Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Installation
  3. Quick Start
  4. Statistics
  5. Maintenance
  6. Options
  7. Post Sidebar Section
  8. Shortcode
  9. FAQ
  10. Credits

Introduction

The Helpful plugin lets you easily add a “Was it helpful?” survey on your WordPress posts. With this quick pool, you can collect feedback and understand how well the specific articles resonate with your audience.

Installation

Please use the installation guide for installation and update instructions. The information available in this document applies to all our WordPress plugins.

Quick Start

  1. Install and activate the plugin.
  2. The plugin, by default, adds a feedback form at the end of the articles of type “Post” and “Page”. Visit an article to submit a test feedback.
  3. Browse the feedback statistics by visiting the Helpful -> Statistics menu and then clicking on the Generate button located in the Feedback Data section.
  4. Use the plugin options in the Helpful -> Options menu to configure the plugin behavior and style based on your specific needs.

Statistics

The statistics menu provides you with statistics about the feedback received by the posts. Each entry will include the following information:

  • Post Title: The title of the post.
  • Post Type: The name of the post type.
  • Publishing Data: The post, page, or custom post type publishing date.
  • PFR: The calculated positive feedback ratio of the post. Use this indicator to understand how well the article resonates with the audience.

Export CSV data of a single post

You can export the feedback data of a single post by clicking on the Download icon located in the last column of the data table.

Export CSV data of all the posts

The plugin allows you to export the feedback data of all the analyzed posts by clicking the Download button in the Export CSV section available on the right side of the screen.

Display the feedback of a single post

You can display the feedback data of a single post by clicking on the External icon in the last data table column.

Filter & Sort the statistics

This section allows you to filter and sort the generated statistics. Use this feature, for example, to display only articles with a low PFR, to sort the articles by their publishing date, or to change the sorting order.

Refresh the statistics

You can manually refresh the statistics by clicking on the Generate button available in the Feedback Data section.

Maintenance

This menu allows you to perform maintenance operations. The following tasks are available:

  • Delete Feedback Data: This task deletes all the feedback data stored by the plugin.
  • Reset Plugin Options: This task reverts all the plugin options to their initial status.

Options

The Helpful -> Options menu includes 92 options that you can use to customize aspects like:

  • The layout, content, and style of the feedback form.
  • Customization of the analysis performed by the plugin on the received feedback.
  • Customization of the capabilities required to access the plugin menus.
  • Technical functionalities of the plugin

For more information about a single option, hover the mouse over the question mark on the right side of the option. The plugin will display a tooltip with additional information.

Post Sidebar Section

The plugin adds a new section named “Helpful” in the sidebar of the block editor.

To access this section, proceed as follows:

  1. Edit a post, page, or custom post type.
  2. Open the editor sidebar with the cog icons available in the top-right area of the screen.
  3. Select the Post tab of the sidebar.
  4. Open the Helpful section by clicking on its header.

This section includes two elements:

  • A selector that allows you to enable or disable the feedback form on the post.
  • The number of positive and negative feedback received by the post.

Shortcode

To include the feedback form in a custom article position, you can add the [helpful] shortcode.

FAQ

How to apply the feedback form on custom post types?

To apply the feedback form on custom post types, proceed as follows:

  1. Visit the Advanced tab in the Helpful -> Options menu
  2. Add the post types with the Post Types selector
  3. Click Save Changes

To analyze and list the feedback data of custom post types in the Helpful -> Statistics menu, proceed as follows:

  1. Visit the Analysis tab in the Helpful -> Options menu
  2. Add the post types with the Post Types selector
  3. Click Save Changes

How to read the exported CSV data?

You can read the CSV data generated with this plugin in your favorite spreadsheet software by selecting the following options:

  • Character Set -> Unicode (UTF-8)
  • Text Delimiter -> Double Quotes
  • Separator -> Comma

How to prevent multiple form submissions from the same user?

The plugin can optionally prevent multiple form submissions from the same user using cookies and the user’s IP address.

You can configure this behavior with the following options:

  • Helpful -> Options -> Advanced -> Unique Submission
  • Helpful -> Options -> Advanced -> Cookie Expiration

How to disable the request for a feedback comment?

With the Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Comment Form option, you can request a feedback comment in the following situations:

  • Always (default)
  • After Positive Rating
  • After Negative Rating
  • Never

How to change the style of the rating buttons?

You can customize the button used to select a positive or negative rating with the following options:

  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Rating Button Type
  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Show Rating Number
  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Positive Rating Icon
  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Positive Rating Text
  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Negative Rating Icon
  • Helpful -> Options -> Content -> Negative Rating Text

How to reset the feedback data?

The plugin includes a dedicated procedure to reset the feedback data. To reset the feedback data proceed as follows:

  1. Visit the Helpful -> Maintenance menu.
  2.  With the Task field, select Delete Feedback Data.
  3.  Click the Execute Task button.

How to restore the default plugin options?

The plugin allows you to restore the default plugin options. To restore the default plugin options proceed as follows:

  1. Visit the Helpful -> Maintenance menu.
  2.  With the Task field, select Reset Plugin Options.
  3.  Click the Execute Task button.

How to translate the plugin into your language?

These are the most common methods to translate the plugin:

  • Using a translation plugin like WPML, Loco Translate, etc.
  • By manually creating the translation file in the lang folder of the plugin with translation software like Poedit.

Note that you can configure the text displayed in the feedback form (generated in the front-end) in the Content tab of the plugin options. For this specific purpose is not required to translate the plugin.

How to customize the style of the form?

Use the options included under the Content, Fonts, Colors, and Spacing sections of the options.

Credits

This product makes use of the following resources: