questions with Add a question and choose a Question type:
- Short text and Long text for open answers.
- Email address collects a validated email.
- Single choice and Multiple choice present options the visitor picks.
- Rating (1-5) and, for surveys only, Rating (1-10).
- Surveys can also add Heading and Description blocks to structure the questionnaire.
Every question can be marked Required or Optional. For choice questions, add and reorder Choice options and remove or duplicate them. Ratings have two endpoint labels (default "Strongly disagree" and "Strongly agree") that you can rename. Questions can be dragged to reorder or moved with the arrow buttons; a removed question can be restored with Undo removal. The editor counts questions and allows up to 50 questions and 50 choices per question.
A poll or survey needs at least one question that accepts an answer before you can enable it. If you try to enable one without a question, the editor stops you with a message and highlights the missing field.
3. Feedback options
For Feedback, the rating style is set under Feedback options:
- Rating style: Stars, System face, Face, Hand, Heart, or Weather. The editor preview shows how each family looks. Ratings run from 1 to 5.
- Offer a screenshot: adds a "Take screenshot" option so a visitor can attach a screenshot of the page, highlight an area, and remove or retake it. Screenshots are included only when the visitor chooses to share one.
- Email address is optional: when off, the email field is required. When on, visitors may submit without an email.
- Feedback placeholder and Email placeholder set the text inside those fields.
Visitors must enter a comment; the rating is optional.
4. Lead fields
For Lead capture, choose which Lead fields the form asks for: Name, Email, Company, Gender, Age, Phone. Name and Email are on by default. You must choose at least one field before the widget can be enabled. Close after submission closes the widget after a short pause when turned on, otherwise it stays on the screen after submitting. Second-step message and the Submit button label control the final step.
5. Preview
The editor shows a LIVE PREVIEW that tries the widget with sample answers. Preview responses are not saved. Use Desktop and Mobile to check the layout, pick a Preview screen to jump between stages, and Restart preview to reset it. Preview toggles between the editor and a larger preview view; Back to editor returns.
The editor is organized into Content, Display, Style and Labels tabs, with back and next pager buttons between sections.
Choose where and when the widget appears
The Display tab controls visibility. These are separate settings, and each change takes effect after you save:
- Show this widget turns the widget on or off. A widget that is off is marked Paused in the list.
- Position places the widget on the page. Polls, surveys and lead capture can use Disabled, Bottom right, Bottom left, Top left, or Top right. Feedback can also use Right, Bottom, Left and Top edge placements (its default is the right edge).
- Page targeting controls which pages show it. Show on: Every page, Pages matching a rule, or All except matching pages. Add Page rules with a Page path or URL and a Match mode: Flexible, Exact, Starts with, Ends with, Contains, or Regular expression.
- For full URLs, a flexible match ignores
www, query strings and fragments; exact match includes query strings and fragments. A*wildcard is supported in path rules. Full URLs are used for targeting and are not stored in responses. - Regular expressions use a deliberately bounded syntax without groups, backreferences or counted repetition.
- Enter a Test a page path or URL to check an unsaved rule; the editor replies "Widget will appear on this path/URL" or "Widget will not appear on this path/URL". Without a page rule, the widget shows on every page.
- Display timing controls when it appears on a matching page. Display when: Page opens, Any rule is met, or All rules are met. Each Display rule has a Threshold and a Unit: Scroll percent (up to 100), Scroll pixels, Seconds on page, or Minutes on page. Without a display rule, the widget shows as soon as the page opens.
Example: to show a poll after a visitor has read for ten seconds on product pages only, set Show on: Pages matching a rule, add a rule with Starts with and value /products/, set Display when: Any rule is met, and add a rule with threshold 10 and unit Seconds on page.
Survey shareable link
Surveys can be answered from a direct link as well as the on-page widget. On the Display tab, enable Enable a shareable survey link, save the survey, and the editor shows a Share this survey panel with the survey link and a Copy saved link button. Anyone with the link can answer while the survey and visitor widgets are enabled. Each save replaces the link, pausing the widget disables it, and website privacy settings still apply. A survey whose placement is disabled but which has a public link shows the list state Survey link only.
Appearance and labels
The Style tab controls how the widget looks:
- Launcher button (feedback only): font size, width, minimum height, horizontal and vertical padding, Horizontal edge offset (px) and Vertical edge offset (px), text color, background and border color. The launcher appearance is independent of the form title.
- Typography & colors: background color and the input text, background and border colors.
- Component styles: pick a Style scope (all components, or an individual question or field) and a Component (panel, content area, title, introduction, second-step message, thank-you message, question container, question label, text and email inputs, long text input, choices, ratings and feedback faces, rating endpoint labels, submit/continue/back/close buttons, launcher button, screenshot control and buttons and messages, question counter, status messages, heading, paragraph). Set Font size (px), Width (px), Minimum height (px), horizontal and vertical padding, and text, background or border colors. Blank values keep the inherited style; Reset component clears the overrides. The site implements colors so they remain readable and controls keep usable minimum sizes.
- Each text section (title, introduction, placeholders, buttons, thank-you message) can get its own Size (8-20 pt), Style (Regular, Bold, Italic, Bold italic), Font (Arial, Helvetica, Tahoma, Verdana, Times New Roman), Color, Letter spacing, and optional Background.
The Labels tab holds the visitor-facing labels and messages: close and back labels, the save error message, the empty questionnaire message, the required field and required choice messages; feedback adds the screenshot labels, rating prompt and rating accessibility label (use {value} and {max} in it); lead capture adds the field labels and male/female labels. The editor reminder: write these labels in the language your visitors use. Your dashboard language does not change their answers.
Save, enable and manage
- Save widget stores your settings (keyboard shortcut Ctrl+S or Command+S). The save state shows Not saved yet, Unsaved changes, or Saved settings. Untitled and required fields are checked before saving; an error flags the highlighted field.
- Show this widget / the list switch Enable widget/Pause widget controls live state. Saving a widget that is enabled publishes it immediately to matching pages.
- The Widgets list shows each widget's kind, question or field count, response count, unread count, and a state tag: Enabled, Paused, Website widgets paused (the site setting is off), Placement disabled, or Survey link only. Use Search these widgets, the Widget type and Widget switch filters, and the local controls to sort by most unread, most responses, or name, or to show only widgets with unread responses.
- Duplicate widget makes a copy with fresh responses. Delete widget immediately stops it showing and makes its responses unavailable; the confirmation warns this cannot be undone. Pause rather than delete when you only need to stop collecting.
Read responses
Open View responses on a widget. The route shows Visitor responses with the message: review answers, explore response summaries, and export your results.
- The Results panel summarizes the responses: Total responses and Last 7 days, a bar chart of answers (or feedback) for the last 7 days, and for feedback a Satisfaction rate chart. Days follow your account time zone.
- For feedback, the Ratings section breaks counts into 1 to 5 with the labels Angry, Confused, Unsatisfied, Satisfied, Happy, for the last 7 days and for all responses.
- Question breakdowns shows each question's type, how many answered out of how many were shown, the Average for rating questions, and the choice counts with percentages. Choices that were removed from the widget are marked "(no longer offered)" and examples a visitor typed after a choice was retired are listed separately.
- The Responses list shows each response card: kind (Feedback, Poll, Survey or Lead response), time, a Read or Unread tag with Version, and action buttons: View response, Mark read or Mark unread, Play recording when a matching recording is available (otherwise a note explains the recording is still being prepared or that none matches), and Visitor details when the visitor identity is known.
- A response card shows the Visit details: visitor number, browser, operating system, device, country, city and page, plus the answered field count and, for feedback, whether a screenshot was included. Lead responses show Contact details with the submitted fields; valid email and phone values become mailto and tel links.
- Feedback responses that include a screenshot show a thumbnail with Open full screenshot.
- Responses are shown 100 per page; use Older responses to page backwards. There is no fabricated summary: if response processing is incomplete the panel says which count is partial, and responses from widget versions that are no longer stored are excluded from choice counts with a note.
Export responses
The responses view offers Export responses (CSV):
- Export all responses includes every response, not only the displayed page. Large exports are split into manageable files; download each part, then continue for the rest. Export this page (N shown) downloads the current page, and when viewing one response, Export this response exports that row.
- Poll, survey and feedback exports have one row per question answered, with columns Response, Created UTC, Widget version, Question, Answer, Recording, Browser, Operating system, Device, Country, Page, City.
- Lead exports put one lead per row. Choose Columns from Contact fields (Name, Email, Age, Phone, Gender, Company), Visit details (Date, Time, Time zone, Browser, OS, Device, Page, Country, City) and Technical references (Response, Widget version, Recording), with Recommended, Select all and Clear selection presets. Dates and times follow your account time zone.
How visitors see the widgets
Widgets run inside your normal Hitsteps tracking code and only appear when the site setting, the widget switch, its position, page and display rules, and the visitor's privacy and consent state all allow it:
- Feedback appears as a launcher tab on the page edge. Opening it shows the rating faces, comment box, optional email and optional screenshot. The launcher returns after closing, so feedback stays available.
- Polls, surveys and lead capture open as an invitation panel. If a visitor closes one without answering, it stays hidden for that browser session (including other open tabs). If the visitor answers, the widget is marked answered and does not reappear for that browser. When more than one widget uses the same on-screen slot, one occupies it at a time.
- Display rules re-evaluate as the visitor scrolls or time passes, and the widgets re-check the matching list while the page is open, so a page- or time-based rule starts working without a reload.
- Widgets are not shown to visitors whose browser signals do-not-track or an opt-out that the site respects, and the site's own privacy exclusions apply. All visitor text, ratings, contacts, screenshots and page context are sent only when the visitor submits.
Worked example #
Illustrative setup: On a fictional shop, show a poll after ten seconds on product pages. Choose Show on: Pages matching a rule, a Starts with rule of /products/, Display when: Any rule is met, and 10 Seconds on page. After an authorized save and enable, test a permitted visit and review submitted responses separately from impressions.
Controls and metrics #
| Control or metric | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Internal name | The widget's dashboard name; not shown to visitors. |
| Title / Introduction / Thank-you message | The heading, opening text and closing message visitors see. |
| Invitation button / Intro button | The first button a poll, survey or lead invitation shows. |
| Submit button | The final action that saves the response. |
| Question types | Short text, long text, email, single choice, multiple choice, rating 1-5, rating 1-10 (survey), heading and description (survey). |
| Required / Optional | Whether a question must be answered before submitting. |
| Show this widget | Per-widget on/off switch. Paused when off. |
| Position | Disabled, or a screen corner; feedback adds right, bottom, left and top edges. |
| Show on | Every page, pages matching a rule, or all except matching pages. |
| Page rule / Match modes | Page path or URL with Flexible, Exact, Starts with, Ends with, Contains or Regular expression matching. |
| Test a page path or URL | Checks an unsaved rule against a path or full URL without collecting data. |
| Display when | Page opens, any rule is met, or all rules are met. |
| Display rule units | Scroll percent, scroll pixels, seconds on page, minutes on page. |
| Launcher button | The feedback tab on the page edge; its appearance is separate from the form title. |
| Component styles | Per-component overrides for size, width, padding and colors of every widget part. |
| Visitor labels | Visitor-facing texts written by you in the language your visitors use. |
| Total responses / Last 7 days | Response counts, all time and the most recent seven days in your account time zone. |
| Satisfaction rate / Ratings | Feedback summaries: percentage positive across days, and 1-5 counts by label. |
| Question breakdowns | Per-question answered/shown counts, averages for ratings, and choice counts with shares. |
| Answered fields / questions | How many fields or questions a response actually filled in. |
| Read / Unread | Manual reading state; mark items read or unread as you work them. |
| Widget version | The saved revision that produced a response; edited widgets keep old responses grouped under their own versions. |
Problems and fixes #
| What you see | Check this |
|---|---|
| The widget never appears | Confirm the site's Visitor widgets setting is on, the widget is enabled, a position other than Disabled is chosen, page and display rules pass, and the visitor who tested it has not already closed or answered it. Test with a fresh browser profile or incognito window. |
| The widget shows on the wrong pages | Review Show on and the page rules. Use Test a page path or URL. Remember flexible URL rules ignore www, query strings and fragments; exact does not. |
| A survey or poll shows after the page is open, not right away | A display rule with a time, scroll or pixel threshold is delaying it. Set Display when: Page opens or remove the rule to show it immediately. |
| Closing the widget makes it disappear and not come back | That is the intended dismissal behavior for polls, surveys and lead capture: a closed invitation stays hidden for the browser session, and an answered one stays hidden for that browser. Open it in another browser or after the session ends to see it again. |
| The survey link does not work | The survey may be paused, the link may have been replaced by a newer save, or the site privacy settings block it. Enable the widget and save again to get a current link. |
| No responses yet | Confirm the widget was visible to visitors (check it yourself in a normal visit without answering as a real customer) and that visitors actually submitted. Responses appear after the first submission; the list shows "No responses yet". |
| A screenshot is missing on a feedback response | Only visitors who chose to include a screenshot supply one; the card shows "Screenshot included: No" when none. The setting "Offer a screenshot" must be on for the option to exist. |
| The editor says the widget changed or could not be saved | The widget was edited or toggled elsewhere. Reload to get the saved version, then redo your change. |
| Save is blocked | A required question is missing, a question or choice has no title or empty choices, choices repeat, or a lead widget has no fields. The editor names the problem and highlights the field. |
| Controls are disabled | Your user role has read-only access to the site, so you can view responses but not save changes. |
| An export is empty | The widget has no stored responses, or the displayed page or single-response scope contains none. Use Export all responses for the full set. |
Access, privacy and limits #
- Widgets collect only what your site settings and the visitor's choices allow. Responses contain the submitted answers (text, rating, contacts, screenshot when shared) and the visit context (browser, operating system, device, country, city, page, time), and may link to a session recording when a playable recording exists for that visit.
- Visitors do not get names or tracking cookies from the widget itself; the widget respects the site's tracking consent, do-not-track signals, opt-out cookies and the site's privacy exclusions. The site owner writes all visitor-facing labels and chooses whether to ask for personal fields. Do not collect data the site has not approved, and do not put sensitive or personal data in widget names, titles, questions or messages. Only collect on pages and states the site owner has approved.
- Management and viewing are role gated: owners and users with a grant can view; management actions need manage permission. Do not use responses of a real customer as example data in public documentation.
- Plan access follows the Experience entitlement (the access page states Experience is included with active Pro plans and above, with a free 14-day trial where offered; paid limited grants below Pro are described by the access page as covering heatmaps). The exact customer-facing availability for a given account should be checked live; this guide does not quote prices or quotas.
- The editor enforces structural limits: up to 50 questions, 50 choices per question, 50 page rules, 50 display rules, and a maximum saved configuration size. No per-widget response cap is documented in the inspected source; treat any running limit shown in the account as current. Response retention length is not stated in the inspected source; confirm current behavior live before relying on a specific period.
Last checked #
Checked 8 November 2026 using product documentation and source, with public pages and safe sample screens where available. Account-specific access, provider controls and effective limits can differ; use the current message shown for your website. Examples are illustrative.