Unknown respondents and anonymous respondents

Survey responses do not always arrive with a name or email address. Novella uses Unknown respondent and Anonymous respondent to describe two different stages or collection methods.

Unknown respondent

An Unknown respondent is a response that Novella has captured but cannot currently associate with a respondent record.

This commonly happens when Novella saves a rating immediately and the visitor leaves before submitting the rest of the survey. At that point Novella has the rating, but it may not have enough respondent information to identify the person.

You may also see Unknown respondent when:

• a personalized survey URL did not contain a usable email address
• only the initial rating has been saved and the respondent has not completed the follow-up step

If the visitor continues and supplies valid identifying information, Novella can associate the response with that respondent. The name or email then replaces Unknown respondent in places that display response ownership.

Anonymous respondent

An Anonymous respondent completed a survey without providing identifying information. The response is valid and complete, but it is intentionally not connected to a named respondent.

Anonymous responses can still include:

• a rating
• selected tags
• a written comment
• non-identifying response metadata used for security and aggregate reporting

An anonymous browser identifier may be used to enforce submission safeguards, such as the repeat-submission cooldown period. This identifier is not a name, email address, or respondent profile, and Novella does not display it as the respondent's identity.

What is the difference?

Unknown respondent: Novella has captured a response, usually an initial rating, but has not associated it with a respondent. It can be replaced if the response is later linked to a respondent.

Anonymous respondent: The survey was completed without identifying information. It remains anonymous unless identifying information is subsequently and deliberately associated with it.

The key distinction is that unknown describes the response's current identification state, while anonymous describes a completed response collected without identity.

Example: a rating saved before survey completion

1. A visitor opens a survey without a known respondent identity.
2. The visitor selects a rating.
3. Novella saves the rating immediately.
4. If the visitor leaves at this point, the dashboard displays Unknown respondent because the response has not been identified or completed.
5. If the visitor completes the follow-up without supplying identity, the completed response is treated as an Anonymous respondent response.
6. If the visitor completes the survey with valid respondent information, Novella associates the response with that respondent instead.

Privacy note

Novella does not infer a person's identity from an anonymous browser identifier, IP address, device information, tags, or comments. A response is associated with a respondent only when suitable identifying information is available through the survey flow or an authorized integration.