Polls in Slack can fundamentally change how your team makes decisions. Need to schedule a meeting, vote on where to grab lunch, gather feedback on a new policy, or decide on project priorities? Quick, structured voting keeps everyone involved and decisions moving forward without endless back-and-forth messages.

Does Slack do this out of the box?

No. Slack doesn't support robust polling natively. While you can create basic reaction-based polls using emoji reactions, these lack essential features like anonymous voting, multiple choice options, automatic closing, and proper result tracking. Slack recommends using 3rd-party apps for hosting polls.

In this post, we'll guide you how to use OpenCulture, a privacy-centric Slack app to create polls in Slack with all the features teams actually need.

How It Works: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Install the app

Head over to OpenCulture in the Slack App Marketplace and click the "Add to Slack" button. If you don't have admin permissions, ask your Slack admin to install it for your workspace.

Step 2: Start a poll

Type /openculture poll in any channel to start setting up your poll.

Step 3: Configure your poll

The poll creation form lets you:

• Question (up to 500 characters)

• Choices (up to 100 characters each; 2–10 allowed)

• Enable multiple choice voting

• Enable anonymous voting

• Hide results from participants until poll closes

• Set a poll close deadline

Step 4: Preview and post

You'll see a preview of how the poll will appear in the channel. If you like what you see, click Post Poll to confirm & post the poll to the channel.

Participants can vote by clicking the ✅ button against the option; creators manage everything from the same thread.

Advanced Features That Help

Anonymous Voting

When enabled, voter identities are completely hidden — no usernames appear in results, even for poll creators. This is critical for sensitive topics like compensation preferences, leadership feedback, or workplace culture assessments where fear of retaliation might otherwise silence honest opinions.

Results Visibility Control

Choose whether vote counts are visible immediately or hidden until the poll closes. Hiding results prevents the bandwagon effect — the psychological tendency to follow the majority rather than vote based on genuine preference. This is especially valuable for:

• Strategic decisions where you want independent thinking

• Controversial topics where early results might pressure conformity

• Creative choices where you need authentic preferences, not groupthink

By revealing results only after the poll closes, you ensure every vote reflects true opinion rather than social pressure.

Multiple Choice Polls

Enable multiple selections when participants can legitimately choose more than one option. Perfect for:

• Scheduling: "Which days work for you this week?" (select all that apply)

• Feature prioritization: "What should we build next?" (choose your top 3)

• Resource allocation: "Which training topics interest you?" (select all relevant)

• Event planning: "What dietary preferences do we need to accommodate?" (multiple selections expected)

Multiple choice polls give you richer data than forcing artificial single-option constraints.

Participant-Added Options

Allow participants to submit new options after the poll starts. This transforms polls from top-down dictates into collaborative conversations. Use this when:

• You might have missed options: Team brainstorming sessions where the creator can't anticipate every possibility

• You want bottom-up input: Gathering suggestions for team activities, process improvements, or celebration ideas

• The landscape is evolving: Fast-moving situations where new options emerge as discussion unfolds

This feature ensures the poll adapts to your team's collective wisdom rather than limiting choices to what one person imagined at creation time.

Auto-Close Deadline

Set polls to automatically close at specific times, ensuring decisions get made without manual follow-up. This feature solves a common problem: decision limbo.

Without deadlines, polls linger indefinitely. People forget to vote, wait to see which way others lean, or simply deprioritize. Decisions that should take hours stretch into days or weeks.

Auto-close deadlines create healthy urgency. When your team knows the poll closes Friday at 5 PM, they prioritize voting. No reminder messages needed, no manual closure required — the system handles it automatically.

This is especially valuable for:

• Time-sensitive decisions: Lunch orders need answers by 11 AM, not tomorrow

• Recurring rituals: Sprint planning votes that must close before the meeting starts

• Cross-timezone teams: Set a reasonable deadline and let automation handle closure while you sleep

• Preventing deadline drift: Without automatic closure, there's always temptation to extend "just one more day"

The automation removes you as a bottleneck and trains your team that deadlines mean something.

Poll Management

Creators can modify settings, close polls early, delete polls, or reopen closed polls as circumstances change. Real-world decision-making is messy — your polling tool should adapt.

Close polls early when consensus emerges faster than expected. If 95% have voted with a clear winner, why wait three more days?

Modify settings mid-poll when needed. Realize people are bandwagoning? Switch to hidden results. Should have enabled multiple choice? Update it.

Delete polls that become irrelevant or were posted by mistake. Keep your channels clean without confusing artifacts.

Reopen closed polls when circumstances change — new team members join, fresh information emerges, or the decision was never implemented.

Real-World Use Cases

Quick Team Decisions

Daily standups: "Where should we grab lunch?" Post the poll at 11 AM with a noon auto-close. Decision made, reservation booked, no endless back-and-forth.

Activity planning: "What should we do for team building Friday?" Multiple choice voting reveals activities with broad appeal, participant-added options let people suggest alternatives.

Meeting times: "Which slot works for everyone?" Multiple choice captures full availability across time zones, auto-close gives you 24 hours to send invites.

Project and Product Decisions

Feature prioritization: "What should we build next quarter?" Multiple choice lets people vote for their top 3–5 priorities, revealing features with broad support versus niche appeal.

Sprint planning: "Which bugs should we tackle this week?" Team votes on priorities with visible results to facilitate discussion, auto-close before planning meeting.

Design decisions: "Which homepage layout works best?" Hidden results prevent groupthink, ensuring people choose based on merit rather than what's currently winning.

Team Feedback and Culture

Retrospectives: "How effective was this sprint?" Anonymous voting with hidden results gets honest assessments without social pressure or fear of criticism.

Process improvements: "Which meeting could we eliminate or shorten?" Anonymous polling reveals true opinions about sacred cows people won't criticize publicly.

Workplace satisfaction: "How supported do you feel by leadership?" Anonymous voting provides safe channel for honest feedback on sensitive topics.

Event and Logistics Planning

Catering decisions: "What should we order for the all-hands?" Multiple choice with participant-added options captures dietary needs and preferences comprehensively.

Schedule planning: "Which days work for your availability next month?" Multiple choice reveals patterns across the team for recurring events or project phases.

Location voting: "Where should we hold the offsite?" Participant-added options let people suggest venues, multiple choice captures everyone's acceptable options.

Research and Information Gathering

Skills assessment: "Which technologies are you comfortable with?" Anonymous multiple choice lets people honestly report their skills without fear of judgment.

Training needs: "What would help your work?" Anonymous multiple choice reveals gaps people might not admit publicly, informing professional development programs.

Resource usage: "Which tools does your team actually use?" Multiple choice shows the full landscape of tool adoption, not just people's primary choice.

Best Practices for Effective Polls

Write Clear Questions

Good: "Which time slot works for you next week's sync?" (specific, actionable)

Bad: "Thoughts on timing?" (vague, unclear what you're asking)

Be specific about what you're deciding and what a vote means.

Keep Options Focused

Each option should be clear, distinct, and roughly equal in scope. Don't mix big and small choices:

Good: Option A: "Daily standups at 9 AM" / Option B: "Daily standups at 10 AM"

Bad: Option A: "Change meeting time" / Option B: "Completely restructure how we communicate"

Choose the Right Settings

Single choice for: Decisions with one clear winner needed (lunch location, meeting time slot, vendor selection)

Multiple choice for: Availability, priorities, preferences where people legitimately have multiple valid selections

Anonymous for: Sensitive topics, feedback on leadership, controversial decisions, anything where fear might silence honesty

Hidden results for: Decisions requiring independent thought, creative choices, strategic planning where you don't want groupthink

Visible results for: Transparent decisions, low-stakes choices, situations where seeing current thinking helps discussion

Set Appropriate Deadlines

Short deadlines (hours): Time-sensitive decisions like lunch orders, same-day meeting scheduling

Medium deadlines (1-3 days): Standard team decisions, sprint planning, project priorities

Longer deadlines (week+): Major decisions, polls for asynchronous teams, research gathering

Build in buffer time between poll close and when you need the decision implemented.

Close the Loop

After the poll closes, communicate the decision and next steps. Don't let polls disappear into the void:

"Thanks for voting! We're ordering from Thai Palace. Food arrives at noon."

"Based on the poll, we're prioritizing features A, B, and C next quarter. Tickets created."

"The retrospective poll shows we need to improve our documentation. Action items posted."

Try It Yourself

OpenCulture offers a 14-day free trial with full poll functionality. Install it with one click using the "Add to Slack" button and start creating anonymous polls in any public or private channel.

Conclusion

Polls turn scattered discussions into clear decisions. Whether you're scheduling meetings, gathering feedback, planning events, or making team decisions—structured voting gets you better data faster than message threads ever could.

Stop letting decisions drift through endless message chains. Give your team a clear way to weigh in, and watch decisions happen more smoothly, inclusively, and efficiently.