--- title: "Score a text answer" description: "You'll give a Short text or Long text answer points, so what visitors write in their own words can add to a lead score or a quiz total." canonical: "https://rightmessage.com/help/score-a-text-answer" last-updated: 2026-11-05 --- # Score a text answer You'll give a Short text or Long text answer points, so what visitors write in their own words can add to a lead score or a quiz total. Available on the Grow, Scale, and Pro plans. Choice answers can add points to a flow score, and so can a written answer. With **Score this answer**, a **Short text** or **Long text** question reads what someone wrote, picks the rule that describes it best, and adds that rule's points to a score you name. Your flow can then use that score like any other: route on it, compare it, or send it with a lead. [WorkForge](https://workforge.rightmessage.com) could ask, "What makes project handoffs difficult for your team?" Someone who writes about missed deadlines and clients who left could add 3 to **Lead score**. Someone who's "just looking around" could lose 2. ## Write your scoring rules 1. Open **Questions**, select your Short text or Long text question, and open **Setup**. You'll find the same settings when you edit the question from a flow step. Answers are scored only when a flow asks the question; a form field saves the text without scoring it. 2. Under **Score this answer**, choose **Add scoring**. You start with two example rules worth +2 and −2. 3. Beside **Add the points to**, type the score's name. It starts as **Lead score**. When you edit the question from a flow step, the list also offers the scores that flow already uses. 4. Under **When the answer…**, describe each kind of answer in plain words, such as "Describes missed deadlines or lost clients from bad handoffs". Set its **Points** from −100 to 100. 5. Choose **Add a rule** for more, up to 10, or select the **×** beside a rule to remove it. To remove the last rule, choose **Stop scoring**. ![Score this answer settings adding points to Lead score, with three rules worth +3, +1, and −2 points and the 0-point row for anything else](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/questions-fill-score.light.webp) RightMessage picks the one rule that fits the answer best and adds only its points. Answers that fit no rule, and skipped answers, score 0, as the **Anything else, or no answer** row shows. So write rules that don't overlap. Scoring works on its own or alongside [filling other questions from the same answer](https://rightmessage.com/help/fill-other-questions-from-a-text-answer). It doesn't create a segment group, so you can't personalize on the rules themselves. If you want visitors in segments by what they wrote, make a choice question with those answers and fill it from the text instead. ## Try a sample answer Under **How RightMessage reads answers**, choose how sure RightMessage should be before it scores an answer: **Very sure**, **Fairly sure** (the default), or **Somewhat sure**. The same setting applies to the questions it fills. Under **Try it**, write an answer a visitor might give and choose **Try this answer**. Your score shows the points and the rule that fits, such as "+2: Runs client projects across spreadsheets, docs, or email (95% sure)". When no rule fits well enough, you'll see **0: no rule fits** with the closest rule. Reword a rule, or try a lower confidence, then try again. ![How RightMessage reads answers, with the Fairly sure confidence level and a Try it sample about four people using spreadsheets that fills team size and project tools and scores +2 on Lead score](https://rightmessage.com/help/screens/questions-fill-try.light.webp) Try it uses the rules on your screen, including changes you haven't published. It doesn't record a response or change anyone's score. ## What visitors experience When a visitor submits their text, RightMessage reads it before moving on, for up to 2 seconds. If it can't read the answer in time, or anything else goes wrong, the answer scores 0 and the flow carries on. - The points go to the score you named, so a [High Score](https://rightmessage.com/help/flow-node-high-score) step or a [score condition](https://rightmessage.com/help/conditions-scores) later in the flow can use them. That score also shows up in the flow's list of scores. - If the visitor goes back or answers the text question again, RightMessage takes away the earlier points before scoring the new answer, so points never add up twice. - If the visitor comes back later and the flow skips the text question they already answered, their answer's points count again. - If your project [waits for cookie consent](https://rightmessage.com/help/use-rightmessage-with-a-cookie-banner), RightMessage doesn't read text answers until the visitor accepts. Until then, the answer scores 0. To score an answer, RightMessage sends the visitor's text and your rules to the AI model that picks the rule. Your rule wording isn't published to your website; your site only gets each rule's points. The answer itself is saved in **Responses**, like any text answer. ## Check it on your site 1. Choose **Preview on your site** and answer the text question the way a visitor would. 2. In the [debugger](https://rightmessage.com/help/using-the-rightmessage-debugger), look for the note that says how the answer scored, such as **Scored +3 on "Lead score" (rule 1)**. Rules are numbered in the order you listed them. 3. When the points look right, [publish your changes](https://rightmessage.com/help/publishing-your-changes). It's working when visitors' own words move their score the way you'd expect. Next, [route on the score](https://rightmessage.com/help/score-and-route-a-quiz) to recommend the right next step.