Authenticator

The Authenticator is a security and identification feature to validate survey respondents and ensure secure access even when using anonymous weblink surveys. It provides a way to authenticate users based on unique identifiers, enforce two-factor authentication (2FA), and support social logins, without relying solely on traditional identifiers like emails or phone numbers.

Authenticator helps to secure sensitive sections, identify users without compromising anonymity, and let respondents resume partially completed surveys seamlessly.

Here’s how Athenticator helps:

• Ensures that only the intended audience can access and respond to your survey, improving response quality.
• Protects sensitive sections of a survey without making the entire survey restricted, giving you more control.
• Prevents unauthorized access with added security through two-factor authentication, safeguarding confidential data.
   
  Let’s see how to set up the Authenticator:

1. Navigate to the Build section of your survey.
2. Click on Authenticator from the survey elements panel.
    

   

3. Choose whether you want to apply authentication to the entire survey or to a specific section.
    

   

Survey Level -You can authenticate the entire survey. When users open the survey link, they’ll be required to pass the authentication step before accessing the survey.

Section Level – This option allows you to restrict access to specific sections of the survey. If enabled, only authenticated users will be able to view and respond to that section, while the rest of the survey remains accessible to everyone.

4. You will see two authentication options: Password and Contact Fields.
    

   

• Password – Respondents can access the survey by entering a simple shared password or a personalized one, depending on how you configure it.
• Contact Fields – Respondents must enter specific contact details (like a unique ID or mail) that match the records in your contact list to gain access to the survey.

This option is especially useful for identifying respondents even when using anonymous weblink surveys, as long as they enter valid contact field values.

Note: Contact fields are available only on the Enterprise plans. 

Let’s first take a closer look at the Password option.

5. Under Password Type, you’ll find two types: Simple Password and Personalized Password.
    

   

• Simple Password – Enter a fixed password in the ‘Enter Password’ field. When a respondent opens the survey, they’ll need to enter this password to gain access.
   

  

• Personalized Password – This allows you to create dynamic passwords using contact variables. Use the $ symbol to insert variables like name, date of birth, or phone number.
   

  

Example: You can set a password format where the respondent must enter the first three letters of their name, followed by their date of birth, and then the last three digits of their mobile number. Each respondent’s password will be generated based on their individual contact details.

Use the Edit icon to specify the number of characters for each.

Note: You can also make the password case sensitive if needed.
 

6. Password Hint: You can choose to display a hint to help respondents enter the correct password.
   

   

7. Button Label: Customize the label on the button that respondents click to proceed after entering the password.
    

   

8. Error Message: If a respondent enters the wrong password, an error message will appear. You can edit this message to display it in your preferred wording.

Now let’s look at Contact Fields.

You can choose which contact fields you want to use for authentication such as Email, Unique ID, or Mobile Number.
 

Respondents will need to enter the corresponding information from their contact record to access the survey. Only those whose details match will be able to access the survey.

You can choose to allow only respondents from a specific contact list by selecting the desired list from the dropdown menu.

Section wise authentication

1. You can choose to secure a specific section of your survey instead of the entire survey.When setting up the authenticator, select the Select ‘A section in the survey’ option
2. choose the section you want to protect. Authentication will be required only when respondents reach that particular section.

3. You can choose between the type of authentication you want to have. To do this you can refer to the above sections.

   

Note: Section authentication can be done only in the Classic Survey and is not supported in Chat survey. 

Important note about Auto Authentication (Contact Fields): When enabled, respondents can be automatically authenticated if they arrive from a messaging invite (Email/SMS/WhatsApp) or if the survey URL contains a supported query string value for the selected contact field (for example, email/mobile/unique ID). In these cases, the authenticator screen may not appear because authentication happens in the background, and the response will be tied to the matched contact record (not anonymous).

Troubleshooting (Contact Fields + Web link): If the authenticator prompts on the first load but does not prompt after opening the same survey in a new tab/refresh (and responses appear anonymous), check the authenticator setting “Auto Authenticate when invited via messaging or query string.” Temporarily disable this toggle, test the web link again (including refresh/new tab), and then re-enable it if required. If you previously added a contact field value to the URL as a workaround (for example, [email protected]), you can remove it once the authenticator prompt behavior is consistent.