How to Create a Poll in WordPress: 3 Easy Ways

Want to learn how to create a poll in WordPress?

Building a successful online presence requires engaging with your audience. Online polls are a great way to achieve this. They help you gather valuable insights, understand your audience’s preferences, and build community.

Luckily, creating polls in WordPress is easy with the right tools, and I’ll show you how to use them in this step-by-step guide.

Why Do You Need a Poll on Your WordPress Website?

Polls get your website visitors involved with your WordPress site. People who answer questions and share their thoughts feel more connected to you.

But engagement isn’t the only benefit. Polls also give you valuable information about what your visitors are interested in.

You can use this information to improve user experience, design better products, and make smart decisions about your WordPress website.

How to Choose the Right Polling Tool

If you’re a WordPress blogger, polls are a great way to keep your readers involved. They help you collect feedback and even bring more people to your site.

But with so many different tools, how do you decide which one to use?

Here are some things to keep in mind when choosing a WordPress poll plugin:

• Ease of Use: You don’t want a complicated plugin that takes forever to set up. Look for one that’s easy to use and doesn’t require technical skills.
• Customization: It’s great when you can change your polls to match the look of your site. Choose a tool with functionality to change colors, fonts, and other design elements.
• Reports: Your poll is most helpful when you can save and understand the results. Look for a tool that provides detailed information about how people answered, including graphs and charts. Some allow you to embed reports into your dashboard for easy monitoring.
• Mobile-Friendly: Many people use their phones and tablets to browse the web. Make sure your polls look good on all kinds of devices.
• Integrations: Does the tool work with your existing software, like your email list, SEO plugin, or social media? That can help you get the most out of your polls.
• Price and Features: Some tools are free, and others may cost money. Consider how much you can spend and the specific features you need.

Think about these things so you can find the perfect poll maker for your WordPress website. It will help you connect with your audience and improve your content.

Now, let’s look at how to create that new poll. I’ve picked 3 tools with the features I mentioned above and which I’ve used regularly on my personal WordPress websites.

All you need to do is follow the steps!

How to Create a Poll in WordPress Using RafflePress

For the first method, I’m using RafflePress, one of the best WordPress giveaway plugins. With its drag-and-drop builder, you can grow your email list, social media followers, and website traffic with viral giveaway contests.

One of my favorite RafflePress features is its polls and survey action, which let users enter by completing a poll.

Did you know that most people answer surveys without really caring about the answers? Research shows that 60% of people answer questions indifferently or randomly without incentives.

RafflePress solves this by adding prizes. When people have the chance to win something, they’re more likely to answer your polls thoughtfully.

So, running a giveaway with a poll is a win-win. You get high-quality feedback, and your audience gets the chance to win a prize.

With that in mind, here’s how to create a poll in WordPress with RafflePress:

Step 1. Add New Giveaway

First, install and activate RafflePress on your WordPress website.

If you need help with this, see our guide on how to install RafflePress.

Then, navigate to RafflePress » Add New from your WordPress dashboard to start setting up a new giveaway.

Provide a name for your giveaway and select a relevant giveaway template, or choose a blank template to start from scratch.

Step 2. Set Up Incentives

Next, add your prize information to encourage participation and combat survey abandonment. 

Click the pencil icon to add your prize name and description.

You can then click the “Select Image” button to upload a photo of your prize or an eye-catching image.

On the left-hand side, you’ll see options to set the start and end times and dates.

Step 3. Add a Poll or Survey Action

Next, click the “Actions” tab in the left sidebar. Here, you’ll find tasks users can complete to enter your giveaway.

For users to complete a poll, click the plus icon next to the “Polls and Surveys” action. This will add it to your giveaway widget on the right.

After adding the “Polls and Surveys” action, you can add your poll questions in the action settings panel.

You can choose between an open question or multiple choice in the dropdown menu. Then, type in your question and add the potential answer choices.

Once your poll is in place, you can make the question mandatory or optional for participants and assign the number of giveaway entries that action is worth.

Since your primary goal is to get users to submit your poll, I recommend making that action mandatory and awarding the highest number of entries for completing it.

Add Bonus Actions (Optional)

If desired, you can add extra actions for users to complete to enter your giveaway. They can include joining an email list, visiting a URL, leaving a blog comment, or sharing your giveaway on social media.

By offering more chances to win, you make your giveaway more attractive, which can result in more people completing your poll.

Step 4. Customize Your Poll Giveaway

Now, click the “Design” tab to add some personality to your giveaway. Here, you can change the widget layout, choose custom fonts, and set custom button colors.

You can also choose a background color or upload a custom background image. This is ideal if you plan to use RafflePress’s giveaway landing page option.

Configure Your Poll Giveaway Settings

You’ll find more customization options on the Settings page, including email verification, success tracking and redirection, and Recaptcha for spam protection.

The most important option in this tab is the “Giveaway Rules.” This is where you’ll outline the requirements and eligibility of your contest to ensure it’s fair, transparent, and legal.

RafflePress has a built-in giveaway rules generator to make setting your rules easier. Simply answer some questions about your promotion, and the plugin will generate the rules automatically and display them on your giveaway widget.

Step 5. Publish Your Poll

When you’re happy with your giveaway, click the “Publish” button at the top of the builder.

Here, you can choose from 3 methods:

• Embedding your giveaway in a post or page with the RafflePress block
• Using a WordPress shortcode
• Publishing your giveaway on a standalone landing page

The giveaway landing page option is my top choice because it removes unnecessary distractions. It’s also the fastest way to get your poll live.

Simply assign a URL in the General Settings tab, and that’s it. When your promotion goes live, you can share that page to encourage your audience to participate.

Here is an example of my poll on the front end of my test website:

Pro Tip: When your poll giveaway ends, ensure you draw the winners fairly. For the steps, see my guide on how to pick a winner of a giveaway.

How to Create a WordPress Poll with WPForms

WPForms is another excellent choice for creating a poll in WordPress and any other type of online form. It’s one of the best WordPress contact form builders, with over 6 million users.

I’ve used this plugin for 10 years and haven’t found a better solution for building high-quality forms. Its drag-and-drop builder is beginner-friendly, allowing you to change how your polls look without writing code.

Step 1. Install and Activate WPForms Pro

To get started, you’ll need to install and activate WPForms Pro on your WordPress website. The Pro version includes the Surveys & Polls add-on, which you’ll need to create your poll.

If you need help with this step, see this guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

 After activating the plugin, navigate to the Addons section to install the Surveys and Polls addon.

Step 2. Create Your Poll

Next, go to WPForms » Add New to start building your poll-specific WordPress form.

Give it a descriptive title, and in the search box, search for “Poll.” This will reveal several pre-made poll templates.

You’ll need the “Poll Form” template, so click it to choose that option.

WPForms’ form builder will open, allowing you to customize the poll questions, add new form fields, rearrange existing ones, and configure various settings.

Step 3. Customize Your WordPress Poll

Explore the available options to tailor the poll’s appearance, behavior, and results display. For example, you can upload an image for each poll option.

You can also randomize the poll questions to reduce order bias for your poll.

Step 4. Enable Poll Results and Publish

Chances are you’ll want users to see your poll’s results after they submit it. You can enable this option by visiting Settings » Surveys and Polls and choosing the “Enable Poll Results” checkbox.

Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to publish your poll. To do this, edit or create a new post or page and add the WPForms block.

From there, select your poll form from the drop-down menu.

After updating or publishing, you can preview the form live on your website. Here’s an example of my poll results page to see how they look.

How to Create a Poll with UserFeedback

The last method I’ll cover in this guide involves the UserFeedback plugin. It’s a popular WordPress poll plugin that lets you collect real-time feedback from website visitors.

With unlimited popup polls and submissions, it’s an easy way to gather valuable feedback from your audience to help grow your business.

Step 1. Install and Activate UserFeedback

Start by downloading the UserFeedback plugin and installing it on your WordPress site. Once activated, the setup wizard will guide you through the initial configuration process.

Step 2. Create Your Poll

After setting up the plugin, follow the prompts to create your poll questions. You can select from preset options or create custom questions.

Next, explore the available features and enable the ones that align with your goals and audience preferences.

Step 3. Configure Notifications

You can set up an email address on the next screen to receive survey responses and notifications.

You can also receive updates and communications from the UserFeedback team to stay informed about new features and best practices.

Step 4. Publish and Customize

After completing the setup process, UserFeedback will begin installing the features you chose earlier. When the installation is complete, click the Exit to Dashboard button.

Your WordPress poll is now ready and published on your site.

Here’s an example of my demo poll, which will give you an idea of how it looks:

Best Practices for Creating Effective WordPress Polls

Polls are a great way to make your WordPress site more interactive, learn about your visitors, and let them feel like they have a voice.

Here’s how to make your polls work best for you:

• Know Your Goal: What do you want to learn from this poll? Are you getting feedback on a new idea? Trying to understand what your audience likes? A clear goal will help you write good questions.
• Keep it Simple: According to a recent HubSpot survey, the ideal survey length is 10-14 minutes, and consumers are willing to answer between 7-10 survey questions. Stick to one topic and ask only the most important questions. People are more likely to finish a short poll.
• Write Clear Questions: Make sure your questions are easy to understand. Each question should have one clear meaning so people can answer correctly.
• Give Good Answer Choices: Provide enough options to cover most answers but not so many that it gets confusing. You might want an “Other” option with a space for people to write their own answers.
• Put Your Poll in the Right Place: Consider where people will most likely see it. Put it on a page that gets a lot of visitors or a blog post that fits with the topic. A sidebar is also a good place for a poll.
• Spread the Word: Share your poll on social media, in your email newsletter, or even think about a gentle pop-up to get more answers.
• Use What You Learn: The most important thing is using the poll results to improve your website.

There you have it.

I hope this guide has helped you learn how to create a poll in WordPress. Whether you choose RafflePress, WPForms, or UserFeedback, each option can help you engage with your audience, gather valuable feedback, and make data-driven decisions for your website’s success.

For more polling tips, check out my other WordPress tutorials:

• How to Create a Survey on WordPress for Better Customer Feedback
• How to Get More Survey Responses
• Best WordPress Survey Plugins

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Stacey Corrin Writer

Stacey has been writing about WordPress and digital marketing for over 10 years and on other topics for much longer. Alongside this, she's fascinated with web design, user experience, and SEO.

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