How to Make a Poll in Slack

Slack offers a more professional experience, with extensive management and scheduling benefits. In addition to many other features, Slack gives you the option to make polls in channels. Polls can be very useful for getting an overall consensus on an issue within a workspace.

In this article, you’ll learn how to make polls in Slack and how to customize them across various devices.

How to Install Integrations

Slack does not offer a built-in polling option. Fortunately, you can add Slack Integrations. These integrations are similar to applications, and you can get them from the Slack website. However, you cannot install integrations on the mobile or web app versions.

Installing an integration can only be done via a web browser. Once you’ve added an integration to a workspace via a browser, it automatically integrates with all phone/tablet and desktop apps. In this section, we’ll show you how to add a polling feature to your Slack workspace.

Although we’re installing Polly for the purposes of our article, any app you choose to install should have similar steps.

Here’s how to install any integration, including various polling options.

1. Go to Slack.com. Sign in to your workspace.
   
2. Click on Browse Slack.
   
3. Select Apps in the pop-out menu.
   
4. Type Polls in the search box. If you’d like to add other features, type the word that best matches what you need.
   
5. Click Add under the option that best suits your needs. Or, click on the app to see the overview.
   
6. A new window will open. Review your selection and click Add to Slack.
   
7. Click Allow to consent to the permissions necessary to add your app.
   
8. Click Continue to confirm that you’d like to add the app to your workspace.
   
9. Whichever app you chose to add, you’ll see the Dashboard after moving through the prompts.
   

Keep in mind that after you’ve added an integration, it will appear in the mobile and desktop app versions too. Essentially, we just have to use the web browser for the initial setup.

How to Set Up Polls on Slack

As stated previously, we’re using the popular Polly app for our workspace, but you can use any polling app. After you’ve installed the app, follow these steps to set up your poll:

1. Head over to your polling app by tapping on it under the Apps section.
   
2. Now, you will see a link to go to your apps’ dashboard (you may need to look for the link).
   
3. Click Create New (or any variation of the option).
   
4. Populate your questions and possible answers.
   
5. Select the channel where you’d like to post your poll for votes.
   
6. Then click Send.
   
7. Now, your team members can easily answer your poll because it will show up as a message in the channel.
   
8. Finally, you can check the poll results by clicking on your app again under the Apps section.
   

That’s all there is to it! As stated previously, you can add any poll app you’d like from the Slack website. Some are free, while others only offer free trials. You can look into the overview for each app to see which one offers features that align closely with your goals.

Poll Integrations

There are many integrations available on Slack that allow you to create and customize polls. With this in mind, we’ve decided to round up a few options that may help you. Remember, the instructions for installing the apps are streamlined, but the actual polls vary.

Polly

Many Slack integrations offer poll options as one of their many features; Polly is poll-specific. Forms and survey tools are Polly’s bread and butter. This integration allows you to stay connected, respond quickly, and access the results instantaneously.

In addition to creating polls, Polly allows you to hold regular standups (for agile teams), run games of trivia, conduct “hot takes” (polls that have no definitive answer but are mainly just for fun), etc.

Polly comes with various pre-installed templates and also allows you to customize and create your own. For instance, the weekly team check-in template is pre-loaded with questions such as “What is your primary focus today?” and “Do you need support for any challenges that you might be facing?”

Polly’s design is also anything but tedious – it’s very eye-friendly.

Doodle Bot

The best thing about using Doodle to create polls is that it isn’t Slack-specific. This means that people who aren’t using Slack and those who are can participate in a poll.

It’s as simple as sending them a shareable link once you’ve created a Slack poll. Yes, the poll results will include responses from Slack team members and those who aren’t using the app. You can also share polls with non-Slack colleagues from the integration directly.

Doodle is also fully integrated with other software, like various Google apps, Office 365 and Outlook, ICS feed, etc.

In addition to polls, Doodle allows you to create various meetings outside of Slack.

To start using Doodle on Slack, type in “/doodle” and customize a poll.

Simple Poll

Simple Poll integration isn’t complicated. It doesn’t have any fancy customization features and doesn’t work outside of Slack. But when it comes to simplicity and ease of use, however, there isn’t another Slack poll app like it.

With Simple Poll, you can create the most basic, straightforward, and quick polls. Add a question, add the answer options, get it started. To begin a poll, select a channel, and type in “/poll “[insert question]” “Yes,” “No.” For instance, to determine who’ll be available for this week’s get-together, just type “/poll “Will you be attending the weekly meet-up tomorrow?” “Yes” “No.”

With some polls, anonymity is often necessary. With Simple Poll, any poll can offer respondents the chance to answer anonymously. Add the “anonymous” tag to the end of the command. For instance, “/poll “Are you satisfied with your salary?” “Yes,” “Neutral,” “No” anonymous.

By simply adding an emoji after a poll response, the emoji will be displayed as a part of the option. Make sure to add the emoji after each poll option’s quotation marks without a space between the end quote mark and the emoji.

You can also restrict the number of votes each user can cast in a poll. To do this, add the limit keyword, followed by the allowable number of votes. Here’s an example: “/poll “What is your favorite color?” “Blue” “Red” “Orange” limit 1.”

The Importance of Running Polls

Never underestimate the importance of having the poll option available. Polls can be a stress-breaker in your team’s office life but also be of vital importance. For instance, instead of wasting time walking around asking everyone to choose what kind of food they want to order for lunch, just send your colleagues a poll and simplify the decision-making process.

On the other hand, polls can be used to gather opinions on, for instance, product management. If you can’t decide how to run a certain project, create a poll and let your colleagues vote. Alternately, polls can be used to gather important information regarding how happy your team is with their work, their salary, their position, or your company in general.

Additional FAQ

Here are some more answers to your questions about polls on Slack.

What do you get with a Polly free plan?

Unlike some Slack integrations, Polly features a free plan that isn’t trial period-limited. However, some restrictions, naturally, exist. While you can create any type of poll, the total response number that you can create in a single month is 25. Additionally, results older than 45 days will be hidden from the dashboard. The free plan also prevents you from sharing your results, adding collaborators, and seeing various advanced analytics features.

Is Doodle free?

Doodle is a productivity app that isn’t Slack-specific. It allows you to plan meetings, customize them, and give you various other productivity and integration options. On the other hand, Doodle Bot is a Slack polling integration that is completely free. The best part here is that the bot allows you to create polls for people who are using Slack and those who aren’t – for free. This is one of the coolest things about the bot.

What do you get for free with Simple Poll?

Simple Poll’s free plan is called “Hobby.” It allows you to create native and anonymous polls. You can also gather up to 100 votes and ten decisions per month. You can use ten options per poll or create a single recurring poll. The free plan is likely enough for those using Slack as a secondary messaging program. For more serious needs, upgrading to the “Small Business” plan will remove the recurring poll limit, as well as the monthly vote limit. The monthly decision limit is raised to 100, and you can offer 45 options per poll.

There’s also a custom pricing option, but you’ll need to contact the Simple Poll sales department to get more information on this.

Can I post a poll without adding an app?

Yes! If you have a third-party poll creation website you’d rather use, you can post the link to your channel. But, users will have to open the link to cast their vote.

Polls in Slack

Creating a poll in Slack is dependent on using an integration that will enable you to do so. Although adding an integration to your Slack workspace is, for the most part, a uniform process, working with integrations that enable you to start and run polls may differ slightly from integration to integration. Generally, however, they are very straightforward and user-friendly.

Have you found your ideal poll integration option? Do you think there’s a better option than one of the three mentioned here? Don’t be a stranger. Hit the comments section below and fire away.