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Participant Experience

This page describes Tap from the participant's perspective — the person giving feedback. Participants never create an account or log in. Their entire experience is: receive an email, click a link, have a short AI-guided conversation, done.

For the campaign creator's perspective, see Campaign Lifecycle. For how the AI generates follow-up questions, see How the AI Works.

The Journey at a Glance​

Summary: A participant receives an email invitation with a unique link, clicks through to a chat interface, answers an opening question, has a brief AI-guided conversation with 1-5 follow-up questions, and sees a thank-you screen when finished.

Color key: Blue = Email, Purple = Frontend, Pink = AI, Green = Complete

Step 1: The Invitation Email​

The participant receives an email with the subject line: "[Campaign Name] - Your feedback is needed"

The email includes:

  • A personalized greeting (e.g., "Hi Sarah" — or "Hi there" for anonymous campaigns)
  • The campaign's mission summary, written by the AI to feel warm and inviting
  • An estimated time commitment: "about 3-5 minutes"
  • A large "Share Your Feedback" button
  • A plain-text link as a fallback for email clients that don't render buttons

The email uses a dark gradient design (navy to indigo) with a frosted glass card effect, matching Tap's overall visual style.

Every participant gets their own unique URL:

app.tap.yelin.io/respond/a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-abcd-ef1234567890

The token at the end is a UUID generated when the participant was added to the campaign. This token:

  • Identifies who the participant is without requiring a login
  • Links the participant to a specific campaign
  • Enables the system to track their response status
  • Prevents duplicate submissions (one conversation per token)

Reminders​

If a participant doesn't respond, they receive a reminder email after a configurable interval. The reminder uses an amber color scheme (instead of the original purple) to stand out in the inbox, with a "Complete Survey Now" button.

Step 2: Opening the Chat Interface​

When the participant clicks their link, the frontend loads the chat interface. Behind the scenes, the system:

  1. Validates the token — Looks up the participant by their unique token
  2. Checks the campaign — Confirms the campaign is still active (not paused, completed, or deleted)
  3. Creates or resumes a conversation — If it's the participant's first visit, a new conversation is created and the initial bot message (the campaign's opening question) is inserted. If they've visited before, their existing conversation is loaded
  4. Displays the interface — The chat UI appears with the campaign name, mission context, and the opening question

What the Participant Sees​

The chat interface shows:

  • Campaign name as the page heading
  • "Your feedback helps us improve. This should take about 3-5 minutes." below the heading
  • A progress bar showing question count (e.g., "Question 1 of 4") and percentage complete
  • The opening question displayed as a bot message in the chat area
  • A text input area with the placeholder "Type your response..." and a send button

The interface is designed to feel like a casual conversation, not a formal survey. There's no navigation, no sidebar, no distractions — just the chat.

Error Handling​

If something goes wrong when loading:

  • Invalid token — Shows "Unable to Load Conversation" with "This conversation link is invalid or has expired"
  • Completed campaign — Shows "This campaign has been completed and is no longer accepting responses"
  • Network error — Shows a generic error message

Step 3: The Conversation​

The participant types their response to the opening question and presses Enter (or clicks Send). Here's what happens behind the scenes:

Summary: Each response triggers a chain of events — the message is saved, the AI reads the full conversation history, and it either generates a follow-up question or ends the conversation. The participant experiences this as a natural back-and-forth chat.

How Follow-Up Questions Work​

The AI decides what to ask next based on:

  • The campaign mission — What the campaign is trying to learn
  • The opening question — The initial question the participant answered
  • The full conversation history — Everything said so far, in order
  • The follow-up budget — How many follow-ups have been asked vs. the maximum allowed

The AI is instructed to:

  1. Ask thoughtful questions that dig deeper into the participant's responses
  2. Keep questions open-ended and conversational (1-2 sentences)
  3. Focus on understanding the participant's perspective, feelings, and suggestions
  4. Never repeat questions or revisit topics already covered
  5. Gracefully conclude if the participant has shared everything meaningful

When Does the Conversation End?​

The conversation ends in one of two ways:

  • Hard stop — The maximum number of follow-up questions has been reached. The backend checks this before calling the AI, so it's guaranteed.
  • Soft stop — The AI decides the participant has provided comprehensive feedback and returns a special CONVERSATION_COMPLETE signal. This can happen before the maximum is reached.

In either case, the participant sees a final thank-you message: "Thank you so much for your thoughtful feedback! Your insights are valuable and will help us improve. You can close this window now."

The Progress Bar​

The progress bar updates as the conversation progresses. It shows:

  • The current question number out of the maximum (e.g., "Question 2 of 4")
  • A percentage bar that fills as questions are answered

If the AI ends the conversation early (soft stop), the progress bar may not reach 100% — that's expected. The participant still sees the completion state.

Step 4: Behind the Scenes​

While the participant is chatting, several things happen that they never see:

Per-Response Analysis​

Each participant response is analyzed by the AI for:

  • Sentiment — Positive, neutral, or negative
  • Themes — 3-5 keywords extracted from the response
  • Summary — A brief summary of the main points

This analysis feeds into the campaign-level reports that the creator sees later.

Real-Time Metrics​

After each response:

  • The campaign's response count is updated
  • The completion rate is recalculated
  • The conversation transcript is immediately available to the campaign creator

Completion Email​

When a conversation finishes, the participant receives a thank-you email confirming their feedback was received. The email includes a simple "Thank You!" message with the text: "Thank you for taking the time to share your valuable feedback with us. Your insights will help us make meaningful improvements."

What Participants Never Have To Do​

Tap is designed to remove friction from the feedback process:

  • No account creation — Token-based access means no sign-up, no login, no password
  • No app installation — Everything runs in the browser
  • No navigation — The chat interface is a single focused page
  • No complex forms — Just a text input and a send button
  • No time pressure — Participants can close the tab and return later; their conversation is saved
  • No tracking concerns — Anonymous mode hides participant identity from campaign creators

Returning to a Conversation​

If a participant closes their browser and returns later using the same link:

  • Their existing conversation loads with all previous messages visible
  • They can pick up right where they left off
  • If the conversation was already completed, they see the thank-you state
  • If the campaign was completed or paused in the meantime, they see an appropriate message

The unique token ensures continuity — there's no session to expire and no cookie to lose.