Surveys: Capturing Phone Numbers via Survey

EnrollNow surveys can collect a participant’s cell or home phone number and save it directly to the corresponding field on the participant profile. To ensure the number is captured correctly, assign the survey question to either the Phone (Cell) or Phone (Home) Survey Variable.

Before publishing the survey, confirm that the saved format is accepted by your EnrollNow site. Text messages can only be delivered to valid cell phone numbers, so confirm that questions assigned to Phone (Cell) collect a number capable of receiving text messages.

Using Input Masks to Ensure Proper Phone Number Formatting when using Surveys

Input masks guide participants as they enter their phone numbers and help reduce formatting errors. 

1. Add or select a Single-Line Input question.
2. Add an Input Type as Text.
3. Assign the question to the Survey Variable for Phone(Cell) or Phone(Home).
4. Locate the Input Mask Settings on the right in the question properties.
5. Select Pattern.
6. Enter the pattern:
   999-999-9999 for US phone numbers

7. For a country code, use a pattern such as:

   +1 (999) 999-9999

8. Optionally enable Save Masked Value if you want the parentheses and hyphen stored with the response.

Add a warning or tip section on using CV to retain phone numbers

ADD: Difference between number and string???? and why you need to verify formatting of phone number for use in reports, etc.

Adding Validation to Phone Number and Email Questions

Survey questions do not include validation by default. Teams can add validation to phone number and email questions to improve data accuracy and help participants correct improperly formatted responses before submitting the survey. For more detailed information about validating questions on an EnrollNow survey in this article.

In the question’s Properties panel, open the Validation section to:

• Mark the question as required and customize the Required Error Text.
• Add an Email validator to confirm that an email address is entered in a valid format.
• Add an appropriate validator or input pattern to ensure phone numbers follow the required format.
• Create a custom error message that clearly explains how the participant should correct their response.

For example, an email question could display: “Please enter a valid email address.” A phone number question could display: “Please enter a valid phone number using the format (###) ###-####.”

When a response does not meet the validation requirements, the participant must correct it before submitting the survey.

• Survey respondents will see a red error message if they attempt to submit a survey with an incorrectly formatted phone number.