Key concepts
The building blocks of Ombea — understand these and everything else makes sense.
Before you dive into buttons and settings, let's get the mental model right. Ombea is built around a handful of concepts that show up everywhere. Spend two minutes here and you'll save yourself a lot of head-scratching later.
The Hierarchy: Where Feedback Lives
Think of it like a filing cabinet:
Folders are the top-level organizers. They don't collect feedback themselves — they just group things together. Most companies create folders for regions, brands, or divisions.
A folder can contain other folders, so you can nest as deep as you need. Europe → Sweden → Stockholm works just as well as a flat list.
These are the actual places where feedback happens. A Location is a physical spot — a store, an office, a clinic. A Website is a web address where you collect feedback through widgets.
Each one sits inside a folder (or at the root if you prefer a flat structure).
A Touchpoint is a specific feedback channel within a Location or Website. It's the point of contact between your survey and your respondent.
One Location can have multiple Touchpoints — perhaps an ExpressPod at the entrance, a Link URL on the receipt, and a Google Reviews feed.
Streams: What You Ask
A Stream is your feedback setup — the questions, the design, the logic. You create a Stream once and attach it to one or more Touchpoints.
| Stream Type | What it is | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| ExpressPod | Five smiley buttons on a physical device | Quick pulse checks at high-traffic spots |
| ExpressTab | Multi-question survey on a tablet | Detailed feedback with Branching |
| Link | A URL anyone can open | Email surveys, QR codes, SMS |
| Website Widget | Pops up on your website | Visitor feedback without leaving the page |
| Desktop Widget | Pops up on employee computers | Employee pulse surveys |
| Google Reviews | Imports reviews automatically | Monitoring your Google reputation |
| Trustpilot | Imports reviews automatically | Monitoring your Trustpilot reputation |
Blocks: The Questions Inside Streams
Each Stream is made of one or more Blocks. A Block is a single question or element:
- Smiley — the classic five faces (also available as a two-button variant)
- NPS — "How likely are you to recommend us?" (0–10 scale)
- Multiple Choice — pick one option from a list
- Picture Choice — pick one image (a variant of Multiple Choice where every option has a picture)
- Free Text — open-ended comments
- Break — an informational message or page break (no response collected)
You don't need to memorize all this. When you create a Stream, the interface walks you through it. This page is here so you know what people mean when they say "add a Block" in a meeting.
The Dashboard: Where It All Comes Together
The Dashboard is where you see results. Every response from every Touchpoint flows here, automatically organised by your hierarchy.
Two views:
- Overview — the morning briefing. Scores, trends, and comparisons at a glance.
- Details — the deep dive. Filter by time, location, weekday, or hour to find patterns.
See Dashboard for the full tour.
Permissions Work Through the Hierarchy
This is the part most people discover too late: permissions are tied to Locations and Folders, not to Streams. When you give a user access to a Location, they see data from all Streams connected to that Location's Touchpoints.
If you have sensitive Streams that only certain users should see, put their Touchpoints in separate Locations or Folders.
Good to Know
Create one Stream, attach it to one Touchpoint, and explore from there. The best way to learn Ombea is by using it.
ExpressPod data syncs at quarter past every hour. All other Stream types update in near-real-time.
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