How to Purchase Roast

Before you get started, you’ll need to purchase a Roast plan. While they differ in the number of projects, surveys, and participants allowed, all four subscriptions—Educational, Basic, Advanced, and Enterprise—let you to create and administer surveys, collect responses, and visualize your data. Visit our Pricing page to compare our subscriptions and see which one is right for you. Once you’ve chosen a subscription, follow the instructions below to purchase Roast.

1. Visit our Contact Us page.
2. Enter your name, company (if applicable), and email address. (Note: Roast will respond to your inquiry at the email address you provide. We respect your privacy and will never sell your information to a third party.)
3. Click the dropdown menu and select I would like to purchase Roast.
4. In the message box, enter the subscription you’d like to purchase.
5. Click Submit

Following your inquiry, a Roast team member will reach out to schedule payment via invoice. Please allow 1-2 business days for a response.

How to Register

Owners and invited administrators and participants will receive a Roast registration email. To complete your registration, follow the instructions below. (Note: Your registration email may be sent to your spam folder. Please add roastsurvey.com to your list of safe senders to ensure delivery.)

1. Enter your first and last name.
2. Create a password.
3. Confirm your password.
4. Click the checkbox to indicate you have read and agreed to Roast’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
5. Click Join

Navigating Roast

Roast’s intuitive interface makes it easy for anyone to survey how occupants are experiencing a room or building, large or small. Just in case, we’ve included some definitions to help you get started and learn how to navigate the app.

There are three types of Roast users.

• Participants can take surveys and see limited survey results. A survey must have at least one assigned participant before it can be sent. The maximum number of participants allowed per project varies based on your subscription. Visit our Pricing page to learn more
• Administrators can create, edit, and share surveys and have unlimited access to survey results.
• Owners have purchased a Roast subscription. They can create, edit, and share projects and surveys, assign administrators, and have unlimited access to survey results. (Note: Each project only has one owner. Owners can’t be removed from a project.)

The app itself is structured around projects and surveys.

• Surveys are tied to individual spaces (e.g. Smith Hall, 12th Floor).
• Projects are used to group different surveys (e.g. North Campus, Rockefeller Center).

Each survey is made up of Questions, Floorplans, Users, Schedule, and Results.

• Questions are pre-populated and have been influenced by ASHRAE 55 and other industry standards. Each survey must have at least one question before it can be published. Once you’ve published a survey, you can no longer edit its questions. Click here to learn how to add questions to a survey.
• Floorplans are DXF, JPG, SVG, or PNG files of your space’s layout that allow you to generate spatially explicit data. Each survey must have at least one floorplan before it can be published. Once you’ve published a survey, you can no longer edit its floorplans. Click here to learn how to add floorplans to a survey or project.
• Users are participants or administrators assigned to a specific survey. Each survey must have at least one user before it can be published. You can add or remove users at any time, even after you’ve published a survey. Click here to learn how to add users to a survey or project.
• Schedule lets you automate your surveys. You can choose to either send a survey manually, or schedule surveys to go out on specific days and at specific times (e.g. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM). You can edit your schedule at any time, even after you’ve published a survey. Click here to learn how to schedule a survey.
• Results are what your participants will see after they have taken their survey. You can edit your results permissions at any time, even after you’ve published a survey. Click here to learn how to add results permissions to your survey.

Each project is made up of Surveys, Users, Floorplans.

• Surveys are tied to individual spaces.
• Users are participants or administrators assigned to a project. Project users can be shared between all the surveys in that project. Click here to learn how to add users to a survey or project.
• Floorplans are DXF, JPG, SVG, or PNG files of your space’s layout that allow you to generate spatially explicit data. Project floorplans can be shared between all the surveys in that project. Click here to learn how to add floorplans to a survey or project.

Surveys can be either Drafts or Published.

Draft Surveys are surveys that are either incomplete or are not ready to be sent yet. Saving a survey as a draft means you can return to it at any time and continue editing.

Published Surveys are complete surveys that will either be shared as scheduled or are ready to be sent manually. Publishing a survey means you will no longer be able to edit questions or floorplans. Click here to learn how to send, schedule, and pause a survey.

Create a Project

To create a project without creating a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the dashboard, click the Projects dropdown in the top left corner of the window.
2. Click Create New Project from the dropdown.
3. Enter a project name (e.g. Rockefeller Plaza or West Campus), city, and your building area. (Note: Entering the building area is optional. You can add or edit the building area later.)
4. Click Save.

Create a Survey

If you’d like to add a survey to an existing project, follow the instructions below.

1. From the dashboard, click the Projects dropdown in the top left corner of the window.
2. Select the project you want to add a survey to from the Projects dropdown.
3. From the project dashboard, click Create a Survey.
4. Enter a name for your survey (e.g. Summer Survey, Second Floor, or Morning Cleanliness).
5. Click Save.

Create a Survey and Project

To create a new survey and project at the same time, follow the instructions below.

1. From the dashboard, click the Select or Create a Project dropdown.
2. Click Create New Project from the dropdown.
3. Enter a project name (e.g. Rockefeller Plaza or West Campus), city, and your floorplan’s area. (Note: Entering the floorplan area is optional. You can add or edit the floorplan area later.)
4. Enter a name for your survey (e.g. Summer Survey, Second Floor, or Morning Cleanliness).
5. Click Create Survey.

Edit a Survey

To edit a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the dashboard, click the Projects dropdown in the top left corner of the window.
2. Select the project containing the survey you want to edit from the Projects dropdown.
3. From the project dashboard, click the ellipsis next to your survey.
4. Click Edit survey. (Note: You will not be able to edit questions or floorplans after a survey is published or distributed due to survey methodology standards. Click here to learn more about best survey practices.)

Add Questions to a Survey

To add questions to your survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the survey edit view, click the Questions tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to the questions you’d like to add to your survey. You can preview the questions you’ve selected in the right pane.
3. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes will be saved automatically.

Add Factors to a Survey

Certain questions have an optional prompt called Factors contributing to discomfort that asks dissatisfied participants the source of their discomfort. To add these factors to your survey, follow the instructions below. (Note: You can only select six factors per question.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Questions tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to the questions you’d like to add to your survey. You can preview the questions you’ve selected in the right pane.
3. Click the checkbox next to Factors contributing to discomfort. (Note: Not all questions include this option).
4. Click the checkbox next to the factors you’d like to add to your survey. You can preview the factors you’ve selected in the right pane.
5. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes will be saved automatically.

Create and Add Custom Factors to a Survey

1. From the survey edit view, click the Questions tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to the questions you’d like to add to your survey. You can preview the questions you’ve selected in the right pane.
3. Click the checkbox next to Factors contributing to discomfort. (Note: Not all questions include this option.)
4. Enter a custom factor in the field.
5. Click the plus sign. Your custom factor will be automatically added to the survey. You can preview the factors you’ve created and selected in the right pane.
6. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes will be saved automatically.

Add a Floorplan to a Survey

To add a new survey floorplan, follow the instructions below. (Note: New floorplans added to a survey will automatically be added to the project that survey is assigned to.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Floorplans tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click Add New Floorplan.
3. Click Next.
4. Drag and drop your floorplan file, or click Upload Floorplan.
5. If you clicked Upload Floorplan, select a file and click Open.
6. Select a line style and click Next.
7. Crop your floorplan as necessary and click Next.
8. Name your floorplan and click Save. (Note: Participants will see your floorplan name when they select their location.)
9. Click the checkbox next to the floorplan to add it to the survey. You can preview the floorplan you’ve selected in the right pane.
10. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes have been automatically saved.

Add a Floorplan to a Project

To add a new project floorplan, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the Floorplans tab.
2. Click Add a Floorplan.
3. Click Next.
4. Drag and drop your floorplan file, or click Upload Floorplan.
5. If you clicked Upload Floorplan, select a file and click Open.
6. Select a line style and click Next.
7. Crop your floorplan as necessary and click Next.
8. Name your floorplan and click Save. (Note: Participants will see your floorplan name when they select their location.)

Project floorplans will appear in alphabetical order the Floorplans tab in survey edit view but are not automatically assigned to a survey. To add a project floorplan to a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the survey edit view, click the Floorplans tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to the floorplan to add it to the survey. You can preview the floorplan you’ve selected in the right pane.
3. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes have been automatically saved.

Add Zones to a Floorplan

Floorplans let you generate spatially explicit data that can help identify correlations between comfort, location, and the time of day. Roast floorplans can be DXF, JPG, SVG, or PNG files, but each survey must have at least one floorplan before it can be published and once you’ve published a survey, you can no longer edit its floorplans. Click here to learn how to add a floorplan to a survey or project.

Before adding your floorplan, it’s important to know how you want to view your results.

Points show the location of each individual participant, as well as how they answered a given question. This is the default and only option for JPG, SVG, or PNG floorplan files, and the default option for DXF floorplan files without zones.

Zones let you define specific areas in which your survey responses will be grouped. This option can help spatially organize survey results but is only an option for specifically formatted DXF floorplan files.

To add zones to your floorplan, follow the instructions below.

1. Open your DXF floorplan file in your CAD software of choice (e.g. AutoCAD, Revit, Rhino, Illustrator).
2. Define the usable space in your floorplan by drawing zones on a new layer. Your floorplan should now have at least two layers, one of which defines your zones. (Note: Depending on your CAD software, zones might be called area boundaries, closed polylines, closed paths, or rooms.)
3. Divide your space via zones as broadly or specifically as you wish (e.g. East Wing, Conference Room A, or Desk 1).
4. Rename your zones layer so that it includes one of the following abbreviations:
   • -BNDY (e.g. A-AREA-BNDY)
   • -BRDY (e.g. A-AREA-BRDY)
   • -ZONE (e.g. A-ZONE)
5. If your floorplan already has a layer of closed polylines representing rooms, rename it A-AREA-BNDY.
6. Save your floorplan and export it as a DXF file. For full instructions on how to export your floorplan as a DXF file, visit one of the external links below:
   • Export a DXF file from Revit
   • Export a DXF file from AutoCAD
   • Export a DXF file from Rhino
   • Export a DXF file from Illustrator

Add Users to a Survey

To add an individual user, follow the instructions below. (Note: New users added to a survey will automatically be added to the project that survey is assigned to.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Users tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click Add New User.
3. Enter the user’s email.
4. Select the user’s role.
5. Click Save.

To add multiple users with a CSV or TXT file, follow the instructions below. (Note: All users will be added as participants. Click here to learn how to edit user roles.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Users tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click Add New User.
3. Click the Multiple tab in the top right corner of the window.
4. Click Browse.
5. Select a CSV or TXT file containing user emails separated by a comma or a semicolon.
6. Click Open.
7. Click Save.

To add multiple users using only user emails, follow the instructions below. (Note: All users will be added as participants. Click here to learn how to edit user roles.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Users tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click Add New User.
3. Click the Multiple tab in the top right corner of the window.
4. Enter user emails separated by a comma or semicolon.
5. Click Save.

Add Users to a Project

To add an individual user, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the Users tab.
2. Click Add a User.
3. Enter the user’s email.
4. Select the user’s role.
5. Click Save.

To add multiple users with a CSV or TXT file, follow the instructions below. (Note: All users will be added as participants. Read on to learn how to edit user roles.)

1. From the project dashboard, click the Users tab.
2. Click Add a User.
3. Click the Multiple tab in the top right corner of the window.
4. Click Browse.
5. Select a CSV or TXT file containing project user emails separated by a comma or a semicolon.
6. Click Open.
7. Click Save.

To add multiple users using only user emails, follow the instructions below. (Note: All users will be added as participants. Read on to learn how to edit user roles.)

1. From the project dashboard, click the Users tab.
2. Click Add a User.
3. Click the Multiple tab in the top right corner of the window.
4. Enter user emails separated by a comma or semicolon.
5. Click Save.

Project users will appear in the Users tab in survey edit view but are not automatically assigned to a survey. To add a user to a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the survey edit view, click the Users tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to the user you wish to add to the survey. You can preview the users you’ve selected in the right pane.
3. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes have been automatically saved.

Edit User Roles

User roles are assigned when a new user is added. To determine a user’s role, follow the instructions below.

1. From the dashboard, click the Projects dropdown in the top left corner of the window.
2. Select a project from the Projects dropdown.
3. From the project dashboard, click the Users tab.
4. A user’s role will be listed under the Role column to the right.

To edit a user’s role, follow the instructions below.

1. Click the ellipsis to the left of the user’s name.
2. Click Edit role.
3. Select a role from the options listed.
4. Click Save.

Customize Roast Emails

Administrators added to a project will immediately receive an invitation to register (in the case of new users) or an invitation to join the project (in the case of existing users) via email.

Participants added to a project will not receive an invitation to register (in the case of new users) or an invitation to join (in the case of existing users) until they have been added to a survey and the survey has been sent out.

Roast currently does not allow owners or administrators to customize the text in the registration, invitation, and notification emails. However, Roast administrators can include their own email address in these emails. To add an email address to a survey’s correspondence, follow the instructions below. (Note: Only the email address of the administrator who created the survey can be included in the emails for that survey.)

1. From the survey edit view, click the Users tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Click the checkbox next to Allow participants to contact administrator.
3. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes have been automatically saved.

Send a Survey Manually

To send a survey manually, follow the instructions below.

1. From the survey edit view, click the Schedule tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Select Skip this step, I will choose when to send my survey manually.
3. Click Next to continue.
4. Once your survey is complete, click Finish or Exit to return to the project dashboard.
5. Select Publish and send survey later and then click OK. Your changes will be saved automatically.
6. From the project dashboard, click the ellipsis next to your survey.
7. Click Send survey now. (Note: If you do not see the Send survey now option, it’s because your survey does not have any users yet. Click here to learn how to add users to a survey.)
8. Click Send.

Schedule a Survey

To schedule a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the survey edit view, click the Schedule tab. (Note: Click here to learn how to edit a survey.)
2. Select Send my survey according to a schedule.
3. Select a start date.
4. Select an end date. (Note: Scheduled surveys must have an end date to meet survey methodology standards. Click here to learn more about best survey practices.)
5. Select how frequently your survey will be sent out. (Note: Scheduled surveys must be sent at least once every 3 weeks to meet survey methodology standards. Click here to learn more about best survey practices.)
6. Click the checkbox next to the days you would like your survey to be sent out.
7. Select a timing option.

If you select Send my survey at regular intervals, follow the instructions below.

1. Select the intervals at which you would like your survey to be sent. (Note: Scheduled surveys can’t be sent more often than once every 10 minutes to meet survey methodology standards. Click here to learn more about best survey practices.)
2. Select a start time.
3. Select an end time.
4. Review your scheduled surveys in the preview pane to the right.
5. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes will be saved automatically.

If you select Send my survey at specific times, follow the instructions below.

1. Select a time. The time will automatically be added once you’ve filled out the last field.
2. Repeat as desired.
3. Review your scheduled surveys in the right pane.
4. Click Next to continue, or click Exit to return to the project dashboard. Your changes will be saved automatically.

Pause or Resume a Survey

Once you’ve scheduled a survey, you always have the option to pause it. Paused surveys will not be sent as scheduled until they have been resumed.

To pause a survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the ellipses next to your survey.
2. Click Pause survey.
3. Click Pause.

Paused surveys can be resumed at any time. To resume a paused survey, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the ellipses next to your survey.
2. Click Resume survey.
3. Click Resume.

View Results

To view survey results, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the ellipses next to your survey.
2. Click View results.
3. Use the dropdown menu to view responses to each survey question.
4. Click the underlined date fields to select a range for the results you’d like to see.
5. If you have more than one floorplan, click the floorplan tabs to view responses mapped on each.
6. Hover over different responses on the chart to see the percentage of participants who selected that response.

Download Results

To download your results in an CSV or SVG file, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the ellipses next to your survey.
2. Click View results.
3. Click Download.
4. Select a download option.

How to Identify Participants

For the sake of confidentiality, survey participants’ names and emails are replaced with a numerical user ID in downloaded Roast results. If you’d like to match participants’ names and emails with their responses, follow the instructions below.

1. From the project dashboard, click the ellipses next to your survey.
2. Click View results.
3. Click Download.
4. Select Full results (CSV).
5. Open and save the downloaded file.
6. Return to Roast and click Download.
7. Click Results key (CSV).
8. Open and save the downloaded file. You can now compare the downloaded results with the results key to determine each participant’s identity.

Frequency and Duration

How long and how often you should send a survey depends on the questions you’re asking, the rate at which conditions are changing, and how many survey responses you’re trying to collect. For example, if you’re trying to determine comfort levels in a crowded conference room before it becomes too hot and stuffy, a survey sent in hour-long intervals may be appropriate. By contrast, if you want to establish a benchmark for the acceptable setpoint of a new cooling system, a once daily survey during the summer months can be sufficient.

Survey frequency and duration can induce fatigue and attrition among your participants. If a survey is issued for too long or too frequently, response rates may fall. Your Roast Results page can help you keep an eye on your response rate—if the response rate begins to decline quickly or fall off over a longer period, it may be time to discontinue or pause the survey.

Participation Rates

To ensure survey data is appropriately actionable, administrators should establish a threshold for an acceptable response rate. The recommended threshold is a sliding scale based on population size and should also account for potential sampling error. In general, the smaller your sample size, the higher your response threshold should be. The table below gives ASHRAE 55-2013’s recommendations for the minimum responses required for various sample sizes:

Incentivizing Responses

Roast administrators frequently ask how to increase response rates. While incentivized responses are not required for survey administration, they can be effective in increasing response rates.

Response rates can be boosted in a number of ways. Monetary incentives like gift cards, extra time off, entries into a raffle, or other kinds of rewards issued to either the participant with the highest response rate or all participants meeting a certain response rate threshold are particularly effective in increasing individual participation, whereas parties and communal prizes can help incentivize an entire population.

While effective, material incentives are not strictly necessary if participants understand that the survey will improve their space. Framing a survey as a way to ask for help and acknowledging responses with periodic thanks can greatly increase response rates, as can allowing participants to view their result at the end of the survey so they can track their own data.

Custom Factors

Roast’s additional factors help administrators dig into factors that contribute to occupant comfort such as access to a fan, glare from a curtain-less window, or a truck idling next to an open door. Administrators can also create their own custom factors to ask more specific, targeted questions about their individual space. For example, a Roast beta tester administering surveys in an open office used a custom factor to determine how staff felt about a new white noise machine.

LEED and WELL Credits

Roast was designed to conduct short-term, long-term, and one-time surveys. This flexibility means that Roast is nimble enough to meet a variety of green building certification systems’ requirements, including LEED and WELL Building Standards.

Roast can be used to meet six different LEED provisions, the most notable of which is LEED v4’s Innovation in Design credit called Occupant Survey. This credit requires design teams to issue at least one survey to collect feedback on acoustics, cleanliness, indoor air quality, lighting, and thermal comfort. The credit also mandates a plan for corrective action if more than 20% of occupants are dissatisfied. Roast features questions that cover all of LEED’s required topics and more, and also includes questions that isolate issues affecting occupant comfort. Additionally, Roast gives you all the data you need to calculate the percentage of dissatisfied participants.

Similar to LEED, the WELL Building Standard’s Feature 86 requires a building-wide survey at least once per year that collects feedback on acoustics, thermal comfort, humidity, air flow, light, odors, cleanliness and maintenance, and building furnishings and layout. This survey must be completed by at least 30% of the building’s occupants, and must also include aggregated results and reports. While Roast does not yet include questions on building furnishings and layout, it meets all other Feature 86 requirements and produces aggregated results and reports that can be downloaded and shared.