Surveys must be opted in per appointment type.

Post-Visit Surveys are not automatically sent for all appointment types. Even when the feature is globally enabled, each appointment type must be individually toggled on. Appointments tied to types without the toggle enabled will never trigger a survey.

Public Reviews Only mode does not generate a Shepherd dashboard.

If you configure surveys to send clients directly to a public review platform, Shepherd does not collect or store response data. The survey dashboard is not available in this mode.

Clients must meet all sending conditions.

A survey will only send if the client has a valid email address on file, has email mass communications enabled, has not exceeded the survey sending limit, and the appointment type is opted in. Missing any one condition silently prevents the survey from sending. Check the client's activity log to confirm whether a survey was sent after a specific appointment.

The public review prompt only appears for clients who gave a positive rating.

In Private Feedback + Optional Public Review mode, clients are only given the option to share their feedback publicly if their rating is positive. Clients who leave a lower rating are not prompted to post publicly.

Survey links expire after 14 days.

Each link is tied to a specific appointment and client. If a client tries to access the link after submitting or after 14 days, they will see a message confirming their response was already received or that the link is no longer active.

The feature is off by default. Enable the Enable Post-Visit Surveys toggle to turn it on and reveal configuration options. The first setting to choose is your Feedback Mode, which determines what clients experience and whether Shepherd collects response data internally.

Private Feedback Only: Clients complete a survey, and all feedback is captured privately in your Shepherd dashboard for internal use only. No public review prompt is shown.

Private Feedback + Optional Public Review: Clients complete a private survey first. If they provide a positive rating, they are given the option to share their feedback publicly on platforms like Google or Facebook. Internal responses are still captured in your dashboard.

Public Reviews Only: Clients receive an email with direct links to your public review platforms. No feedback landing page is shown, and no responses are collected internally. The survey dashboard is not available in this mode.

If you are using Private Feedback + Optional Public Review or Public Reviews Only, configure your external review platforms under External Review Prompts on the same page. Add at least one Review URL by selecting a platform type and entering the URL. Use + Add Other Platforms to add additional platforms.

Sending Time Delay: sets how long after checkout the survey email is sent. Available options are 1h, 2h, 3h, 4h, or Custom. The default is 2 hours.

Survey Sending Limit Per Client: controls how often surveys are sent to the same client to prevent survey fatigue. The default is no more than 1 survey per 90 days. You can adjust both the number of surveys and the number of days.

The Default Communication Template is the email sent to clients with the survey link. Customize the subject line and body text, or click Reset to Default to restore the original content. Available variables:

The Survey Completion Message is what clients see immediately after submitting their survey. The default confirms the submission was received privately and sets the expectation that follow-up requests will be addressed within 3 business days. You can customize this message or reset it to default.
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Q1 Rating Style sets the rating format for the Overall Experience question. This setting applies to Q1 on both survey formats and is shared across templates to maintain trend comparability in reports.

Survey Format lets you choose between Short and Detailed. Q1 (Overall Experience) is always required and cannot be disabled on either format.

The Survey Configuration tab is where you configure individual questions and preview how the survey appears to clients.

Q1: Overall Experience is always required and cannot be disabled on either format. The question text is fixed: "How satisfied were you with today's visit?"

Q2: Open-ended Feedback is available on both formats. When enabled, clients see: "What could we have done better, or what stood out positively about your visit?" It can be toggled on or off and set as Optional or Required.

The following questions are available on the Detailed format only. Each can be toggled on or off and set as Optional or Required.

Q3: Staff & Care Experience — A multi-aspect rating on a 1–5 scale. Client preview: "Please rate the following aspects of your visit:"

Q4: Value & Cost Transparency — Asks whether costs and the treatment plan were explained clearly. Response options are fixed: Yes, completely · Somewhat · No. A "No" response triggers a low-satisfaction alert in the dashboard. Client preview: "Did you feel the costs and treatment plan were explained clearly?"

Q5: Custom Question — Lets you add an open-ended question with your own text. Question text is required when this question is enabled — the question will not save without it. Placeholder example: "Is there anything else you'd like us to know?"

Q6: Follow-Up Request — Asks clients whether they would like a follow-up from your team. Response options are fixed: Yes / No. A "Yes" response is flagged in the dashboard for follow-up. Client preview: "Would you like a member of our hospital management team to contact you to discuss your feedback?"

Surveys are not sent for every appointment type by default. Each appointment type must be individually opted in.

Repeat for each appointment type where you want surveys to send. Types without the toggle enabled will not trigger surveys, even when the feature is globally turned on.

A Post-Appointment Surveys preference is available on each client's profile. This preference is enabled by default for clients enrolled in email mass communications.

If a client should not receive surveys, you can disable this setting on their profile.
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This preference is only visible on client profiles when the Post-Visit Survey feature is enabled globally.

After an appointment is marked as Checked Out, Shepherd evaluates whether a survey should be sent. All of the following conditions must be true:

If all conditions are met, Shepherd waits for the configured sending time delay (default: 2 hours), then sends the survey email. Each link is tied to the specific appointment and client and is valid for 14 days.

If a survey is not sent, the reason is logged in the client's activity log.

What clients see when they click the survey link depends on your configured feedback mode.

For Private Feedback Only and Private Feedback + Optional Public Review modes, clients land on a branded survey page showing your clinic logo, clinic name, and a summary of the appointment including type, date, and supervising provider if available. The page addresses the patient by name: "How was Max's visit?" for one pet, "How were Max & Bella's visits?" for two, or "How were your pets' visits?" for three or more.

Survey questions appear on a single scrollable page. Clients in Private Feedback + Optional Public Review mode who leave a positive rating are given the opportunity to share their experience publicly after submitting.

For Public Reviews Only mode, the email links directly to the configured external review platform. There is no Shepherd landing page.

Survey links expire after 14 days. If a client accesses an expired or already-submitted link, they will see a message confirming their response was received or that the link is no longer active.

Survey responses are found in the left navigation menu under the Client Responses section. This section is only available when a private feedback mode is enabled.

When new unread responses are present, a red indicator dot appears next to the navigation item and persists until all unread responses are marked as read. If no responses have been received yet, the dashboard shows an empty state.

The dashboard displays aggregate metrics at the top, including:

The main table lists individual responses with submission date and time, client and patient name, and additional response data. Each row links directly to the associated SOAP record for that appointment.

Each unread response row displays a red indicator on the left. Once you have reviewed a response, mark it as read using the mark-as-read icon on the row. You can also use Mark All as Read in the table header to bulk-clear all indicators.

If a client indicated they would like follow-up, the Follow-Up Completed action is available on that row. Selecting it updates the row's tag from "Follow-Up Requested" to "Follow-Up Completed" so your team can track outstanding outreach.

If the unread indicator is showing but no unread responses appear in the table, those responses are likely outside your currently selected date range. Use the Show Unread Only toggle next to the date filter to display all unread responses regardless of when they were submitted.

When this toggle is on, the date range filter is temporarily bypassed. All other active filters still apply. Turning the toggle off returns the dashboard to standard date range filtering.

Export is available when a private feedback mode is enabled. Use the export options in the dashboard to download your data.

PDF export: a portrait, multi-page report. The first page includes your clinic's name, address, contact information, and logo, along with the export date and feedback period covered. It shows 30-day summary metrics: average satisfaction, surveys sent, total responses, response rate, and rating distribution by NPS or star rating, with color coding for promoters (green), passives (yellow), and detractors (red). If your rating style has changed within the window, both distributions are shown. The second page lists performance by provider, alphabetically by last name, with each provider's 30-day average rating.

CSV export: includes the raw response data displayed in your dashboard, filtered to the selected date range.

Every survey send attempt is logged in the client's activity log, whether the survey was sent or not. This makes it easy to confirm whether a survey was sent after a specific appointment and understand why it wasn't, without needing to troubleshoot in settings.

Log entries for Post-Visit Surveys follow this format:

Changes to Post-Visit Survey settings are tracked in the Post-Visit Survey Settings History activity log within Admin Settings.

Check the client's activity log first — it will show whether the survey was sent and, if not, the specific reason. Common causes include the appointment type not being opted in, the client not having email mass communications enabled, or the client having reached the survey sending limit. See How Surveys Are Sent for the full list of conditions.

No, post-visit surveys do not send for appointments that were no-showed or cancelled. Surveys only send according to the delivery sending time delay selected under settings and if the appointment is in a 'checked out' status.

No, post-visit surveys are unable to be sent manually at this time.