Collecting feedback and insights from customers, employees or any target audience is crucial for business decision-making and future growth. Surveys are a popular method for gathering this valuable information but choosing the right tool to create, distribute and analyse surveys can be challenging.

This is where Microsoft’s Power Apps comes into it, a versatile, low-code platform that offers a powerful solution for building customised survey tools.

In this blog post, we’ll explore how you can leverage Power Apps to create an efficient and effective survey tool tailored to your specific business needs.

Why Use Microsoft Power Apps for Surveys?

Microsoft Power Apps is part of the Microsoft Power Platform, which includes Power BI, Power Automate, Copilot Studio and Power Pages. It enables users to build custom apps that can solve specific business problems without requiring extensive coding skills. Here’s why Power Apps is an excellent choice for creating surveys:

  • Customisability: Unlike off-the-shelf survey tools, Power Apps allows you to design surveys that are fully customised to your brand and requirements. You can control the layout, question types, and overall user experience to ensure that the survey aligns with your goals. Whether you need a simple feedback form or a complex survey with branching logic and conditional questions, Power Apps provides the flexibility to create it.
  • Integration with Microsoft Ecosystem: Power Apps seamlessly integrates with other Microsoft services like SharePoint, Excel, Power BI, and Teams. This integration makes it easy to store, analyse, and share survey data within your existing workflow. For example, you can automatically store survey responses in a SharePoint list, analyse the data in real-time with Power BI, and share insights directly in a Teams channel where stakeholders can collaborate.
  • Low-Code Development: You don’t need to be a developer to create a functional survey tool in Power Apps. The platform’s intuitive drag-and-drop interface and pre-built templates enable users of all skill levels to build apps quickly. Even more complex features, such as dynamic question logic or data validation, can be implemented with minimal coding, making it accessible for non-technical users.
  •  Responsive Design: Power Apps automatically adjusts your survey’s layout to fit various devices, ensuring that participants can complete the survey on desktops, tablets, or smartphones. This responsiveness is crucial for maximising participation rates, as it ensures a seamless experience regardless of the device used.
  • Real-Time Data Collection and Analysis: With Power Apps, survey responses can be instantly collected and analysed. You can set up real-time dashboards using Power BI to visualise the data and generate insights as they come in. This real-time analysis allows you to act quickly on feedback, whether it’s addressing customer concerns or making adjustments to employee policies based on survey results.

Best Practices to Building a Power Apps Survey

  1. Define Your Survey Requirements: Before diving into Power Apps, outline your survey’s objectives. What do you want to achieve? Who is your target audience? What type of questions will you ask? Having a clear understanding of your goals will guide the app development process. For example, a customer satisfaction survey might focus on product usability, while an employee engagement survey might prioritise questions about workplace culture. 
  2. Choose the Right Data Source: Power Apps can connect to a variety of data sources such as SharePoint, Excel, Dataverse, SQL Server and more. Select the data source that best fits your needs. For instance, if you’re conducting an employee survey, storing the responses in SharePoint might be ideal as it can be easily accessed and managed within your organisation. Alternatively, for a customer survey, you might store responses in a Dataverse table, allowing for more complex data relationships and reporting.
  3. Implement Logic and Validation: To improve the user experience and data quality, implement logic and validation rules. For example, you can show or hide certain questions based on previous answers or ensure that all required fields are completed before submission. This step is critical in ensuring that the data you collect is accurate and relevant.
  4. Test the Survey: Before rolling out the survey, thoroughly test it to ensure that it works as expected across different devices, scenarios and users. Power Apps provides a preview mode that allows you to simulate the survey experience and identify any issues. Testing should include checking the functionality of all question types, ensuring that any logic works as intended, and verifying that data is captured accurately in the chosen data source.
  5. Deploy and Share the Survey: Once you’re satisfied with the survey tool, deploy it by sharing the app with your intended audience. Power Apps allows you to distribute the survey via email, a link or embed it in a SharePoint site or Teams channel. You can also configure permissions to control who can access the survey and submit responses.
  6. Analyse the Results: After collecting responses, use Power BI to create dashboards and reports that provide insights into the survey data. You can filter and analyse the results to uncover trends, patterns and actionable insights. You can set up real-time dashboards in Power BI to monitor survey responses as they come in. This allows you to identify trends and issues quickly.

Advanced Tips for Enhancing Your Survey Tool

To further enhance your survey tool and make the most out of Power Apps, consider the following advanced features:

  • Use Power Automate for Workflow Automation: Integrate Power Automate to trigger automatic actions based on survey responses. For example, you can send a notification to a manager when a negative response is received or generate a report once the survey period ends. Power Automate can also be used to follow up with respondents who haven’t completed the survey, helping to increase response rates.
  • Incorporate AI for Predictive Analysis: Leverage AI Builder within Power Apps to analyse survey data and predict outcomes. This can help you anticipate trends and make proactive decisions. For example, AI Builder can analyse employee engagement surveys to predict potential turnover risk, allowing HR teams to take preventative action.
  • Ensure Data Security and Compliance: With Power Apps, you can apply security roles and permissions to ensure that sensitive survey data is protected. Additionally, make sure your survey complies with relevant data protection regulations like GDPR. This includes setting up data retention policies, anonymising responses where necessary and ensuring that participants are informed about how their data will be used.

Final Thoughts

Using Microsoft Power Apps as a survey tool offers businesses a customisable approach to collecting valuable insights from various audiences.

By taking advantage of Power Apps' flexibility, integration capabilities and ease of use, businesses can create tailored survey solutions that align with their specific needs and branding. In addition, the platform’s low-code environment empowers users of all skill levels to build and deploy effective survey tools without extensive technical expertise.

Microsoft Power Apps provides a robust and versatile platform for creating efficient survey tools that not only gather crucial data but also foster a data-driven culture within your business. By leveraging Power Apps, businesses can make informed decisions, drive growth and maintain a competitive edge.

Want to learn more about how Power Platform can help transform your business workflows? Contact Netshell.