The poll protection checklist
Every InviziPoll ballot opens with a checklist of what protects you on that poll, worked out from its real settings. What each item means, and what to do about Watch out.
- Respondents and workspace admins
- 5 min read
- Updated Oct 23, 2026
"It's anonymous" is a promise. This list shows you what's behind it on the poll you're about to answer, including anything worth a second look.
Every InviziPoll ballot opens with How this poll protects you. It's worked out from that poll's real settings and questions, so it can't drift from the truth, and it's the same list the poll's admin saw before publishing.
#For respondents: reading the list
Each item carries a label as well as a colour:
- Protected. This part of the poll works in your favour.
- Worth knowing. Not a problem, but something you should know before you answer.
- Watch out. Something on this poll could point to you. Read it, then decide what you answer.
Closed, the list shows a one-line summary plus every Worth knowing and Watch out item by title, so nothing important hides behind a click. See all of them opens every item with its explanation. Nothing on the list stops you answering: Continue always works, and you can skip any question you're not comfortable with.
The list reads what your browser already received to show you the poll. Building it sends nothing anywhere.
#What each item covers
When anyone first sees results. "Nobody sees anything until N people answer", then answers come through in groups, never one at a time. On a speak-up poll it says instead that each report goes to the person who handles them, so they can follow it up.
How you got here. Worded for how the poll was shared: the same link for everyone, an access code that can't be tied to your answer, or a personal link that gets you a ballot signed without anyone seeing it.
Reminders. Reminders go to everyone, because we can't tell who has answered. On polls with personal links there's one honest extra: we do know whether you opened your link, so a reminder may skip you once you have. We never know whether or what you answered.
Questions that ask who you are. Protected when no question asks for a name, email, employee ID or anything like them. Watch out when one does, with how many. You can skip them.
Details that put you in a group. Questions about your team, location, tenure and similar. Up to two is Protected. Three or more is Worth knowing, because together they can narrow a group down, so answer only the ones you're comfortable with.
Details from your company's records. Shown only when the poll attaches details from your employer's records instead of asking you, which can happen on polls sent with personal links. Your own values appear right there, for example "From your company's records: Department: Engineering, Location: Leeds". They go with your answer so results can be split by group, and only for groups of at least five people. Only you see your values: they come with your ballot and are shown on your screen, never to the admin.
Written answers. Protected when there's nothing to write, or when you can send topics instead of your words. Worth knowing when comments are read as written: leave out names, places and details only you would know.
Whether results come back to you. Protected when the poll shares results back. Worth knowing when it doesn't.
What leadership's browser does with your answer. "Leadership's browser opens answers in shuffled groups to count them. Nothing records who you are or when you answered."
The live count. Protected when there's no live count of answers. Worth knowing when the count is shown, because anyone with the link can watch it go up and guess when someone answered. It never shows what anyone said.
#Where to see the results
When the poll shares results back, a See the results link appears on the thank-you page after you answer, and on the poll's page once it has closed. Until leadership publishes, it says "Results appear here once leadership publishes them." What's published is grouped totals, never anyone's answer. If the poll owner set a PIN, the link says to ask them for it.
#For admins: see it before you publish
On the builder's Review step, What your respondents will see shows the exact list your respondents will get. Every Worth knowing or Watch out item has a link to the step that changes it: your questions for an identifying question, Demographics for group details, Distribution for comments, results, the live count, access and reminders. Nothing in it blocks publishing.
Underneath sit the Anonymity Coach and the survey checks, so a flagged question appears right below the item it affects. Once a poll is live, its poll page shows the same list, read-only.
Two items can look different on the ballot than in your preview:
- Company records. Your preview names the kinds of detail that may be attached (department, location, tenure band or manager), never anyone's values. Each respondent sees their own.
- Group details. On the ballot, company-records details are counted one by one once they arrive, so a poll that shows two details in your preview can show three or more to some respondents.
New polls start with results shared back and the live count off, which keeps both of those items Protected. See Public results link.
#FAQ
Something on this poll could point to you, most often a question that asks who you are. It doesn't stop you answering. Read the item, skip what you're not comfortable with, and if it seems wrong, ask whoever sent the poll why it's there.
Because the poll attaches it from your company's records rather than asking you, and you should know what goes with your answer. Only you see your values. They're used only for groups of at least five people.
Follow See the results on the thank-you page or the closed poll's page. If it says results aren't published yet, check back later. If it asks for a PIN, ask the poll owner.
No. The list is built from the poll's settings and questions, and the admin can only change it by changing the poll.