Group or channel: where the poll comes from
Telegram has polls built in, and there are two ways to post one. In a channel, you create the poll yourself from the attachment menu. In a group where the BotLaunch bot is an admin, you can post one with a command, and members can be allowed to do the same.
The commands in this guide are typed into a group chat. For a channel, use Telegram's own poll composer. If your channel has a linked discussion group, add the bot there and the commands work in that group.
Either way, what people see is a native Telegram poll. They vote with one tap and nobody has to learn anything.
Turn the module on and set the defaults
Polls is an engagement module, and it is off until you enable it. Open your group in the BotLaunch dashboard, find Polls and switch it on. Then set five things before anyone posts.
- Who can create polls. By default only admins can use /poll. Turn on member polls if you want everyone to be able to ask.
- Anonymous voting. On by default.
- Multiple answers. Off by default, so each member picks one option.
- Maximum options per poll. The default is 10.
- Default duration in minutes. Zero means the poll stays open until you close it. Telegram caps timed polls at 10 minutes.
Save the settings. The anonymity, multiple answer and duration defaults then apply to every poll created by command.
Post a poll with one line
Type the command, the question, a question mark, then the options separated by vertical bars:
/poll Which day suits the live session? Tuesday | Thursday | Saturday
The bot posts the poll in the group. A few rules decide if it works.
- The question ends at the first question mark, and what follows is read as the options. Use one question mark in the line and none inside the options.
- You need at least two options. With fewer, the bot replies with a reminder and posts nothing.
- If you list more options than your maximum, the bot tells you the limit and posts nothing.
- If the line has no question mark at all, the bot replies with the correct format.
Run a quiz
A quiz is a poll with one right answer. The format is the same, with one rule: write the correct answer first.
/quiz In which year did this group start? 2021 | 2019 | 2023
The bot shuffles the options before posting, so the right answer does not always sit at the top. Members tap an answer and Telegram shows them at once if they were right.
Quizzes suit onboarding in a course group, a weekly trivia round, or a quick check that people have read the pinned rules.
Close the poll and read the results
A timed poll closes itself. For an open one, an admin types /closepoll and the bot closes the most recent open poll in the group. Only admins can close a poll.
Members see the running result on the poll message after they vote. For a text summary, type /results. The bot replies with each option, its number of votes, its share of the total and the number of voters, for the most recent poll in the group.
There is one catch. The /results count is built from the votes Telegram reports to the bot, and Telegram reports individual votes only for polls that are not anonymous. If you want to use /results, switch anonymous voting off in the module settings before you post. For an anonymous poll, read the result from the poll message.
The count stays accurate when people change their mind. If a member switches option or takes a vote back, the numbers follow.
What goes wrong, and how to ask better
- Too many options. Three or four gives a clear answer. Eight splits the vote and tells you little.
- A question with no decision behind it. Ask only what you will act on, then say what you did with the result.
- Overlapping options. If two choices mean nearly the same thing, they share votes and a third one wins by accident.
- A poll buried in chat. Pin it, or post it at the hour your group is busiest.
- A timed poll that is too short. Ten minutes suits a live session. For a decision that needs a day, leave the duration at zero and close the poll by hand.
Start with one poll this week on a decision you have not made yet: the time of the next stream, the next product colour, the topic of the next lesson. Post the outcome the day after. People answer the second poll when they saw the first one change something.