A survey program is the collection of survey specifications and design(s) that defines the elements of a survey and the appearance of the elements when rendered on a browser.

A survey specification is the structure and elements of a survey specification; it defines the HTML of the final survey form. Start a specification on the Programs screen to name the program, and for feed-based surveys, define the condition the Survey Engine uses to matches the program to an invitation. There can be multiple "versions" of a specification. The Specs screen manages the versions and transfers the specs and designs to the survey engine.

Survey designs apply styling and images (CSS) to the specification to complete the survey presentation in the customer's browser. Medallia proved templates that render the HTML in a desirable appearance on most browsers. Designs identifies the template and provides the ability to customize the appearance for your company. Additionally, the design can be customized to have different appearances for different customers based on some criteria.

When a specification is ready to be tested and used in the Survey Engine, you "push" the specification and designs to the Survey Engine, which is responsible for serving the survey form to the survey takers. For more information about pushing specs, see Push surveys .

Survey takers see a design specific to them or the unit they interacted with. They might, for example, see a picture of the hotel they stayed in, or they might see the logo for the brand of the unit they interacted with. The By Unit Groups screen determine the customization for feed-based surveys. Anonymous surveys surveys, on the other hand, show a specific customization for all survey takers. To identify the unit to a feedless survey, the link to the survey might include identifying survey parameters.

Some feed-based surveys direct a survey takers to landing pages that request information from them before they can take the survey. This is typical for receipt-surveys where only one survey should be submitted per receipt, and there needs to be some validation of a "receipt code" before allowing a customer to take the survey. Landing pages might also accept Custom survey IDs instead of a receipt code. Custom IDs are generally used for non-email invitations, such as those included on a "customer comment card" or "postcard survey".