Linked Briefs: How to set up, use, and compare multi-market surveys

In this article

• What are linked briefs?
• Key characteristics
• Why use linked briefs
• Requirements for creating linked briefs
• How to set up and link briefs
• How to access your linked briefs
• How to analyse results
• When to use linked briefs and When NOT to use linked briefs
• Summary

What are linked briefs?

Linked Briefs are a setup where one parent brief is used to connect multiple identical briefs launched to different audiences (e.g. markets, regions, channels or segments).

This allows all responses to be consolidated into a single reporting layer (Advanced Dashboard) while still enabling comparison between audiences.

Key characteristics:

• One parent brief (master structure)
• Multiple child briefs (identical copies)
• Each child brief is sent to a different audience / market
• All responses roll up into one combined dataset

You can:

• Analyse all data together
• Analyse each brief individually
• Compare results using segmentation

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Why use linked briefs

Linked briefs are designed to run the same research across multiple audiences while keeping results connected and easy to analyse.

1. Consistent data across audiences

Ensures all data is collected in a standardised way, enabling reliable comparison across markets, regions, or segments.

2. Centralised reporting

Instead of managing multiple briefs and dashboards, you get:

• One Advanced Dashboard
• One combined dataset

This creates a single source of truth for analysis and reporting.

3. Easy cross-market comparison

With all data in one place, you can:

• Compare results across audiences
• Apply segmentation (e.g. market, region, audience type)
• Identify trends and differences quickly

4. Scalable Research Execution

Easily replicate the same research across multiple audiences without rebuilding each brief from scratch.

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Requirements for creating linked briefs

Linked briefs must follow strict structural consistency.

Must remain consistent:

• Question types
• Question order and flow
• Overall structure

Can vary:

• Language (localisation)
• Images  (local relevance)
• Logic (if needed)

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How to set up and link briefs

⚠️ Important before you start

• Linked Briefs must be created during the build stage.
• Briefs created separately cannot be linked later for comparison in the Advanced Dashboard.

Step 1: Create parent brief

The parent brief is your master version. All linked briefs will be created from this.

What to do:

• Create a new brief
• Add all questions
• Define structure and flow
• Apply any logic (skip logic, branching, etc.)
• Review and finalise the content

Important:

• This brief will be replicated across all linked briefs
• Ensure:
  • Question wording is final
  • Answer options are consistent
  • Structure is correct

Best practice: Treat the parent brief as your “final template” before linking.

Note:

• Any changes made to the parent brief will automatically apply to all linked briefs
• The parent brief should only be updated before launch
• Editing questions after launch will remove existing responses 
• If linked briefs are translated:
  • any newly added questions in the parent brief will appear in English in the linked briefs and will require re-translation

⚠️ Optional: Allow different answer options (advanced) - single/multi question only

If you know that single/multi question needs different answer options across markets, you can enable this setting:

“Allow child briefs to have different multiple choice options”

What this does:

• Allows you to customise the number and type of options in single-select or multi-select questions for each linked brief
• Must be set up manually per question

When to use:

• Listing different brands per market
• Showing region-specific options

Important limitation:

• This must be set up during the build stage (before launching the master parent brief).
• Questions using this setting cannot be compared across markets, as the answer options differ.

Step 2: Link briefs

Once the parent brief is ready:

1. Click the three dots (⋯) on the parent brief

2. Select Duplicate or link

    

   

    

3. Choose the channel for the brief
4. (Optional) Tick Translate brief and select a language
   The brief will be automatically translated
5. Tick Link brief to compare results
6. Create the linked brief

What happens next

• A linked (child) brief is created
• It inherits the structure and questions from the parent brief
• It appears grouped under the parent brief in the platform

What you can edit

You can adjust:

• Brief introduction
• Images
• Logic
• Translations

What must stay the same

To ensure results can be compared:

• Question types must remain the same
• Question order and structure must remain the same (to be able to compare results)
• Answer options must remain the same

Exception:
If “Allow child briefs to have different multiple choice options” is enabled, answer options can vary—but these questions cannot be compared across briefs.

Step 3: Assign audiences and final set up

• Assign each child brief to a specific:

  • Market
  • Audience segment / tag
• Set up reward (if applicable) for each brief

Note:
Each brief (parent and child) is treated as an individual brief for setup. 

Step 4: Launch

• Review all briefs
• Launch each brief

IMPORTANT:

• Each brief, including the parent brief, must be launched independently
• Additional briefs can be linked at any time:
  • Return to the parent brief
  • Follow the same steps to create and link new briefs

• Once the parent brief is launched, its structure and questions cannot be changed

  • All linked briefs are based on the parent brief
  • The parent brief becomes the final version at launch

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How to access your linked briefs

Once linked briefs are created, they are grouped under the parent brief.

You can access them via:

• my.bulbshare.com
• Business Lab

Access via my.bulbshare.com

• Go to my.bulbshare.com 
• Locate your parent brief

How to identify linked briefs:

• Linked briefs are marked with a linked brief icon:

To view linked briefs:

• Click the linked brief icon to open the list of all linked briefs

OR

• Click the three dots (⋯)
• Select View linked briefs

Access via business lab

• Go to Business Lab 
• Navigate to the Briefs section

• Go to "Brief" session

How to identify linked briefs:

• Linked briefs are marked with a linked brief icon
• Clicking the linked brief icon opens the list of all linked briefs

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How to analyse results

Linked Briefs allow you to analyse data in different ways depending on your needs.

By default:

• The Analytics dashboard shows combined data from all linked briefs
• Excel export always includes all linked brief responses
• PowerPoint export can be downloaded for:
  • The current brief only
  • All linked briefs

Combined view

• All responses are aggregated into one dataset
• Best for:
  • Overall trends
  • Global insights

Segmented comparison

• Compare:
  • Market vs market
  • Channel vs channel
  • Gender vs gender
  • Audience vs audience (tags)
• Best for:
  • Identifying differences
  • Localisation decisions

Note:

• Segmentation must be set up in the Analytics dashboard 
• Once configured, you can compare results across selected segments

• Cross tabs can be used for deeper analysis across multiple variables

  • When Include linked briefs is enabled, cross tabs include data from all linked briefs
  • When disabled, cross tabs show data for the current brief only
• More details on segmentation and cross tabs can be found here:

    HOW TO ACCESS ADVANCED REPORT AND ANALYSE RESULTS VIDEO GUIDE HERE

Important:

• Segmentation is session-based and is not saved automatically
• If you share or save the dashboard URL, the segmentation setup will be preserved in that link
• If you leave the dashboard and return later, segmentation will reset and must be set up again

👉 To reuse or share a specific comparison, save or share the URL

Individual brief view

• Focus on a single audience or market
• Best for:
  • Deep dives
  • Local reporting

Note:
To view data for a single brief only:

1. Go to Customize in the Analytics dashboard
2. Disable Include linked briefs

Only responses for the selected brief will now be displayed.

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When to use linked briefs

Use this setup when:

• Running the same research across multiple markets or audiences
• You need direct comparison between groups
• You want one unified dashboard
• You require clean and consistent segmentation

When NOT to use linked briefs

Avoid Linked Briefs if:

• Briefs are not identical
• Questions differ between audiences
• Brief structure varies

👉 In these cases briefs cannot be linked.

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Summary

Linked Briefs allow you to run the same research across different audiences while consolidating all results into one place—making it easy to analyse overall trends or compare results side by side.

By linking briefs during the build stage, all responses are combined into a single dataset, enabling consistent reporting and flexible analysis across markets, segments, or channels within one Analytics dashboard.

This provides a scalable and efficient way to manage multi-audience research while maintaining consistency and enabling combined, segmented, or individual brief views..