Activity groups let you bundle two or more activities in a test so they share one schedule and one deadline, and appear to testers as a single set of work.
You can also randomize a group so each tester receives the activities in a different order, or receives only a few of them, which is useful when you want balanced
feedback across several concepts.
Availability: Activity Groups are currently only available to select customers, depending on your plan and use case.
Why use Activity Groups?
Organization and simplicity - Organize surveys so they share one schedule and one deadline setting. This is especially useful for multi-day tests. You can group surveys that happen around the same time (e.g. Week 1 Activities) and allow testers to complete them on their own time during the week.
Give testers insight into the tasks ahead - Testers can see how many activities lay ahead in the group, including the names and estimated aggregate time to complete. They cannot see the details within each individual activities.
A/B tests and Concept Tests - You can define activity groups to randomly distribute the activities inside. For example, you could have three different concept surveys, and you want each tester to get only 1 of them (or if you want them to get all three in a random order).
Distribute Test Cases Evenly - For large QA test scripts, you can use Activity Groups to evenly distribute test scripts across testers. If your entire test script takes 4 hours, split it into manageable chunks, and assign one test script to each tester randomly.
Creating Activity Groups & Customizing Settings
How to create an activity group
Open your test and go to the activity list in the left menu. Depending on your test type this is called Activities, Test Process, or Surveys
Find the activity you want to start the group with and open the ellipsis menu at the end of its row.
Select Create group from this survey
The group appears in the list with that activity inside it. The group takes over the activity's existing distribution and due date settings.
To rename the group, click the group name in the group header, type a new name, and click Update. New groups are named "Activity group" until you rename them.
A group needs at least two activities before it will distribute anything. Until you add a second one, the group shows the message "Add at least one more activity, this group won't distribute yet".
How to add or remove activities
To add an activity, drag its row from the list into the group.
To remove an activity, drag it back out of the group, or open the ellipsis menu on the member row and select Remove from group.
To reorder activities inside a group, drag the member rows up or down.
When an activity joins a group it adopts the group's distribution and due date settings, and its Schedule column changes to From group. Removing the second to last activity dissolves the group instead of leaving it with one member, and you will be asked to confirm.
How to set when the group starts
In the group header row, click the edit icon on the distribution setting.
In the Update Distribution Settings dialog, choose when the group should start. The options are the same ones you use for individual activities, such as at the start of the test, a set time after the tester starts, or after the tester submits another activity or group.
Click Save.
Every activity in the group follows this one setting, so you no longer schedule the members separately.
How to set the group deadline and expected time
In the group header row, click the edit icon on the deadline setting.
In the Update Deadline dialog, set either a duration or a specific due date. You cannot use both
A duration is counted from the moment a tester receives their first activity in the group, and all activities in the group share that deadline.
Optionally set Expected time, which testers see as roughly how long all the activities in the group should take in total.
Click Save.
If you extend a group deadline later, testers who have not submitted yet get the new date, and their reminder emails restart from the new schedule.
How to give one activity its own settings (don't follow the group settings)
In a group that is not randomized, you can still give a single activity its own schedule or deadline.
Click the edit icon on that member's distribution or deadline setting.
A banner tells you the activity is part of the group and uses the group's setting by default. Any change you make here applies to that activity only.
To go back to the shared setting later, open the same dialog and click Revert to group setting.
Randomized groups do not allow this. Opening a member's settings there shows "Distribution for this activity is managed by its group" with a link to Open group settings.
How to randomize a group
Open the group's Update Distribution Settings dialog.
Select Randomize the distribution order of activities in this group.
Choose an order. Balanced is recommended and rotates the order so every activity appears in every position evenly across your testers. Randomized gives each tester a fully random order.
Under How many activities each tester gets, choose All or a smaller number if you want each tester to receive only a subset.
Click Save.
In a randomized group, each activity is distributed immediately after the tester submits the previous one, so testers work through their set one at a time.
How to preview, publish, and dissolve an Activity Group
To see the group the way a tester will, open the group ellipsis menu and select Preview as tester.
The group header shows how many members are live, for example "2 of 3 live". Use Publish all to publish the remaining drafts.
To break the group up, open the group ellipsis menu, select Dissolve group, then confirm with Dissolve
When you dissolve a group, each activity keeps the group's distribution and due date settings as its own individual settings, and responses that testers have already submitted are not affected.
What testers see
Testers see the group as one block on their activities list, with the group name, the number of activities, a line such as "Complete all 3 by the due date", and the expected time if you set one.
Activities they have not unlocked yet appear as Upcoming, or Unlocking shortly when the next one is about to be released. In a randomized group the names of activities they have not unlocked are hidden.
While taking an activity in a group, testers see a progress bar showing where they are in the set. After submitting, they get a screen showing how many of the group's activities they have completed, with Next activity and Back to Activities buttons.
Testers get one welcome email when they receive their first activity in the group, due date reminders based on the group deadline, and a nudge if an activity sits unstarted for about 18 hours. These replace the per activity emails they would otherwise get for each member.
Things to know
A group needs at least two activities to distribute, and only regular activities from the same test can be grouped.
Shipment tracking cannot join a group. We recommend putting Shipment Tracking before an activity group, so that after a tester receives the shipment, they can get started on the Unboxing and Setup tasks (as an example).
Randomization and the number of activities each tester gets are locked as soon as any tester has received an activity from the group, because changing them mid test would unbalance your results.
In a randomized group, you also cannot add, remove, or reorder activities once testers have started. The order shown in your list is not meaningful for a randomized group, since each tester has their own order.
A group that is not randomized distributes all of its published activities at once, and testers can complete them in any order.
A randomized group will not start distributing to anyone until every activity in it is published. The group shows an amber warning while any member is still a draft.
If you add an already published activity to a group during a live test, testers who are already in that group receive it without a separate distribution email, because the group's welcome email already covers the group.
If you group an activity that already has responses, those responses are kept and the testers who have them keep access. Avoid turning on randomization for activities that already collected responses, since the balancing and the "how many each tester gets" limit only account for activities distributed through the group.
Testers who have already finished the test are not added to a group you create later. Their existing responses are unaffected.
Duplicating an activity inside a group adds the copy to the same group as a draft. In a randomized group, the copy does not join the group.
Another activity elsewhere in your test can be scheduled to start after a tester submits every activity in a group.
Activity groups must be enabled for your account. If you do not see Create group from this survey, contact your account manager.