Refiner

What is Refiner

Refiner is a software tool made for collecting feedback from users directly inside a web or mobile application. Its main purpose is to help companies understand their users better by asking them questions at the right moment. This is done through small surveys, often called microsurveys, that appear within the app. These surveys are highly targeted, meaning they can be shown to specific groups of users based on their behavior or characteristics. This helps to get more accurate and useful answers. The company was founded to solve the problem of generic survey tools that are not well-suited for in-app feedback. Refiner focuses on providing a smooth experience for the user and powerful integrations for the business. The company is based in Europe and serves a global customer base of software companies.

Refiner Features

Refiner offers a set of features designed for effective in-app feedback collection.

• Web & Mobile App Surveys: Create surveys that work smoothly inside your website, web application, and native mobile apps (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter).
• Advanced User Targeting: Show surveys only to the right users. You can target based on user properties like subscription plan, language, or user behavior like features they have used or how long they have been a customer.
• Customizable Survey Widgets: Design surveys that look and feel like a part of your application. You can change colors, fonts, and layout to match your brand identity.
• Multiple Question Types: Use different types of questions to gather feedback, including Net Promoter Score (NPS), Customer Satisfaction (CSAT), Customer Effort Score (CES), ratings, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions.
• Powerful Integrations: Connect Refiner with other tools you use. Send survey data to your CRM, analytics platform, or marketing automation tool to take action on the feedback you receive.
• Reporting Dashboard: See all your survey results in one place. The dashboard provides charts and tables to help you understand trends and segment results for deeper insights.
• AI-Powered Analysis: Refiner uses artificial intelligence to automatically tag and categorize open-ended text responses, helping you identify common themes and patterns quickly.
• Email and Link Surveys: In addition to in-app surveys, you can send surveys via email or a shareable link to reach users who are not currently active in your app.

Refiner Pricing Plans

Refiner offers several pricing plans to fit different company sizes and needs. The plans are typically based on the number of Monthly Active Users (MAUs) your application has.

• Essentials Plan: This plan is designed for startups and small businesses. It includes a generous limit on MAUs, access to all core survey features, and standard integrations.
• Growth Plan: Aimed at growing companies, this plan offers a higher MAU limit, advanced features like survey logic branching, A/B testing, and more premium integrations.
• Enterprise Plan: This is for large organizations with specific needs. It includes very high or unlimited MAUs, custom integrations, dedicated support, advanced security features, and service level agreements (SLAs).

Refiner Free Plan

Refiner does not have a permanently free plan. However, they offer a free trial that allows you to test the platform. The trial typically lasts for 14 days and gives you access to all the features of a paid plan. This allows you to fully explore the tool, set up surveys, and see how it works with your application before deciding to purchase a subscription. No credit card is required to start the free trial.

How to use Refiner

Getting started with Refiner is a straightforward process.

1. Sign Up: First, create an account on the Refiner website.
2. Install the Client: You need to add a small piece of code (a JavaScript snippet) to your website or integrate their SDK into your mobile application. This can also be done through tools like Google Tag Manager or Segment.
3. Identify Users: Tell Refiner who the current user is. This is usually done by sending a user ID and other properties (like name, email, or subscription plan) to Refiner.
4. Create a Survey: Go to the Refiner dashboard and build your first survey. You can choose from templates like NPS or CSAT, or create a custom survey from scratch. Customize the questions and the design.
5. Set Targeting Rules: Define who should see the survey. For example, you can target users who have been active for more than 30 days or who have used a specific feature.
6. Launch the Survey: Activate your survey. Refiner will then start showing it to users who match your targeting rules.
7. Analyze Results: As users respond, you can watch the results come in on your Refiner dashboard. You can filter and segment the data to get deeper insights.
8. Act on Feedback: Use integrations to send feedback to other tools. For example, send a notification to Slack for new responses or create a support ticket for unhappy users.

Pros and Cons of Refiner

Pros:

• Specialized for In-App Use: It is built specifically for in-app surveys, making it more effective than generic survey tools.
• Powerful Targeting: The ability to target very specific user segments ensures the feedback is relevant and high-quality.
• Excellent Integrations: It connects well with popular SaaS tools like Segment, HubSpot, and Slack, allowing you to automate workflows.
• Highly Customizable: Surveys can be styled to perfectly match your app's branding, providing a seamless user experience.
• Easy to Use: The interface for creating and managing surveys is intuitive and user-friendly.

Cons:

• Pricing Model: The pricing is based on Monthly Active Users (MAUs), which can be costly for applications with a large user base that does not generate high revenue per user.
• Limited for External Surveys: While it offers link surveys, its main strength is in-app. For complex, long-form external surveys, other tools might be better.
• Can Be Too Advanced for Simple Needs: If you only need a very basic feedback form, Refiner might have more features than you require.

Refiner integrations

Refiner integrates with a wide range of tools to help you create a connected feedback loop. These integrations allow you to sync user data for better targeting and send survey responses to other platforms for analysis and action.

• Segment & Rudderstack: Two-way integrations with customer data platforms to use your existing user data for targeting and to send survey data back.
• Amplitude & Mixpanel: Send survey responses to product analytics tools to analyze feedback alongside user behavior data.
• Customer.io & Userlist: Use survey responses to trigger automated email campaigns or in-app messages.
• HubSpot & Salesforce: Create or update contacts in your CRM with feedback data, giving your sales and support teams more context.
• Zapier & Make: Connect Refiner to thousands of other applications to build custom automation workflows.
• Slack: Receive real-time notifications for new survey responses directly in your Slack channels.

Refiner Alternatives

• Hotjar: A broader user behavior analytics tool that includes on-site surveys and feedback widgets. Hotjar also offers heatmaps and session recordings, while Refiner is more focused and powerful for targeted in-app microsurveys.
• Survicate: A direct competitor that also offers website and in-app surveys. It has a strong set of integrations and features. The main differences may be in the user interface, specific targeting options, and pricing structure.
• Appcues: A user onboarding and adoption platform that includes features for creating in-app surveys, including NPS. Appcues is a larger suite for user engagement, whereas Refiner is a specialist tool for feedback collection.
• Pendo: A comprehensive product experience platform that combines product analytics with in-app user guidance and surveys. Pendo is generally aimed at larger, enterprise-level companies and is a much bigger platform than Refiner.

Refiner API

Yes, Refiner provides a developer API. They offer a REST API and a JavaScript client that allow you to interact with the platform programmatically. This is useful for advanced use cases, such as identifying users, tracking events, or triggering surveys from your own backend code.

You can find your API keys in your Refiner account under the Settings > API Keys section. There are different keys for the JavaScript client (public key) and the server-side API (private key).

Here is a simple example using the JavaScript client to identify a user:

// This code snippet is placed in your web application

_refiner('identifyUser', {
  id: 'USER_ID_123',
  email: 'user@example.com',
  name: 'John Doe',
  plan: 'Premium',
  signed_up_at: 1609459200
});

This code tells Refiner who the current user is, allowing you to target them with surveys based on these attributes.

Refiner Affiliate program

Refiner does not have a publicly advertised affiliate program with set commission rates listed on their website. However, many SaaS companies offer partnership opportunities. If you are interested in promoting Refiner, it is best to contact their support or partnership team directly. You can email them to ask about becoming a partner, an influencer, or joining any referral program they might have for their customers or industry experts.