{"id":37018,"date":"2017-01-27T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-27T14:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/?p=37018\/"},"modified":"2017-01-27T06:00:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-27T14:00:16","slug":"custom-variables-diving-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/custom-variables-diving-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Custom Variables \u2014 Diving into the data!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There\u2019s no doubt that custom variables offer a great deal of benefits to users\u2013from personalized survey email invitations to passing data values to subsequent survey questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, when approached with the need for data about a specific group from a large number of respondents, researchers look to custom variables as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/6-reasons-to-use-custom-variables-in-your-online-survey\/\">tried and true research tool<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>What exactly are custom variables?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some tend to shy away from custom variables, but there is a reason why experts in the research field find this feature invaluable. First, let\u2019s take a step back and define custom variables in its most simple terms. Imagine that each custom variable is an empty pocket used to store survey data. As respondents answer questions, their data\u2014such as demographic information, location, purchase history, or even behavioral information, and much more\u2014fill up these empty pockets, carrying this data throughout the rest of the survey. Custom variables capture and attach the information entered to the respondent\u2019s profile. Once the data is captured, the survey becomes more personalized based on the respondent\u2019s previous answers.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Getting the Data<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consider this instance\u2014a company has stores across four cities in the US: Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Miami. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/customer-satisfaction-measurement-tool\/\">Customer satisfaction responses<\/a> have been collected from all four cities and every time a city is entered by the respondent, it is stored in a custom variable, let\u2019s say {Custom Variable 2}.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, now the branch manager in San Francisco wants to view reports only from their city.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All that needs to be done is simply filter the record, which can be done in four simple steps:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a01. Login to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\">QuestionPro<\/a>, select the survey and click on \u201cReporting\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Under Dashboard, you\u2019ll notice the \u201cFilter Data\u201d section on the top of the page.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37027\" src=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/photo1-1.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"941\" height=\"338\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. In the first drop-down menu, select \u201cSystem Variable.\u201d In the second drop-down menu, select the Custom Variable that was used to capture the information\u2014in our example on the cities, it was {Custom Variable 2}.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37033\" src=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/photo2-1.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"824\" height=\"225\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a04. In the next section, simply add the custom variable characteristic from which you are looking to filter and extract data.\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-37039\" src=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/photo3-1.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"885\" height=\"230\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After these four steps, you will find yourself with a filtered dashboard report, with data from only the Custom Variable group that you selected. For our hypothetical company, they will see data from only their San Francisco store visitors! In addition, this data can also be exported to <a href=\"https:\/\/office.live.com\/start\/Excel.aspx\">Excel<\/a> for a deeper analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><strong>QuestionPro offers some of the most advanced customer experience tools available.<\/strong> Gain valuable insights into your customers\u2019 thoughts and feelings using\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"_e75a791d-denali-editor-page-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.questionpro.com\/cx\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">QuestionPro CX software<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0today.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a class=\"square-cta secondary-lined-cta\" href=\"https:\/\/info.questionpro.com\/meetings\/kenneth-peterson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Book Demo<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There\u2019s no doubt that custom variables offer a great deal of benefits to users\u2013from personalized survey email invitations to passing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":37021,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[245,203,187],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Custom Variables \u2014 Diving into the data! | QuestionPro<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Custom variables offers detailed insight on respondent groups based of survey answers. 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