Create photo contests with image series submission
Traditionally, PollUnit photo contests have been limited to single images, leaving photographers constrained within a single frame. While single images can undoubtedly be powerful and impactful, they often fail to capture the complete narrative or deliver the full range of emotions that a photographer wishes to convey.
The Image Series Submission feature addresses this limitation by enabling participants to submit a collection of images that work together harmoniously, unveiling a more profound and comprehensive visual experience.
Enabling the submission of image series, will not only enrich the photography competition experience for both photographers and judges. In the realm of sculpture and object competition, it allows artists to capture the details and varied perspectives of their sculptures and objects that showcases their artistic vision and craftsmanship.
When voting on the images, the series of images will be judged as a whole and not each image individually. To use our new feature, you can enable image series in the »Advanced« step in the »Allow image upload« section.
Learn more about our PollMaker and its various voting, event management and decision-making capabilities. If you're interested in image and photo voting you may also want to take a look at the different possibilities how to vote on images PollUnit has to offer.
Published at: 2023-07-26 07:15 AM
Create photo contests with ...Customization of background images in themes
PollUnit Themes can change the appearance of your polls and surveys to match your brand image or design preferences. The themes include various visual elements such as color schemes, fonts, background images, and layout options.
Especially the use of background images can have a significant impact on the visual appearance of a poll or survey and create an appealing atmosphere. However, background images also have an influence on the loading speed. A fast loading speed improves the user experience and contributes to a high participation rate. It is thus one of the most important aspects when choosing an Poll Maker. For this reason, we have adapted the processing of the background images to the latest web standards.
An important aspect of processing background images is adapting them to different screen resolutions and devices. PollUnit Themes offer optimized responsive rendering of background images that ensures they look equally good on mobile devices, tablets and desktops. For this purpose, we create several derivatives with different aspect ratios and resolutions in WebP (a modern image format, with excellent compression for web images). Depending on the device, only the necessary section of the image is downloaded. A small cell phone will get a low-resolution portrait format, and a desktop computer with a graphics monitor will get a high-resolution landscape format.
For you, the creation of the themes remains as uncomplicated as before. You upload your image and we create the derivatives automatically. For optimal support of all aspect ratios, we recommend an image with a minimum resolution of 1920x1920 pixels. You can't do anything with that? No problem, just upload the photo as is and we'll take care of the rest.
One more note: the theme background images are images that fill the screen behind the interface. Images that contain logos and lettering are not suitable. But you can also add a dedicated logo to your theme or more images in the description of your PollUnit.
If you are missing options in our themes, please write a feature request. We are looking forward to your ideas.
Published at: 2023-07-19 11:44 AM
Customization of background...
How quick survey tools deliver better results
A critical factor in the success of surveys and votings is the speed at which they load. In the worst case, long waiting times cause people to abandon participation in surveys or other interactions.
The loading speed is particularly relevant on mobile devices, also because smartphones and tablets do not necessarily have to have a fast Internet connection. If participants are located in different parts of the world, geographic distance alone can play a role and negatively affect loading times. These are just a few factors that a poll maker must take into account.
The search for the last little millisecond bit usually happens behind the scenes. A few milliseconds here, a few milliseconds there – today we want to bring this invisible »high speed feature« to the fore!
By regularly testing and monitoring the speed from different locations, we can identify potential problems early on and make improvements. We use automatic monitoring tools for this purpose but also perform regular manual tests. Continuous performance improvements and adaptations to new possibilities offered by modern browsers ensure an optimal user experience. This includes database optimizations, caching, smart loading strategies, serving data via a CDN (Content Delivery Network) and automatically scaling servers and much more.
So with PollUnit, participants spend less time waiting for content to load! As a result, they have more time and desire to provide answers to your questions. Fast polling tools offer the benefit of an improved user experience, increased willingness to participate, time savings, and of course, efficient data analysis. This leads to high-quality data and more accurate insights.
Published at: 2023-07-04 06:43 PM
How quick survey tools deli...Wohooo, we planted the first 100,000 trees!
Our Poll Maker offers companies, organizations and individuals the opportunity to conduct surveys and gather opinions. By planting trees, we go beyond the purely digital and actively advocate for a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.
For us, PollUnit, having a positive impact on the environment is a matter close to our hearts. For this reason, we donate 8% of our gross income to forest reforestation efforts. These donations go to trusted organizations and initiatives that specialize in reforestation. Our financial support makes it possible for trees to be planted in different regions of the world to combat the negative effects of deforestation and climate change.
On 2022-08-24 we started planting trees. Every day, new ones are added. Just 10 months later, we have planted the first 100,000 trees. We are determined to continue our contribution to the environment and plant even more trees. With your support we can reach even bigger goals.
Of course, you can also donate trees. Just visit our Plant for the Planet page and help us grow the PollUnit forest.
Published at: 2023-06-27 02:47 PM
Wohooo, we planted the firs...
Request and publish additional information from submitters
One of the challenges of voting is often the lack of contextual information. Participants may not have the background knowledge to make an informed decision. We address this problem in PollUnit with not one but two new features, allowing poll creators to provide additional information.
With the help of a detailed description, texts and links to relevant resources can be added. Admins, but also people submitting options for voting, can thus provide information needed by those voting to make a well-informed choice. This transparent provision of information promotes not only understanding, but also trust in the decision-making process.
Administrators can also define mandatory or optional text fields to request specific additional information. These can now also be made visible to people who are voting. By the way, this feature is also available in photo contests and idea collections.
The ability to add comments to individual options in the voting tables makes the decision-making process even more interactive. Participants can share their thoughts, ideas and comments on individual options, enabling an active dialog. This encourages broader discussion and allows participants to consider different perspectives, which can lead to better decisions.
Why not try out the new features right now and start the PollUnit Poll Maker. You can activate the description in step 1 under Add Ons. You can configure additional information and comments in the »Advanced« step.
Published at: 2023-06-13 03:03 PM
Request and publish additio...Simplify import and export of email contacts in PollUnit
In today's world, it is essential for companies and organizations to interact with their contacts in an efficient and time-saving way. PollUnit, as a platform for surveys and polls, has therefore introduced a new import and export function for email contacts. This feature provides the ability to seamlessly integrate contacts into PollUnit groups and effectively manage them from there.
A PollUnit group is a list of emails that can be used to invite people to your polls, surveys, contests etc. Perfect for recurring events and teams.
Instead of tediously adding individual contacts manually, an Excel file can be uploaded to import your contacts directly. This automated process saves time and minimizes errors when adding contacts.
The export function allows you to export your PollUnit contacts in various formats for use in other applications or systems. Groups can be exported as CSV and Excel files. This flexibility opens a wide range of possibilities to manage your contacts across different platforms.
Published at: 2023-06-13 08:45 AM
Simplify import and export ...
Receive fees and donations from voters
Recently we announced a feature to collect Submission fees and donations from your audience. Today we are happy to introduce a new feature that will help you monetize your PollUnit vote.
The ability to charge fees to voters allows voting poll and photo contest creators to receive a financial benefit from their work. In addition, an optional donation can also be requested. In particular, non-profit organizations that rely on donations can thus ask their voters for financial support.
You can also sell votes. That sounds strange for a voting platform that is all about fair elections and competitions? Yes, we thought so too at first. But unlike a legally secure and fair election, this is about giving an advantage to people who buy multiple votes. Huh? Now that's even unfair and undermines the integrity and legitimacy of the election process! Yes, but: this type of voting is especially used by non-profit organizations. Their contests are designed to generate funds for their projects. Unlike a donation, voting people here can deposit as much money as they want to buy votes. They can give these purchased votes to their favorite or to themselves. So here the goal is not a fair election and the winner is not necessarily the one with the most beautiful photo, but the one who mobilizes the most supporters.
Published at: 2023-04-12 12:19 PM
Receive fees and donations ...Evaluate surveys: visualize long text with word clouds
PollUnit allows you to create various field types in your questionnaire. The evaluation of field types with predefined answers like multiple and single choice, simple fields for selection but also number fields is very easy and PollUnit automatically creates a series of charts and statistics for you.
More complicated, however, is the evaluation of a questionnaire that allows participants to enter free text or entire paragraphs. This becomes more and more difficult, the more participants are generated. PollUnit helps you to evaluate these texts in real time.
Word clouds or keyword clouds help you with this. A word cloud is a method for information visualization and shows you at a glance, which words are specified particularly often. The individual words are displayed in different sizes. The larger a word, the more often it was mentioned. So-called »Stop Words«, general words that should have no meaning for your survey, are filtered out. From the sentence »This is an example« only the word »example« would be included in the word cloud. Also, redundancies and different forms of the same word are removed by reducing all words to their basic form (lemma). This process of normalizing word forms, also known as lemmatization, increases the expressiveness and comprehensibility of your word clouds.
Published at: 2023-03-21 01:28 PM
Evaluate surveys: visualize...
Receive submission fees and donations with Stripe and PollUnit
Our PollMaker now allows you to link your Stripe account to PollUnit. This way you create a PollUnit wallet and you are able to seamlessly collect submission fees or donations from your attendees during the submission process.
This makes PollUnit your photo submission platform or fundraising campaign creator.
All you have to do is to go to the PollUnit Wallets section and link your existing Stripe account to PollUnit. If you have no Stripe account you can to register for Stripe through our page. Once you have created your PollUnit wallet you can easily use it in your photo contest or voting poll by selecting it in the advanced step. We allow two different types of payments: A predefined submission fee which is required to submit photos, ideas or whatever your voting is about. A donation allows attendees to donate any amount they want. You can also define a minimum donation amount.
Learn more in our PollUnit Wallet Tutorial.
Published at: 2023-02-07 10:47 AM
Receive submission fees and...URL Parameters: The key to better survey data and trackable responses
URL parameters, or URL variables, can be used to pass data to a URL or link to a web application. This data helps to enrich your survey or responses with helpful data and to understand them better.
Response rates and specific groups of survey participants can be monitored and analyzed. If you attach data to identify your advertising campaign, you can find out which campaign generates the most responses. This also helps to better allocate your budget. If you attach a user ID, you know which answers belong to your internally stored accounts – even if they enter a different email address or mistype.
How to do that? With PollUnit it is very simple!
Create a survey by starting the Poll Maker as usual and ask your questions. In the »Advanced« step you can enable the collection of URL parameters and specify the allowed or to be saved parameter names. For example, to transfer and save a campaign and user ID you allow the parameter names »campaignId« and »userId«. You append the URL parameters to the link to your survey, which you can send out in your newsletter or display on your website, for example. The first parameter is appended with a question mark and each additional parameter with a »&« sign. In our example like this: ?campaignId=123&userId=456
We take care of the rest. The transferred data will be stored with each participant. In the evaluation as well as in the export you will find the data enriched by the survey.
Published at: 2023-02-06 11:56 PM
URL Parameters: The key to ...