Limiting Responses Per Recipient
Decide whether each person can submit your survey once or as many times as they like. SurveyMethods controls this with the Multiple responses setting on each collector.
Where to Find the Setting
The Multiple responses option lives in your collector’s settings, alongside options like anonymous responses.
- Open your survey and go to the Collect tab
- Open the web link or email collector you want to change
- Find the Multiple responses option
- Toggle it On or Off
How the Two Options Work
By default, Multiple responses is Off, so each person can complete the survey only once per device.
| Setting | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Off (default) | The survey can be taken only once per device. After someone finishes, returning to the link shows an “already taken” page instead of a new response. |
| On | The same device can submit the survey multiple times, creating a separate response each time. |
When the setting is Off, SurveyMethods remembers a completed response on that device (using a browser cookie) and blocks a second submission. Turning the setting On clears that restriction so repeat submissions are allowed.
Choosing the Right Option
Keep Multiple responses off when you want one clean response per person, such as satisfaction, feedback, or voting surveys where duplicates would skew results.
Turn it on for kiosk-style or shared-device situations, quick polls, or practice runs where the same browser should be able to submit again and again.
Good to Know
- The limit is tracked per device and browser, not per named individual. Someone using a different browser, device, or incognito window can still start a new response.
- For truly identified, one-per-person control, use an email collector, which ties each invitation to a specific recipient.
- To cap the total number of responses instead, use the collector’s response limit, which closes the collector automatically once the cap is reached.
Need help? Browse more articles in the Distribution section.
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