Core concepts & glossary

This page defines the core terms and concepts you will encounter in the Pulseahead dashboard and documentation. If something in the product is unclear, this is a good place to start.

Survey hierarchy

Survey

The top-level container for a feedback experience. A survey defines who sees it, when it appears, and what it looks like. It holds one or more steps and all of your targeting rules.

Step

The individual building block of a survey. Pulseahead uses the term “step” instead of “question” because a survey is a sequence, not just a form. A single survey can have one step (for example, a standalone NPS question) or several steps (for example, a rating, an open-text follow-up, and a closing thank-you note).

Supported step types:

• NPS: The standard 0-10 Net Promoter Score scale.
• Rating: 5-star or smiley-face scales.
• Choice: Single or multi-select options.
• Long Text: Open-ended text input.
• Message Box: Displays static text or links. No input is collected.
• Call to Action (CTA): A button that sends the user to a specific URL.
• Thank You Note: The closing screen shown after all steps are complete.

Flow and logic

Adaptive flow

By default, steps play in order. Adaptive flow lets you branch based on a user’s response. For example, if a user gives a low NPS score, you can route them to a “What went wrong?” text step. If they give a high score, you might show a CTA to leave a public review instead.

See Adaptive Flow for configuration details.

Partial responses

Pulseahead saves answers as the user progresses through steps. If a user completes the first two steps of a five-step survey and then closes the page, those two responses are still recorded in your dashboard. You do not lose data just because a user did not reach the final thank-you note.

Targeting and behavior

Targeting

Targeting controls who sees your survey and where they see it. You configure targeting in the Targeting tab of the survey editor.

Options include:

• Segments: Restrict the survey to a named audience built from the user attributes you pass with the identify call (for example, users on a Pro plan).
• Session count: Only show the survey after a user has logged in a set number of times, so you avoid surveying brand-new users who have not had a chance to form an opinion.
• URL and device: Show the survey only on specific pages or to users on certain devices or browsers.

Behavior

Behavior controls when your survey appears and how often it repeats. You configure behavior in the Behavior tab of the survey editor.

Options include:

• Display timing: Wait a set number of days after a user’s first visit, or a few seconds after a page loads, before showing the survey.
• Re-surveying: Set whether a survey appears once per user lifetime or on a recurring schedule (for example, every 90 days for an NPS survey).
• Manual triggers: Instead of relying on automatic rules, you can trigger a survey from your own code using the JS SDK when a user completes a specific action.

Anti-fatigue

Anti-fatigue is a global setting that enforces a minimum gap between any two surveys for a single user. For example, setting a 30-day gap means a user will never see more than one survey per month, regardless of how many active surveys you have. This setting applies across all surveys in a project.

Widget appearance

How a survey displays on screen:

• Docked: A small tab or panel anchored to the bottom corner of the screen.
• Overlay: A centered modal that dims the background to focus the user’s attention.
• Embedded: A survey placed inline within your page layout.

Data and identity

User identification

By default, Pulseahead tracks responses anonymously using a session identifier. If you want to associate responses with a specific person in your system, pass your internal userId and user attributes to the SDK using the identify call.

Identifying users enables:

• User Timeline: See every response a customer has ever given, in order.
• Segments: Build audiences from user attributes like plan, role, or team.
• Closed-loop follow-up: Know exactly who submitted a piece of feedback so your team can follow up directly.

See Identifying Users for the full SDK reference.