Completing a Survey or Form You Have Been Sent
Overview
An organisation you have booked with, performed with, volunteered for or joined has sent you something to fill in. It might be a feedback survey after a show, a questionnaire about what you would like to see next season, or a form asking for details they need, such as availability for rehearsals.
At its simplest, this page answers one question: what happens to what I type in?
Who this is for: Anyone who has been sent a link, a QR code or an email invitation from an organisation using Seaty. You do not need to be an administrator, and you do not need to understand how Seaty works.
Key things to know:
- The organisation running the event is asking, not Seaty
- Most surveys need no account at all, just the link
- The page tells you, before you start, whether your answers are linked to you
- Answers cannot be edited once you press submit
- The organisation, not Seaty, decides what happens with your answers afterwards
How It Works
At a glance: You open a link, read what the organisation says about how your answers are stored, answer the questions, and submit once.
1. You receive a link
There are three ways to arrive. You may be sent an email invitation with a button to press, you may be given a plain link (in a newsletter, a social post or a message), or you may scan a QR code on a poster or programme. All three open the same page in your browser.
An email invitation is slightly different from a shared link or QR code. It carries your email address with it, so the page already knows which address to record. It does not know your name, so you will still be asked to type that in.
2. You see who is asking and how answers are stored
The page opens with the name of the organisation, then the title of what they are asking you to complete, then any introduction they have written.
Directly beneath that is a short line about how your answers are stored. This is not decoration. It is the organisation telling you which of three arrangements applies, and it is worth reading before you answer anything.
3. You answer the questions
Questions are numbered. Any question with a red asterisk beside it must be answered before you can submit. Everything else is optional and can be left blank.
Some surveys change as you answer them. Picking one option can bring the next questions into view, skip past ones that do not apply to you, or finish the survey there and then. If that happens it is the survey working the way the organisation set it up, not a fault, and the Submit button appears once your answers have taken you to the end.
4. You submit once
When you press submit, your answers are recorded and the page is replaced by a thank you message. That is the end of the process. There is no draft to come back to and no way to change what you sent.
Think of it this way:
- The organisation wrote the questions, decides what the answers are for, and holds the results
- Seaty provides the software that collects and stores them on the organisation's behalf
- You decide whether to answer, and can ask the organisation to remove what you sent
Do I Need an Account?
Usually not. By default, anyone with the link can respond, with no sign-in and no password.
Occasionally an organisation turns on a setting that requires one. When they have, the page will not show you the questions at all. Instead it says that a Seaty account is needed, with Sign in and Sign up buttons. Creating a Seaty account is free.
This only matters on a survey that requires an account. If one does, and you sign in with an account whose email address has never been verified, you will still be shown the questions and allowed to fill everything in. You are only told when you press submit, and your answers are not recorded until the address is verified. It is worth verifying your email before you start. On an ordinary survey, which is the usual case, an unverified address makes no difference: you submit as normal and nothing is said about it.
Why would an organisation require an account? Usually because the answers must come from a known, registered person rather than anyone who happens to have the link. A membership form or a cast availability form is a typical example.
Will My Answers Be Linked to My Name?
This is the question worth checking before anything else. There are three possible arrangements, and the page states which one applies right below the introduction.
| What the page says | What it means for you |
|---|---|
| "Your answers are anonymous. Your name and email address are not collected." | You will not be asked for your name or email at all, and none is recorded with your answers |
| "Your answers are confidential. [Organisation] sees results grouped together, never who gave each answer." | Your details are recorded but hidden from the organisation's normal view of the results |
| "Your response will be linked to your email address so the organiser can follow up." | The organisation can see exactly who gave each answer |
Beside that line is a link labelled "How responses are stored", which opens Seaty's privacy information.
A few points worth being clear about:
- Confidential is not the same as anonymous. With a confidential survey your name and email are stored. The organisation's results screens do not show them, and each time someone there successfully sees who gave a particular answer that is recorded in an audit log, but the details do exist. If you would rather your name and email were not recorded at all, only an anonymous survey gives you that.
- Forms always record who responded. If an organisation has set the item up as a form rather than a survey or a questionnaire, it is always identified. This is deliberate: a form exists to collect details from a known person, such as a cast list or a membership record.
- Anonymous means no name and no email. On an anonymous survey you are not asked for either, neither is recorded against your answers, and there is nothing on the organisation's results screens that identifies who gave a particular answer.
Being Asked for Your Name and Email
On anything that is not anonymous, you will be asked for your name and email address, and both are required.
How much of that is filled in for you depends on how you arrived:
- Through an email invitation: the page knows the address the invitation was sent to. It shows "Responding as" with that address, and the name box is still shown and still has to be filled in
- Already signed in to Seaty: the page knows both, and shows "Responding as" with your name followed by your email in brackets. Neither box is shown
- A plain link or a QR code: neither is known, and you type both
Wherever "Responding as" appears there is a "Not you? Respond with different details" link, for when someone else is using the device or the link was forwarded to you. Pressing it gives you both boxes to fill in yourself.
Why are both required? Without them the organisation cannot tell whose response is whose, which is the whole point of a non-anonymous survey. If you are not comfortable giving them, it is better not to respond at all than to enter someone else's details.
The Question Types
There are seven kinds of question. None of them are complicated, but it helps to recognise them.
| Question type | What you do |
|---|---|
| Single choice | Pick one option from a list. Some options have a short explanation underneath |
| Multiple choice | Tick as many options as apply |
| Rating | Choose a number on a scale, marked "Poor" at the low end and "Excellent" at the high end |
| Recommendation | Choose a number from 0 to 10, marked "Not at all likely" to "Extremely likely" |
| Free text | Type whatever you like in a comment box |
| Confirmation | A single tick box |
| Document | Read something the organisation has written, and possibly agree to it |
On a narrow phone screen, the row of rating numbers scrolls sideways rather than wrapping onto two lines. If you cannot see the highest number, slide the row along.
When You Are Asked to Read and Agree to a Document
A document question shows a title and a "View document" button. Nothing is readable until you press it. Inside is something the organisation has written: terms, a code of conduct, a photography policy, a set of rules.
What is asked of you depends on how the organisation set it up:
- Nothing at all. The document is there for information. You can open it or not
- Read it. Opening it and scrolling to the end is the record. There is no tick box
- Tick "I have read this". Open it, scroll to the end, then tick the box
- Tick "I agree to this". The same, but the box records agreement rather than just reading
Whether you can skip a document follows from which of those the organisation chose. If a document asks you to read, acknowledge or agree, it always has to be dealt with before you can submit. Only a document shown purely for information, with no tick box, can be left unopened.
The tick box stays greyed out until you have scrolled to the bottom, with a note reading "Please scroll to the end of the document to continue." A document short enough that it does not scroll counts as read straight away.
Why force the scroll? So that agreement means something. An organisation relying on your agreement later can show that the document was genuinely put in front of you.
If you try to submit without dealing with a document that requires it, you will be told to open and confirm it. The questions are numbered separately from documents, so document cards do not carry a number of their own.
Getting a copy of what you signed
Once you have pressed "View document", a "Download a copy" option appears beneath the text. It is not there before you open the document. It opens a printable copy containing the organisation's name, the document title, the full text, and a short reference code.
Once you have signed the document off, that copy also records who did so and when. The wording follows what was asked of you, so it reads "Agreed to", "Acknowledged" or "Read". A document that is there for information only, or one you have not signed off yet, downloads without that line.
Take a copy at the time if the document matters to you. You can also come back to it: if you return to the same invitation link after responding, you will see a section headed "Documents from this survey" (or from this form, or this questionnaire, depending on what the organisation set up), with the note that you can review or download a copy of exactly what you agreed to at any time.
Why the reference code? The exact wording you saw is frozen at the moment you agree to it. If the organisation later edits the document, your copy is unaffected and still points at the version you actually read. The code identifies that version.
Can I Change My Answers Afterwards?
No. Once you submit, that is final. There is no edit link, no saved draft, and no way to reopen your response.
If you realise you have made a mistake, contact the organisation. They can delete your response, and you can then complete it again while it is still open. If your device says you have already answered, use "Answer as someone else" to get back to the questions.
Why no editing? Answers are recorded as a single submission at a moment in time, which is what makes results (and any document you agreed to) meaningful afterwards.
If You Come Back to the Link
What you see depends on how you return:
- Same invitation link, already responded: a message telling you that you have already responded, and thanking you. Any documents remain available to read and download
- Same device, shared link: A card headed "Already answered", with an "Answer as someone else" button. This exists so a shared tablet in a foyer is not locked out after the first person uses it
- The organisation has closed it: A short message saying it is closed
- It is open, but outside the dates the organisation set: A short message saying it is not currently accepting responses. Coming back inside those dates gets you the questions
- The link is wrong: A card headed "Survey unavailable"
Wherever a message names what you are filling in, it uses the word the organisation chose, so you may see "form" or "questionnaire" in place of "survey".
Some organisations allow more than one response from the same person, for things like sign-in sheets. Where they do, neither of the first two applies and you can simply respond again, as long as it is still open.
What Happens to My Answers
Your answers belong to the organisation that collected them, and that organisation decides how they are used. They can see the results, read individual responses, and download them as a spreadsheet, within the limits of the arrangement stated on the page you completed. Seaty stores the answers on their behalf as the provider of the software.
Some protections are built in and cannot be switched off by the organisation:
- On anonymous and confidential surveys, no breakdown of results is shown at all until at least five people have responded. A small handful of responses can identify people; five is the floor
- On anonymous and confidential surveys, names and email addresses are stripped out of the organisation's spreadsheet downloads and printouts, not just hidden on screen
- On confidential surveys, each time someone at the organisation successfully sees who gave a particular answer, that is written to an audit log
What Seaty does not do: Seaty does not decide what the answers are used for, how long they are kept, or who inside the organisation sees them. Responses are not deleted automatically after any period of time. Removal is something a person at the organisation has to do.
Written answers may be summarised by AI
Where a survey asks you to write something in your own words, the organisation can ask Seaty to group those written answers into common themes, so they can see what people said without reading every response individually. It only happens if someone at the organisation chooses to run it.
If they do, the written answers are sent to OpenAI to be summarised. Your name, your email address and everything else identifying you are never sent, only the text of the answers themselves. On anonymous and confidential surveys the summary is also written in the AI's own words rather than quoting anyone, and Seaty removes anything that reproduces an answer word for word, because a distinctive comment can identify someone even when no name was recorded.
If you later ask the organisation to delete your answers, the stored summary is deleted at the same time, so your words do not survive inside it. Text that has already been sent can persist in OpenAI's own abuse-monitoring records for up to 30 days, which no one can recall inside that window; nothing identifying you was sent with it.
If You Would Rather Not Take Part
You are not obliged to respond. Closing the page is enough, and nothing is recorded unless you press submit.
If you have already responded and want it removed, ask the organisation that sent it. On a survey that recorded your name or email address, they can delete a single response or remove every response you gave to that survey. That covers Seaty's copy of your answers; it does not undo anything they have already read, exported or acted upon.
On a fully anonymous survey there is nothing to find. No name, email address or personal link was stored against your answers, so neither you nor the organisation can point to which response was yours. That is the trade-off anonymity makes: nobody can connect the answers to you, including when you would like them to.
Contact the organisation directly, using the contact details on their Seaty organisation page or in the email they sent you. The answers belong to the organisation, so removal is theirs to action. If you cannot reach them at all, see Frequently Asked Questions for other ways to get in touch.
Common Questions
Getting started
Who has actually sent me this? The organisation named at the top of the page. Seaty is the software they use to collect responses, in the same way they use it to sell tickets.
Do I need an account? Almost always no. If one is needed, the page will say so instead of showing you the questions.
Can I fill it in on my phone? Yes. The page is designed for phones first.
Your answers
Will the organisation know it was me? Only if the page said your response would be linked to your email address, or if it is a form. On confidential surveys they see grouped results rather than who said what.
Is confidential the same as anonymous? No. Confidential means your details are recorded but hidden from the normal results view. Anonymous means your name and email are never collected in the first place.
Can I go back and change an answer? Not after submitting. Ask the organisation to delete your response if it matters.
Why does it say I have already answered when I have not? Your device remembers that this survey was completed on it, which happens on shared devices. Press "Answer as someone else" to continue.
Documents and agreements
Why can I not tick the box? You need to open the document and scroll to the end first. The hint appears above the box until you have.
Can I keep a copy of what I agreed to? Yes. Use "Download a copy" inside the document. You can also return to your invitation link later and download it from there.
What if the organisation changes the document afterwards? Your agreement stays attached to the version you actually read. Editing it later creates a new version and does not alter yours.
Privacy and removal
Who sees my answers? Your answers belong to the organisation that collected them, and the organisation decides who inside it looks at them and what they are used for. What they see is subject to whichever of the three arrangements the page stated.
Are my answers deleted after a while? Not automatically. Removal is a manual action by the organisation.
How do I ask for my response to be removed? Contact the organisation directly. They have a tool that removes every response given from your email address on that survey.
Can Seaty delete my answers for me? The answers belong to the organisation that collected them, so requests need to go to them.