An email poll that shows the results inside the email
Ask one question with up to six answers. A click on an answer is the vote. Every answer shows its share of the votes as it stands when the email is opened.
Free to start · No credit card · Works with Klaviyo, Mailchimp + more
Quick one: what should we stock next?
Hi Jane, we’re adding one new aisle this winter. You pick.
What should we stock next?
37 votes so far.
A recreation. In the real email each answer is a linked image, drawn with the live split.
Results for Winter aisle
What should we stock next?
- Votes
- 412
- One per person, their latest answer
- Not counted
- 37
- Link scanners and rapid multi-answer clicks
- Impressions
- 5,280
- Opens of the email
- Vote rate
- 7.8%
- Of 5,280 opens
How people voted
Shares match what the email shows. Removed answers keep their votes but don’t count toward them.
Votes from people, not link checkers
Some business inboxes open every link in an email before the reader does. In a poll, that would be a vote for every answer. Those clicks are kept aside and never counted.
- One vote per subscriber: clicking another answer moves the vote, and only the latest one counts.
- Rapid clicks held back: several answers clicked within seconds are set aside, and the results page shows how many.
- Vote rate against opens: each open counts once, however many answers the poll has.
- Reset when you reuse it: earlier votes stop counting and the split starts again from zero.
Each answer is its own live chart
Every answer is a separate image, drawn when the email is opened. Together they are the results chart, so readers see where they stand next to everyone else without leaving the inbox.
What should we stock next?
With results
Each answer is drawn with its share as it stands when the email is opened. Show the percent, the vote count, both, or the bar alone.
What should we stock next?
Before results
Set how many votes it takes before the split shows. Until then, or with results off, the answers are plain buttons.
What should we stock next?
Images off
Where images are blocked, as in Outlook by default, the alt text shows as a button in the answer’s colors. It still links to the vote.
Make it look like part of the email
The question is written into the email as text, in your email’s own font and color, so it stays readable in dark mode. The answers take the look you set.
- Bars or gauges
- One answer per row with a progress bar, or tiles side by side with a ring.
- One accent color
- It fills the bars and rings, and the rest follows. Set the background, border, text and bar track yourself if you want to.
- Font, width and corners
- From 280 to 600px wide. Emails already sent keep the size they went out with.
Start from a template
- This or that, Bars
- Next product, Bars
- Event session, Gauges
- Newsletter topic, Bars
- Email frequency, Bars
Which session are you most excited about?
The Event session template, with gauges.
Live in three steps
Write the question
Start from a template or a blank poll. Add two to six answers, pick bars or gauges and your accent color.
Paste the block
Alterable gives you a small table: the question as text and one linked image per answer. Add your ESP’s subscriber-ID merge tag so each subscriber gets one vote.
Watch the split
Each vote lands on a thank-you page with the live results, or on your own page, one per answer if you want your ESP to segment by it. Every later open shows the new split.
A click on an answer is the vote
A poll is a row of linked images, one per answer. Paste it into Klaviyo, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Brevo, or any ESP that accepts an image tag with merge tags. If it can show an image and a link, it can run your poll.
It goes in like any other image tag. The setup guides show where that is in 13 ESPs.
Building for several clients? Create and update any service through the REST API or the MCP server, on Pro.
The embed code
<!-- One linked image per answer -->
<a href="https://next.alterable.com/polls/vote/POLL_ID/ANSWER_ID?uid=YOUR_SUBSCRIBER_ID_TAG">
<img src="https://next.alterable.com/polls/POLL_ID/answers/ANSWER_ID.png" alt="Gaming chairs" />
</a>
<a href="https://next.alterable.com/polls/vote/POLL_ID/ANSWER_ID_2?uid=…">…</a>Questions about polls
What is the difference between a poll and a survey?
A survey asks for a rating on a scale, like five stars or 1 to 10, and reports an average. A poll asks readers to pick one of two to six named answers, and each answer shows its share of the votes in the email itself.
Which email clients does it work in?
Any of them. A poll is ordinary images and links, with no script, no AMP and no interactive-email fallback to maintain. With images blocked, each answer’s alt text shows as a button that still links to the vote.
Do readers see results that are up to date?
Each answer image is drawn with the current counts when it loads, so an email opened tomorrow shows tomorrow’s split. One exception: Apple Mail’s privacy protection loads images when the email arrives, so Apple Mail readers may see the split as it was at delivery.
Can one person vote more than once?
No. Each subscriber has one vote, and clicking another answer moves it. Add your ESP’s subscriber-ID merge tag to the embed and votes are told apart by subscriber; without it, by browser.
Can a security scanner cast a vote?
Some business mail systems open every link in an email to check it, which would vote for every answer at once. Clicks on several answers within a few seconds are kept aside and not counted, and the results page shows how many. If a real reader changes their mind that quickly, the thank-you page asks them to click once more.
Where does a reader land after voting?
On a thank-you page with the live results, once the poll has enough votes to show them. Or send votes to your own page instead, with your ESP’s merge tags in the link. Give each answer its own link and your ESP can segment people by what they clicked.
Can I change a poll after the email is sent?
Yes. Wording changes show in emails already sent. A removed answer stops taking votes and shows greyed out, and it keeps its votes. To start counting from zero, reset the results.
Which plans include polls?
Every plan, including the free Engage plan. Each open counts as one impression, however many answers the poll has.
Still have questions? Contact us →
Ask your readers in your next email
Two to six answers, one click to vote, and the split right there in the email. Polls are on every plan, including the free Engage plan.
No trial, no time limit, no credit card.