Surveys

Multi-question SMS conversations: a customer texts your keyword, gets asked each question in turn, and every answer is stored for you to pull over the API. No app, no data bundle needed on the customer's side.

A survey attaches to a keyword , every inbound text matching that keyword opens a survey session. The same survey engine also powers USSD survey mode. Endpoints live under /api/v1/ with a scoped mbs_ token or JWT.

Start from a template

GET/api/v1/surveys/templates

Five ready-made question sets, each with a welcome and closing message: customer_satisfaction, event_rsvp, product_feedback, staff_pulse and market_research. Copy one into the questions array below and edit as you like. The portal's Surveys → New Survey wizard offers the same templates, lets you reserve a keyword or point a USSD extension in the same flow, and creates everything in one go.

Create a survey

POST/api/v1/surveys

Parameters

Field	Type	Required	Description
name	string	Yes	Internal label.
keyword_uuid	uuid	No	The keyword that opens this survey when texted. Leave it out for a USSD or push survey, or set it later with PATCH.
sender_name	string	No	Sender the questions go out under, usually the shortcode the keyword sits on.
welcome_message	string	No	Sent together with the first question when a session starts.
end_message	string	No	Sent after the last answer. Thank-yous, vouchers, next steps.
session_timeout_minutes	int	No	How long a respondent may pause between answers before they start over. Default 60.
one_per_msisdn	boolean	No	Accept one completed response per phone number.
questions	Question[]	No	The questions, inline (sequence is stored as given), or add them one at a time afterwards (below).

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl -X POST https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/surveys \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Delivery satisfaction. July",
    "keyword_uuid": "8c11d2ab-…",
    "sender_name": "40404",
    "welcome_message": "Thanks for ordering from Dukapay! 3 quick questions:",
    "end_message": "Asante! Your feedback keeps us sharp.",
    "session_timeout_minutes": 30,
    "questions": [
      {
        "question": "How would you rate your delivery? Reply 1-5",
        "question_type": "numeric",
        "sequence": 1,
        "is_required": true
      },
      {
        "question": "Was the rider courteous? Reply YES or NO",
        "question_type": "yes_no",
        "sequence": 2,
        "is_required": true
      },
      {
        "question": "Anything we should improve?",
        "question_type": "open",
        "sequence": 3,
        "is_required": false
      }
    ]
  }'

Add questions

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/questions

GET/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/questions

DELETE/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/questions/{question_uuid}

Question fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
question	string	Yes	The text sent to the participant.
question_type	string	Yes	`open` (free text), `single_choice`, `multiple_choice`, `numeric`, `yes_no`, `range` (a rating between min and max).
options	JSON string	No	For choice types: the options as a JSON array string, e.g. `"[\"M-Pesa\",\"Card\",\"Cash\"]"`; participants reply with the option number. For `range`: `"{\"min\":1,\"max\":5}"`.
sequence	int	Yes	Order the question is asked in (1-based).
is_required	boolean	No	Required questions re-prompt on an invalid answer; optional ones accept SKIP.

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl -X POST https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/surveys/5e9dd410-…/questions \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "question": "How did you pay? 1. M-Pesa 2. Card 3. Cash",
    "question_type": "single_choice",
    "options": "[\"M-Pesa\",\"Card\",\"Cash\"]",
    "sequence": 4,
    "is_required": true
  }'

Lifecycle

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/activate

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/pause

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/close

Statuses

Field	Type	Required	Description
draft	initial	No	Editable (PATCH); not answering traffic. A survey needs at least one question before it can activate; no approval is involved.
active	live	No	Keyword texts open sessions and questions flow.
paused	hold	No	New sessions refused; re-activate any time.
closed	final	No	Done. Data remains available.

Approval on amendments

Setting or changing a survey's run window (POST /surveys/{uuid}/amend with starts_at/ends_at) puts it through a quick system review; the survey can't activate while that review is pending. You're emailed automatically when it's approved or rejected.

Test it before going live

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/simulate

The simulator walks a fake session without sending real SMS. Post the participant's next reply, get back what the survey would send:

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl -X POST https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/surveys/5e9dd410-…/simulate \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "msisdn": "254712345678",
    "message": "START"
  }'

You can also restrict a live survey to test numbers with the whitelist (PUT /surveys/{uuid}/whitelist with {"msisdns": ["2547…"]}; empty array lifts the restriction).

Start a survey yourself

POST/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/start

A survey usually waits to be texted. This makes it speak first: give it a number and it opens the session and sends question one, from the shortcode its keyword sits on. The reply comes back the ordinary way, so the conversation continues exactly as if the person had texted the keyword themselves.

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl -X POST https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/surveys/5e9dd410-…/start \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "msisdn": "254712345678"
  }'

Response: 200

{
  "success": true,
  "data": { "status": "sent", "msisdn": "254712345678" }
}

Requirements

Field	Type	Required	Description
Scope	team:surveys:send	No	The API token needs it. Create one under Settings → API tokens.
Status	active	No	A draft or paused survey is refused: activate it first.
Keyword	required	No	The survey's keyword decides which shortcode the question is sent from, and where the answer comes back to. A survey with no keyword has nowhere to send from.
Balance	units	No	Question one is a billed SMS like any other, and so is every question after it.

Where this earns its keep

Close a support ticket, deliver an order, finish a clinic visit — call this and the survey asks about it while the experience is still fresh, without the customer having to remember a keyword. One call per person, so your own system decides who gets asked and when.

USSD surveys cannot be started this way

Only the subscriber can open a USSD session, so a survey answering on a USSD extension can be advertised but not pushed. Send an SMS inviting them to dial the code instead.

Send it to a whole group

One number at a time is the API; a list is a campaign. Create a campaign with survey_uuid set and every recipient is put into a session as their message goes out — priced, reserved and cancellable like any other campaign, and listed with the rest. The survey's own shortcode is used as the sender whatever you pass, because a question asked from another identity has nowhere to be answered.

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl -X POST https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/campaigns \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Customer satisfaction",
    "message": "Two quick questions.\nHow did we do?\n1. Yes\n2. No",
    "source_type": "groups",
    "target_group_uuids": [
      "9f31…"
    ],
    "survey_uuid": "5e9dd410-…"
  }'

The portal does this for you

On a survey's page in the portal, Send this surveyshows the exact opening message, lets you pick contact groups, and totals the units before you commit — it builds the same campaign.

Pull the responses

GET/api/v1/surveys/{uuid}/responses

# Paste your token once (it starts with mbs_):
export MOBILESASA_TOKEN="mbs_your_token_here"

curl "https://api.mobilesasa.com/api/v1/surveys/5e9dd410-…/responses?page=1" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $MOBILESASA_TOKEN"

Response: 200

{
  "success": true,
  "data": [
    {
      "uuid": "77b0…",
      "session_uuid": "d2c4…",
      "msisdn": "254712345678",
      "question_uuid": "31aa…",
      "answer": "5",
      "created_at": "2026-07-11T12:40:19Z"
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "page": 1, "page_size": 20, "total": 412 }
}

Answers cost units

Each question and confirmation the survey sends is a normal SMS billed in units from your SMS balance. A 3-question survey costs roughly 4–5 units per completed session.