How to set up surveys in Nuxt

Jan 18, 2024

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Surveys are a great way to get feedback from your users. In this guide, we show you how to add a survey to your Nuxt.js app.

We'll create a basic Nuxt app, add PostHog, create a survey, and then show you how to display the survey in the app and get responses.

1. Create a Nuxt app

For this tutorial, we create a basic Nuxt 3 app. First, ensure Node.js is installed (version 18.0.0 or newer). Then run the following command:

Terminal
npx nuxi@latest init <project-name>

Name it whatever you like (we call ours nuxt-surveys), select npm as the package manager, and use the defaults for the remaining options.

Replace the code in app.vue with a simple heading:

app.vue
<template>
  <main>
    <h1>Nuxt.js 3 Surveys</h1>
  </main>
</template>

Run npm run dev to start your app.

Basic app

2. Add PostHog

This tutorial shows how to integrate PostHog with Nuxt 3. If you're using Nuxt 2, see our Nuxt docs for how to integrate PostHog.

We use PostHog to create and control our survey as well as monitor results. If you don't have a PostHog instance, you can sign up for free here.

To set it up with your Nuxt app, first install posthog-js:

Terminal
npm install posthog-js

Then, add your PostHog API key and host to your nuxt.config.ts file. You can find your project API key in your PostHog project settings

nuxt.config.ts
export default defineNuxtConfig({
  // ...rest of your config
  
  runtimeConfig: {
    public: {
      posthogPublicKey: '<ph_project_api_key>',
      posthogHost: 'https://us.i.posthog.com'
    }
  }
})

Create a new plugin by first creating a new folder called plugins and then a new file posthog.client.js:

Terminal

Add the following code to your posthog.client.js file:

plugins/posthog.client.js
import { defineNuxtPlugin } from '#app'
import posthog from 'posthog-js'


export default defineNuxtPlugin(nuxtApp => {
  const runtimeConfig = useRuntimeConfig();
  const posthogClient = posthog.init(runtimeConfig.public.posthogPublicKey, {
    api_host: runtimeConfig.public.posthogHost,
  })


  
  return {
    provide: {
      posthog: () => posthogClient
    }
  }
})

Once you’ve done this, reload your app. You should begin seeing events in the PostHog events explorer.

Events in PostHog

3. Create a survey

There are two options for displaying a survey using PostHog:

  1. Use PostHog's prebuilt survey UI.
  2. Implement your own survey UI.

This tutorial will cover how to implement both options:

Option 1: Use PostHog's prebuilt survey UI

This is the simplest option. PostHog has a variety of survey templates to choose from, and handles all the display logic and response capture for you. You can also customize the questions, branding, and display conditions as needed – see our survey docs for more details on how to do so.

To create a survey with a prebuilt UI, go to the surveys tab in PostHog and click "New survey".

PostHog survey templates

Select any template, or you can create your own by clicking "Create blank survey". Then, configure your survey with the following details:

  1. Ensure Presentation is set to Popover.
  2. Set the display conditions to All users.
  3. Use the default values for everything else.

Then, click "Save as draft" and then "Launch". Your survey is now live and you should see it in your app. After submitting responses, you can view results in PostHog.

Popover survey in app

Option 2: Implement your own survey UI

If you prefer to have complete control of your survey UI and logic, you can still use PostHog to keep track of and analyze your results.

First, create a survey in PostHog like in option 1 above (for this tutorial, we use a Net Promoter Score survey template). The only difference is you must set Presentation to API.

Then, there are four parts to adding code for our custom survey:

  1. Create the survey UI.
  2. Fetch the survey from PostHog.
  3. Add the logic for displaying and hiding it.
  4. Capture interactions from it.

1. Create the survey UI

We've created a sample survey UI for this tutorial. To use it, create a new folder components in your base directory and then create a new file CustomSurvey.vue in it. Paste the following code in this file:

components/CustomSurvey.vue
<template>
  <div class="survey">
    <h2>{{ title }}</h2>
    <div>
      <button v-for="i in 10" :key="i" class="button" @click="handleSelect(i)">
        {{ i }}
      </button>
    </div>
    <div>
      <button class="button" @click="emitDismiss">Dismiss</button>
      <button class="button" @click="emitSubmit">Submit</button>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>


<script setup>
import { ref } from 'vue';


const props = defineProps({
  title: String,
  onDismiss: Function,
  onSubmit: Function
});


const emit = defineEmits(['onDismiss', 'onSubmit']);


const selectedValue = ref(null);


function handleSelect(value) {
  selectedValue.value = value;
}


function emitDismiss() {
  emit('onDismiss');
}


function emitSubmit() {
  emit('onSubmit', selectedValue.value);
}
</script>


<style scoped>
.survey {
  position: fixed;
  bottom: 20px;
  right: 20px;
  width: 400px;
  padding: 20px;
  background-color: #ffffff;
  box-shadow: 0px 0px 10px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
  border-radius: 5px;
  z-index: 1000;
}


.button {
  margin: 5px;
  padding: 5px;
}
</style>

Then, integrate the component into app.vue:

app.vue
<template>
  <main>
    <div class="App">
      <h1>Nuxt.js 3 Surveys</h1>
      <CustomSurvey
        v-if="showSurvey"
        :title="surveyTitle"
        @onDismiss="handleDismiss"
        @onSubmit="handleSubmit"
      />
    </div>
  </main>
</template>


<script setup>


import { ref } from 'vue';


const showSurvey = ref(true);
const surveyTitle = ref('Placeholder title')


const handleDismiss = () => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
};


const handleSubmit = (value) => {
  console.log("Submitted value:", value);
  showSurvey.value = false;
};
</script>

This shows a survey popup every time you visit your app's homepage.

Custom survey UI

2. Fetch the survey from PostHog

PostHog keeps track of all active surveys for a user (this is especially helpful if you set up custom display conditions).

To fetch the active surveys when the app is mounted, we call $posthog().getActiveMatchingSurveys(). This returns a surveys object that looks like this:

JSON
[
   {
     "id": "018cfcd5-107e-0000-49a1-8e7c6b825947",
     "name": "Net promoter score (NPS) API Survey",
     "description": "",
     "type": "api",
     "linked_flag_key": null,
     "targeting_flag_key": null,
     "questions": [
       {
         "type": "rating",
         "scale": 10,
         "display": "number",
         "question": "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?",
         "description": "",
         "lowerBoundLabel": "Unlikely",
         "upperBoundLabel": "Very likely"
       }
     ],
     "conditions": null,
     "start_date": "2024-01-12T08:41:20.614000Z",
     "end_date": null
   }
]

We can use this survey object to configure our CustomSurvey component:

app.vue
<template>
  <!-- ... rest of your template ... -->
</template>


<script setup>


import { ref, onMounted } from 'vue';
import { useNuxtApp } from '#app';


const showSurvey = ref(true);
const surveyTitle = ref('');
const surveyID = ref('');


onMounted(async () => {
  await fetchActiveSurveys();
});


const fetchActiveSurveys = () => {
  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
    $posthog().getActiveMatchingSurveys((surveys) => {
    if (surveys.length > 0) {
      const survey = surveys[0];
      surveyID.value = survey.id;
      surveyTitle.value = survey.questions[0].question;
    }
  });
};


// rest of your code


</script>

3. Add the logic for displaying and hiding it.

We want to make sure we don't show the survey again to users who have either submitted or dismissed it. We use localStorage to store this data and use it to check whether to show the survey or not.

app.vue
<template>
  <!-- ... rest of your template ... -->
</template>


<script setup>


import { ref, onMounted } from 'vue';
import { useNuxtApp } from '#app';


const showSurvey = ref(false); // updated to false


// rest of your code


const checkSurveyInteraction = () => {
  const hasInteractedWithSurvey = localStorage.getItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`);
  showSurvey.value = !hasInteractedWithSurvey;
};


onMounted(async () => {
  await fetchActiveSurveys();
  checkSurveyInteraction();
});


const fetchActiveSurveys = () => {
  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
    $posthog().getActiveMatchingSurveys((surveys) => {
    if (surveys.length > 0) {
      const survey = surveys[0];
      surveyID.value = survey.id;
      surveyTitle.value = survey.questions[0].question;
      checkSurveyInteraction();
    }
  });
};


const handleDismiss = () => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`, 'true');
};


const handleSubmit = (value) => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`, 'true');
};


</script>

4. Capture interactions from it.

The final step in setting up our survey is capturing interactions. This enables us to analyze the results in PostHog.

There are 3 events to capture:

  1. "survey shown"
  2. "survey dismissed"
  3. "survey sent" (for responses)

You can capture these events using this.$posthog.capture():

app.vue
<template>
  <!-- ... rest of your template ... -->
</template>


<script setup>


// rest of your code


const fetchActiveSurveys = () => {
  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
    $posthog().getActiveMatchingSurveys((surveys) => {
    if (surveys.length > 0) {
      const survey = surveys[0];
      surveyID.value = survey.id;
      surveyTitle.value = survey.questions[0].question;
      checkSurveyInteraction();
      if (showSurvey) {
        $posthog().capture("survey shown", {
          $survey_id: surveyID // required
        })
      }
    }
  });
};


const handleDismiss = () => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID}`, 'true');


  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
  $posthog().capture("survey dismissed", {
    $survey_id: surveyID // required
  });
};


const handleSubmit = (value) => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID}`, 'true');


  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
  $posthog().capture("survey sent", {
    $survey_id: surveyID, // required
    $survey_response: value // required
  });
};


</script>

Altogether, your code should look like this:

app.vue
<template>
  <main>
    <div class="App">
      <h1>Nuxt.js 3 Surveys</h1>
      <CustomSurvey
        v-if="showSurvey"
        :title="surveyTitle"
        @onDismiss="handleDismiss"
        @onSubmit="handleSubmit"
      />
    </div>
  </main>
</template>


<script setup>


import { ref, onMounted } from 'vue';
import { useNuxtApp } from '#app';


const showSurvey = ref(false); // changed to false
const surveyTitle = ref('');
const surveyID = ref('');


const checkSurveyInteraction = () => {
  const hasInteractedWithSurvey = localStorage.getItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`);
  showSurvey.value = !hasInteractedWithSurvey;
};


onMounted(async () => {
  await fetchActiveSurveys();
  checkSurveyInteraction();
});


const fetchActiveSurveys = () => {
  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
    $posthog().getActiveMatchingSurveys((surveys) => {
    if (surveys.length > 0) {
      const survey = surveys[0];
      surveyID.value = survey.id;
      surveyTitle.value = survey.questions[0].question;
      checkSurveyInteraction();
      if (showSurvey) {
        $posthog().capture("survey shown", {
          $survey_id: surveyID // required
        })
      }
    }
  });
};


const handleDismiss = () => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`, 'true');
  
  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
  $posthog().capture("survey dismissed", {
    $survey_id: surveyID // required
  });
};


const handleSubmit = (value) => {
  showSurvey.value = false;
  localStorage.setItem(`hasInteractedWithSurvey_${surveyID.value}`, 'true');


  const { $posthog } = useNuxtApp();
  $posthog().capture("survey sent", {
    $survey_id: surveyID, // required
    $survey_response: value // required
  });
};


</script>

Our survey is now ready to go! The next step is ship the changes, get responses, and view your results.

4. View results

After interacting with your survey, you can view results by selecting the survey from the surveys tab. You'll see data on:

  • How many users have seen the survey.
  • How many users have dismissed the survey.
  • Responses.

If you capture identified events, you can also filter these results based on person properties, cohorts, feature flags and more.

Survey results

Further reading