Linking surveys and passing data

Researchers often use panel providers or other surveying platforms alongside Discover. In these cases, passing information between platforms—such as respondent IDs or other data—is essential.

A common scenario is passing panelist IDs from a panel provider into Discover, then returning them when respondents exit the survey, ensuring they are credited for participating.

This article covers two main processes: 1) Passing (linking) data into Discover, and 2) Passing data out of Discover.

Passing data into or out of your survey is done through the survey’s URL. While this may sound a bit technical, we’ll break it down into easy steps.

A URL is made up of several parts: the protocol (such as "https://"), the domain, subdirectories (if any), and parameters (if any). For now, focus on the parameters.

A URL broken into for sections: protocol, domain, subdirectories, and parameters.

Parameters are like variables—containers that hold information. In a URL, they are separated by ampersands (&). Read the variable manager help article for more information about variables.

Key-value pairs: Parameters are made up of two parts: the "key," which is the name of the container (where data is stored), and the "value," which is the data stored in the container.

Important note: Since URL parameters are visible to anyone with the link, avoid including sensitive information (like passwords or IDs) in the URL.

Now that we’ve covered URL basics, let’s explore how to use parameters to pass data into and out of your survey.

The first step in bringing respondent data into your survey is to create variables to store that information in the Discover database.

For a more detailed guide, refer to the Variable manager help document. To create variables, you can do so in two places:

The Share tab, or
The Variable Manager in the Tools dropdown.

Create new variables on the share tab or in the variable manager.

To create a variable:

Click the + Add variable button at the bottom of the table (see example image below).
Enter a name for the variable. Once you’ve finished, click anywhere outside the name field to save the variable. This will create a new column in the survey’s database with the name you’ve provided.
Publish your changes by clicking the Publish button in the upper right corner.

User interface showing the variable manager and how to add a variable

Once a pass-in variable is saved, it is automatically added as a parameter to the survey link (URL), as shown in the survey link on the Share page.

User interface showing where the example survey link is located

At this stage, you're halfway there. With your variables created, the shareable survey link is ready to be sent to the referring panel provider (or another platform).

The final step in passing data between surveys is to replace the placeholder values in the parameter key-value pairs within the survey link with the actual data to be passed in. In Discover, these values are marked with placeholder "XXXX" in the URL.

User interface highlighting the Xs that need to be replaced

Unfortunately, we cannot provide specific instructions for every platform, as each one has its own process. However, the general approach is as follows:

Copy the shareable survey link from the Share tab in Discover. Identify the section in the referring platform where respondents will be redirected to Discover (e.g., in an email invitation or upon survey completion).
Paste the Discover survey link in this section and replace the "XXXX" placeholders with the appropriate data.

Suppose you want to track which social media platform respondents are coming from.

Create a "Source" URL variable, as described earlier, and ensure you publish your changes.
Copy the shareable survey link from the Share page.
Paste the link into a text editor and replace the "XXXX" with values to associate with different social media sources, such as "fb" for Facebook or "1" for a specific platform.
Copy and paste the modified link into your social media post or ad, and repeat the process for other platforms.

If you’ve already read about passing data into Discover, this process should feel familiar—linking out is essentially the reverse, just with the roles flipped. Let's summarize this process:

Open the external destination platform (like a panel provider) and configure the link to receive data using key-value pairs (parameters).
Copy that link and paste it into Discover.
Insert the correct values—often with dynamic content—so that each respondent’s data is included in the outgoing link.

In the linking in process, the external platform was the referring source, and Discover was the destination. With linking out, it’s the other way around: Discover becomes the referring platform, and the external service is now the destination.

Start by opening the destination platform and locating where it accepts incoming parameters via URL. This is usually a configuration panel or redirect setup—each platform is different, so we can’t give specific instructions.

Once that link is ready, head back to Discover:

Scroll to the bottom of the survey editor and add (or select) a survey ending.
In the redirect URL field, paste the link from the destination platform.
You’ll now want to dynamically insert values into the link—this is where variable scripting comes into play.

To pass dynamic values (like respondent IDs or answers from your survey), use this format:

The double curly braces tell Discover to insert the current value of a variable at that point in the URL. All variable names are case-sensitive, so double-check your capitalization.

If you created a variable named respID at the start of the survey and the destination link expects an id parameter, your redirect URL should look like this:

https://www.panelcompany.com/slkdn23?id={{ getValue("respID") }}

When a respondent reaches this point, their unique ID will be inserted into the URL before redirecting them.

Rather than typing out the full syntax manually, you can now use the insert variable button just below the input box.

This handy tool lets you:

Choose from a list of available variables
Insert them into your link with the correct {{ getValue("...") }} format
Place them exactly where your cursor is in the input field

This is especially useful if you're working with multiple variables or want to avoid typos.

You’re not limited to pre-defined variables. You can also pass answers from survey questions—since each question is saved as a variable. Just replace the variable name with your question's name in the quotes.

Let’s say you have a question called Location and the destination platform expects a location parameter. Your final redirect URL would look like:

https://www.panelcompany.com/slkdn23?id={{ getValue("respID") }}&location={{ getValue("Location") }}

Discover Help Guide

Linking surveys and passing data

Introduction

Anatomy of a URL

Passing data (linking) in

Creating variables (URL parameters)

Filling in the parameter values

Example use case

Passing data (linking) out

Inserting variables into URLs

Example: passing out variables

Pro tip: use the insert variable button

Passing survey data

Example: passing out question data