How to send surveys by email from your own domain (SMTP)
A survey email arriving from noreply@generic-platform.com generates less trust than one arriving from surveys@yourcompany.com, and it also has worse deliverability: spam filters are stricter with mass domains shared by thousands of different accounts than with your own domain with good reputation.
What SMTP is and why it matters here
SMTP is the standard protocol for sending email — it's the same thing your regular email client uses (Gmail, Outlook, or your own domain's server). Connecting your SMTP credentials to SurvIQ means your survey emails go out through your own email account, with your domain as the sender, instead of through the platform's generic server.
How to set it up
From Settings, you enter your email provider's host and port, username and password, and the name and address that will show up as the sender. There's built-in help with the exact values for Gmail and Outlook, the two most common providers, plus the option for any custom SMTP server.
The password stays encrypted
The password you enter is encrypted before being stored (AES-256-GCM) and is never exposed in plain text or sent to the browser — SurvIQ only uses it server-side to authenticate sending each email.
Testing the connection before using it
The "Test connection" button verifies the credentials against the real server before saving them, so you don't discover a configuration mistake only when the first real send to your contact list fails.
Gmail and Outlook need an app password
With two-factor authentication turned on (the standard today on both providers), your regular account password won't work for SMTP — you need to generate a specific "app password" from Gmail's or Outlook's security settings, which is what you enter into SurvIQ.
What happens if you don't connect your own SMTP
Survey emails still send fine without setting this up — they just go out with the platform's default sender. Connecting your own SMTP is optional, but worth it when sender trust and open rate matter (large campaigns, external audiences, surveys where it matters that it looks like official communication from your company).