SMS polling & text messaging polls

When you need to get information from a large audience, even if they don’t have internet or smartphones, text polling can be incredibly useful. Participants send a short message to a specific phone number — that’s all it takes!

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SMS & text polling

The advantage of this method is its simplicity and speed. That's precisely what is expected in live SMS polling and voting.

Our software offers three basic options for working with text questions:
- With Swift, participants get text votes free. They don’t need to download or install anything. With SMS voting, people select the product, the topic of the next lecture, organization options, etc.
- With text questions, you can collect opinions, questions, and suggestions. Texting questions during presentations can significantly increase engagement.
- If brainstorming is needed, participants also send in ideas that form a word cloud.
Where Swift Polling SMS poll can be used

Integrating text message polling into a range of events is effortless with Swift. With our software, you can collect data and engage the audience:
- At a corporate meeting
- At a presentation
- At a TED Talk or university lecture
- During new product promotion
- In research
- At live events — at concerts, radio and TV programs, etc.
- During contests
- During elections
The process is straightforward thanks to our quick and easy question settings. This tool can be useful whether you’re conducting a small class or a huge conference.

Why use Swift SMS polling?
- No internet connection required
- No smartphone required
- It’s free to vote
How to poll your audience via SMS

You can organize text questions easily:
- First, log into your Swift Polling account and create a question. Each answer option will be automatically assigned a number starting with 1.
- Then you set the phone number where you want to receive the answers. Share this number with your audience.
- Polling or voting participants send one of the answer options in the message. They can write a number (1, 2, or 3) or the answer itself.
Immediately after sending an SMS, the voter receives confirmation in a text message. You can customize the feedback announcing that the vote was accepted.

The system collects answers automatically and processes them. Then, you can display the results in a visual diagram on the presentation screen or on your website, depending on your goals.

The recipient phone number remains linked to your account for a while regardless of how many polls you create. By default, the contact is deleted after 30 days. You can then assign a new number or leave the old one.

Swift Polling offers a free plan for 150 responses per month. This way, you can test our program without spending a dime! If our software is right for you, you can then upgrade to a plan that’s suitable for your needs.

FAQ for SMS and Text Polling

What is an SMS poll?

How do I add SMS polls to PowerPoint?

How does Swift SMS polling work?

How to create and present text polls with Swift Polling

Swift polling is the fastest way find out your audience is thinking. Create text polls and capture audience responses in real time. Make your events more fun and interactive.

Create and present SMS polls

Create a text poll

1. Enable the SMS feature on the bottom of your dashboard.

2. Go to the left side and select “Create Poll”

3. Type in the questions and add the response options; add more than two options by selecting “Add Option”

4. Launch the poll by using the corresponding button on the lower-right corner.

Collect SMS votes

1. Ask your audience to text their votes to your Swift phone number.

2. Tell them to send the option number, for example, text 1 for the first option.

3. Or send the option itself, such as “Red”.

SMS polling features

Create multiple polls and navigate through them using arrows. “Stop” the current poll, move to another and press “Start” right from the presentation page.

With Swift you can customize how ofter people can participate for each question. You can set it up to one vote for poll, make it unlimited or customize the number of votes.

Add a custom text reply: This is a great opportunity for you to send a thank you message or highlight a sponsor. this is the message they will receive after voting.

Accept questions and open -ended feedback to the same number. The responses appear in the feedback section.

Enter full-screen mode from your presentation page.

Change the color of the background on the results page to light or dark.

Choose a bar chart or pie chart to present the results.

ProTips

• Give your respondents 60 seconds to submit their text votes.

• Give your audience additional seconds to input the phone number before voting.

• Ask seven questions at most; we recommend only five.

• Simplify the response options of the poll so that your audience easily submits the votes.

Open

Use text messaging polls to create a real-time dialogue with your voting

Find out what your audience thinks and let them vote from their computer, smartphone, or mobile device.

With a dedicated phone number, it’s so simple.

During the registration process, you can select a dedicated phone number with a local area code (based on availability). This phone number is dedicated to your event for the duration of your plan. If we don’t support your country, please request support via hello@swiftpolling.com

Collect text votes for multiple poll types

Pick a poll type that works best for you, including multiple-choice, open-ended, or word-cloud–all of which will use the same dedicated phone number.

Make your presentation truly interactive with real-time text polling results

Share poll results with your audience in real-time directly from Swift’s dashboard or within Microsoft PowerPoint.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) is enabled by default

Anyone who calls that phone number will also be able to vote automatically without any additional setup.

Custom SMS reply back

Send a link to a presentation, a coupon, or mention a sponsor with a custom SMS reply back.

Make any presentation better with SMS polling

Collect data and engage your audience during all kinds of presentations, from corporate meetings, TED talks, university lectures, at live events, during elections and contests, and more.