Overview
The Self-Reported data source in Contact Journey lets you ask buyers directly how they found you. Its Survey Builder creates a short post-purchase survey, "How did you hear about us?" by default, that you style to match your brand and install on your thank-you or post-checkout page. Answers are tied to Sona's marketing channels, so you can see the word of mouth, podcasts, and AI answers that tracking data alone misses, and compare what buyers say with what your attribution reports show.
When to use self-reported attribution
To capture channels that do not leave a tracking trail, such as word of mouth, events, or AI answers.
To check your tracked attribution against what buyers say drove them.
To collect "How did you hear about us?" answers without a separate survey tool.
Prerequisites:
Access to Workspace Settings in Sona.
The ability to add a code snippet to your website's post-checkout or thank-you page.
Marketing channels set up in Path to Conversion, since the answer options come from them.
Getting to the Survey Builder
In the left sidebar, click Workspace Settings. If the sidebar is collapsed to icons, click the toggle at the top of the sidebar to expand it, or hover over an icon to see its label.
Click General. The settings page opens on Contact Journey.
Under Data Source, click Self-Reported.
The builder settings sit on the left, and a live preview of your survey sits on the right. The preview updates as you make changes. Click Preview Desktop Layout under it to see the full desktop view, or Reset All Styling to go back to the default look.
Note: the separate Survey data source is for bringing in responses from an existing survey tool or report. See Contact Journey: Survey Setup. Use Self-Reported when you want Sona to host the survey for you.
Step 1: set the audience
Under 1. Set Audience, choose who sees the survey in Who sees this question?:
New: only first-time users or leads.
Returning: only returning visitors.
Both: everyone who reaches the page.
Step 2: build your question
Under 2. Build Your Question, set what buyers see:
Question Text: the question shown in the widget. The default is How did you hear about us?
Pre-populated Options: the answer choices, taken from your existing marketing channels, such as LLM / ChatGPT or Organic Social / LinkedIn. Channels that are not shown appear grayed out. Click the show icon on a channel to add it to the survey, and drag rows to change their order.
Randomize Order: shuffles the answer order for every visitor, which stops the first options from getting picked more often just because they come first.
+ Create New Channel: adds an answer that is not in your channel list yet.
Include "Other (please specify)": adds a free-text option for answers you did not list.
Include "None of the above": adds an opt-out answer.
Step 3: style your widget
Under 3. Style Your Widget, match the survey to your brand:
Preview: switch the preview between Website and Mobile.
Widget Size: how wide the survey appears: Small, Medium, or Large. On phones, Large looks like Medium.
Font Size: how large the text appears. The default depends on the widget size you picked.
Colors: set the Question color, Answer color, Button color, Button text color, and Card background. Paste your brand's hex color code for an exact match. Colors apply to both website and phone.
Border Radius: the corner shape of the survey card: Sharp, Rounded, or Pill.
Step 4: choose the pages and install
Under 4. Pages, control where the survey appears with Show widget on:
All Pages: the survey can appear on any page where the code is installed.
Specific Pages: choose Include to show the survey only on the pages you list, or Exclude to hide it on them. Type a path such as /pricing, or use a wildcard such as /blog/*, and click + Add Page. Use the edit and remove icons to change the list.
Then install it under 5. Install:
Click Copy Code.
Add the snippet exactly as shown to your post-checkout or thank-you page.
Back in the builder, turn on Enable Survey at the top of the settings.
Click Save in the bar at the bottom of the page.
Note: nothing goes live until you turn on Enable Survey and click Save.
Viewing responses
Click View Responses next to 2. Build Your Question to open How your customers answered. Each row shows:
Visitor ID: the Sona visitor who answered.
Email: the visitor's email, when Sona knows it.
Response: the question and the answer they chose.
Use Previous and Next to page through the results.
Key concepts and best practices
Keep the list short: show the channels buyers realistically use. A long list slows people down and spreads answers thin.
Leave Randomize Order on: it removes the bias toward options at the top of the list.
Include an "Other" option: free-text answers show you channels you had not thought to list, which you can then add with + Create New Channel.
Ask at the right moment: install the survey on your thank-you or post-checkout page, when the buying decision is fresh.
Compare with tracked data: read self-reported answers next to your attribution reports. Gaps between the two often point to dark social, word of mouth, or AI influence.
FAQs
What is the difference between Self-Reported and Survey?
What is the difference between Self-Reported and Survey?
Self-Reported builds and hosts a survey for you: you design it in Sona and install a snippet on your site. Survey brings in responses you already collect in another tool or report and maps them to the contact journey.
Why isn't my survey showing on my site?
Why isn't my survey showing on my site?
Check that Enable Survey is on and that you clicked Save. Then confirm the snippet is on the page, the page matches your Pages settings, and the visitor matches your audience choice. For example, with New selected, returning visitors will not see it.
Where do the answer options come from?
Where do the answer options come from?
They come from your existing marketing channels, so answers line up with the channels in your attribution reports. If you need an answer that is not in the list, click + Create New Channel.
Why does the preview show the question but no answers?
Why does the preview show the question but no answers?
No channels have been added to the survey yet. Click the show icon on the channels you want in Pre-populated Options, and they appear in the preview.
Why is the Email column blank for some responses?
Why is the Email column blank for some responses?
Sona can only show an email for visitors it has identified. Anonymous visitors still appear with their Visitor ID and answer.