Anonymous Surveys
Anonymous mode makes a survey genuinely anonymous, not just "we don't ask for your name". When it's on, the server refuses to store anything that could identify a respondent.
What Anonymous Mode Does
Most survey tools call a survey "anonymous" when the form simply doesn't have a name field. The response record still carries an IP address, a browser fingerprint and a timestamp, and any of those can be matched against VPN, badge or email logs to work out who said what.
AItocha's anonymous mode is enforced on the server when a response is saved, so it can't be bypassed by a modified form or an API client:
Stored
- The rating or score
- Free-text feedback
- Answers to custom questions
- The date the response was submitted
Never stored
- Email address or name, even if the client sends one
- IP address
- Browser / user agent string
- Referrer (the page the respondent came from)
Respondents see an "This survey is anonymous" notice on the form, and the email field used for review-platform follow-ups is hidden entirely. Nothing about the response can be tied back to a person by AItocha, by you, or by anyone who later gains access to the data.
Turning It On
- Open the survey in the builder, or create a new one
- In the Settings card on the right, tick Anonymous mode
- Save the survey
- Share the public link or QR code. Every response from that point on is stored anonymously
Anonymous mode is a per-survey setting, so you can run an anonymous staff survey alongside identified customer surveys in the same account. Turning it off later doesn't recover any data for responses that were already collected anonymously.
Running an Anonymous Employee Survey
Anonymous mode handles the technical side. The rest is survey design. A few rules that keep employee and staff surveys honest:
- Don't ask demographic questions that narrow to fewer than five people. "Which team are you on?" is fine in a 200-person company and identifying in a 12-person one.
- Tell people exactly what is collected. Link to this page, or paste the "Never stored" list into the survey description. Trust drives honest answers.
- Keep the survey link generic. Send the same public link to everyone rather than per-person links, and share it in a channel rather than one-to-one emails.
- Review open-text answers before sharing them with managers. A comment that mentions "the Tuesday client escalation" can identify someone even without a name.
- Report back. Publish what you heard and what you'll change. The second survey gets far better participation when the first one visibly led somewhere.
For a full walkthrough with sample questions, see our guide to running anonymous employee surveys or start from the anonymous employee survey template.
Limitations to Know About
- Review-platform follow-ups are disabled. Google or Trustpilot review requests need an email address, so they can't run on an anonymous survey.
- Duplicate submissions can't be detected. Without an IP or identity there is no way to tell one person answering twice from two people. Use a response limit and a closing date if this matters.
- Timestamps are kept. Submission date and time are needed for analytics. If your team is tiny, avoid sharing the "responses over time" chart at a granularity where a single response could be matched to who was online.
- Your own systems are out of scope. If you email the link with a tracking pixel, or embed the survey on an intranet page that logs visits, anonymity can be broken upstream of AItocha.