Why is my survey not showing?

A survey only appears when all its settings match the visitor, the page and the moment. One setting that doesn't match is enough to hide it. That's on purpose: it keeps the survey away from people you didn't mean to ask. The checks below go from the most common cause to the least common.

Start here: test in a fresh private window

Your normal browser remembers things that can hide a survey: that you answered or closed it, that you excluded your own visits, or which group of visitors you belong to. A private window starts with none of that.

1. Open a new private window. In Chrome this is called an Incognito window.
2. Go to a page where the survey should appear.
3. Accept the cookies in your cookie banner.
4. Wait for the moment you set under Show. For exit intent, move your mouse out of the window at the top.

To test again, close all private windows and open a new one. A private window you keep open still remembers the last test.

The survey isn't live

Open Research → Surveys and look at the Status column. Only Live surveys appear on your site. A Draft needs Start survey, and a Paused survey needs Resume. An Ended survey can't be started again: use More → Duplicate on its page to make a new draft with the same questions.

Did you just start or change the survey? Wait a minute or two, then reload the page.

Varly isn't running on the page

• Tracking is off. Open Install and click Turn tracking on under 3. Turn tracking on. When tracking is off, Varly does nothing on your site, so surveys don't appear either.
• The snippet is missing on this page. See Check that Varly is working.
• No cookie consent. Varly only runs for visitors who accepted cookies in your cookie banner. If you declined, or haven't answered the banner yet, you won't see a survey. See Cookie consent.
• The page is on the "never track" list. Varly never runs on pages under Never track these pages in Settings → Tracking & privacy. For new sites, that list contains /checkout, /cart, /winkelwagen and /afrekenen. So a survey on the cart page only appears after you remove the cart path from that list. Whether you do that is up to you. The survey editor warns you under Show on when a survey points at such a page.
• The survey script is blocked. The survey itself is a separate script (survey.js) that Varly loads when a survey is about to appear. If your site has a Content Security Policy, it must allow scripts from Varly's address (the domain in the snippet). In the browser console you then see a blocked survey.js.
• You excluded your own visits. If you opened the ?varly_exclude=on link in this browser, Varly ignores your visits there, and that includes surveys. Open the ?varly_exclude=off link from Settings → Tracking & privacy, or test in a private window. See Exclude your own visits.

You already answered or closed it

Someone who answered a survey never sees it again in that browser. Someone who closed it sees it again only according to When someone closes it:

• Never show it to them again: never in this browser.
• Show it again after some days: only after that number of days.
• Show it again on their next visit: not for the rest of this visit, in any tab. It can appear again once they come back after 30 minutes or more away from your site.

Test in a fresh private window to see the survey as a new visitor.

The page doesn't match the page rules

Check Show on and Never on under Where and for whom.

• Rules compare the start of the path. /products/* doesn't match /nl/products/shoe, because that path starts with /nl/. Add a rule for each language folder, such as /nl/products/*.
• A rule without * must match the whole path. /collections doesn't match /collections/shoes.
• Check the spelling against the address bar. For example, many Shopify shops use /products/, not /product/.
• Never on always wins over Show on.

You don't match the visitor settings

• Devices: is your device ticked? Varly recognizes the device from the browser, and some tablets count as Mobile or Desktop. While you test, tick all three.
• Visitors: with Returning visitors only, a first visit in a private window never matches. With New visitors only, your normal browser probably doesn't match.
• Page languages: Varly reads the language from your page's code, or from the browser if the page has none. A page set to en doesn't match a rule for nl.
• Traffic source: a page you open by typing its address counts as Direct. If Direct isn't ticked, you won't see the survey there.
• Show to X% of visitors: below 100%, only part of your visitors can see it, and you may simply not be one of them. Every new private window counts as a new visitor and gets a new chance.

The moment hasn't come yet

• After a few seconds: stay on the page until the time under After (seconds) has passed.
• When leaving the page (exit intent): on a computer, move the mouse out of the window at the top, toward the tabs, after the seconds under Not in the first (seconds). On phones and tablets, the survey appears after On phones and tablets: after (seconds) seconds.
• After scrolling down: scroll down far enough. A page too short to scroll never triggers this option.
• After a number of pages: the visitor must reach the page number under From page number in one visit. A new private window starts a new visit, so count from your first page there.
• Only when your site asks for it: the survey never appears by itself. Your site has to open it with a line of code. See Choose where and when a survey appears.

Some sites change pages without fully reloading them. Varly checks again on every new page there too, and the moment starts again on each page.

Another survey came first

Varly shows at most one survey at a time. If another live survey also matches this page, the one created first appears. And while you are busy with a survey, no second one appears, even on the next page. A feedback tab or a survey Inside the page also counts as the survey for that page. Pause the other survey while you test, or change the page rules so they don't overlap.

A survey inside the page doesn't appear

With Inside the page, the survey only appears on pages that have the element under Place in. Check the selector with your developer. If the element doesn't exist on the page, the survey doesn't appear there, and another matching survey can appear instead.

The survey shows, but your answers don't appear

• Answers from the editor's Preview are never saved. Test on your real site.
• Your IP address is excluded. Under Exclude IP addresses in Settings → Tracking & privacy, visits from those addresses are not stored. The survey can still appear there, but the answers are not saved.
• You test on another domain. Varly only accepts data from the domains under Domains in Settings → Tracking & privacy. A test or staging domain needs to be on that list too.
• The survey was paused or ended while the survey was open on your screen. Answers only count while the survey is Live.

Still not working?

Write down the page address, your device and browser, and the survey's settings under Where and for whom and When and how often. Then contact support with these details.

For developers

Open the browser console on the page and type Varly.state():

• If Varly doesn't exist, the snippet isn't on the page or tracking is off for the site.
• If started is false, Varly loaded but isn't running on this page: there is no cookie consent yet, your own visits are excluded in this browser, or the page is on the never-track list.
• If started is true, Varly is running, so check the survey's settings above.