In this article
A channel is one-way by design. A poll is the exception: the one thing you can post that every subscriber can act on without leaving the channel, without joining anything, and without writing a word.
For most channels it is the only interaction they will ever get, which makes the question you ask worth more thought than the feature needs.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Post a poll or a quiz to a channel and read the result honestly.
- check_circle Ask something a passive audience will actually answer.
- check_circle Use forwarding to gather votes from more than one place.
- check_circle Close a poll properly and do something with what it told you.
The count updates live for everyone holding the post, including in every chat it has been forwarded into.
campaign The only button a subscriber has
Reactions aside, a channel post offers a reader nothing to do. A poll changes that: one tap, no account setup, no comment to compose, no exposure. The barrier is as low as it can be, which is why polls get responses from people who would never write anything.
That also sets the standard for the question. Somebody scrolling past will answer if the question can be understood and answered in about two seconds, and will not otherwise. Anything requiring them to think about wording, or to have read a previous post, loses most of the audience.
What to ask an audience that never replies
Two kinds of question produce something you can act on. Two produce a number that feels like information and is not.
checklist Worth asking
block Produces nothing
Ask what you would otherwise have to decide alone: a real choice, three or four options, anonymous.
settings Posting and closing one
- Open the poll composer The paperclip in the channel, then Poll.
- Set the switches before sending Anonymity, multiple answers and quiz mode are permanent once posted.
- Say why you are asking One line above or below. Response rates change noticeably when people know what the answer feeds into.
- Pin it A poll that scrolls away in an active channel reaches the people who were online that hour and nobody else.
- Stop it when you have enough The menu on the message freezes the result and shows it as final.
- Post what you did about it The single most effective thing for the next poll's turnout.
This page is the one interactive thing a channel can post. The curriculum step is the wider question of an audience's attention: how often to post, what makes people mute a channel, and how retention is earned rather than measured.
At a glance
- 1Ask what readers answer
Quick questions with clear choices get votes.
- 2Gather votes
Forward the poll to other chats to collect more.
- 3Follow up
Post what you did with the result.
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