Topic

Details about the Multiple Polling Responses feature, which allows Contacts to reply multiple times to Polling Notifications using specific Delivery Methods.

Description

The Multiple Polling Responses enhancement allows Organization Contacts to respond to Everbridge Polling Notifications multiple times for any updates or changes to their status during an ongoing event. Administrators can enable this feature at the Organization level from Settings > Notifications > Default Settings. 

Previous Behavior

Previously, Contacts could only reply once to a Notification they’ve received, whether it was a Confirmation or Polling Notification. If they tried to confirm or respond again, they would receive a message that they’d already responded. Even if they did not receive a message that they’ve already responded (like when responding from SMS), that subsequent response would not be captured.

New Behavior

Contacts can now respond multiple times to Polling Notifications received via the following Delivery Methods:

• Email
• Microsoft Teams Delivery Method
• Slack Delivery Method
• SMS (via link)

Contacts will not be able to subsequently respond from SMS (text), voice, and mobile app Delivery Paths.

Multiple polling response data will be used or displayed in the following areas:

• Notification Details
• Custom Reports
• CSV Downloads

Notification Details

Multiple polling responses will appear in the Notification Details at the Contact (summary) level, including the Latest Response and Latest Response Time values. 

The presence of the binocular icon indicates that the Contact has submitted more than one response to the Notification. Clicking the binocular icon will open the All Responses modal, which will display all responses the Contact had made, including the Response Method, time of the response, and response value.

Contacts’ initial Confirmation/Response Time can still be seen in the Confirmation Time column.

Custom Reports

The Response Time field is available in Custom Reporting, enabling users to create reports that track Contact response history. When included in a Custom Report, the Confirmation Time shows the first confirmation recorded for each Delivery Method, while Response Time reflects the latest response.

If the Response Time is not included in the report, then Confirmation Time will represent the first response a Contact has made.

CSV Downloads

The Response Time column is included in CSV downloads, providing visibility into each Contact’s response history.

Known Limitations and Issues

There are some known limitations to consider with the initial version of this feature:

• Contacts will not be able to submit multiple responses from SMS (text) or the Mobile App.
• SMS or Text responses will only be recorded if they are the first response. Contacts can subsequently respond via SMS via the link thereafter. If they respond from any other Delivery Method first, they will be unable to respond with an SMS/text message. They can still respond via SMS from the link in the received SMS message.
• Email-only Polling Notifications may show duplicate response entries.
• The All Responses modal is not available in Everbridge 360 Communications at this time. In Communications, the latest response is displayed.
• Contacts will not be able to respond again if the Notification/Incident uses Scheduling or Escalation Rules. It will not change the Scheduling or Escalation Path.
• Multiple Polling Responses are not supported with Operator Confirmation, which will come in a future release. If an Operator confirms on behalf of a Contact first and then the Contact subsequently responds to the Notification, the Contact’s response will override the Operator’s.