After an event, it’s nice to get some feedback regarding the guests’ impressions.
There will probably be some direct feedback from clients or overheard guests commenting about the venue, food, or overall atmosphere during the event.
But such comments can often be inexact out of courtesy, vagueness, or lite on detail.
To get valuable feedback about event planning that can improve business operations and help to better retain current customers while gaining new ones, then a post-event survey is a go-to tool.
In this article, post-event surveys will be discussed and some common questions about them answered, including what a post-event survey is, what it looks like, and which questions should be asked. Moreover, we’ll provide some examples of good post-event survey questions.
What is a post-event survey?
Without feedback, it’s hard to know how an event went. The truth is, everyone has their own experience at an event.
Surely all that could have been done went into planning the perfect event—but mistakes can happen. Your perception of the event may have been different than those of the guests. That’s where event surveys can help.
A post-event survey is a questionnaire to collect feedback from people who attended an event. One of the key benefits of post-event surveys is they help develop an event planning business moving forward.
Why should you send out post-event surveys?
Sending out post-event surveys can be incredibly valuable for several reasons.
- Understanding attendees’ satisfaction: Post-event surveys allow for a better understanding of how satisfied attendees were with the event overall, as well as with specific aspects of it such as the venue, food, speakers, and activities. This information can help identify areas that need improvement for future events.
- Gathering insights and suggestions: After-event surveys give organizers information and advice regarding improving future events. For example, attendees may have ideas for new speakers or topics, suggestions for ways to enhance networking opportunities, or feedback on the timing and duration of the event.
- Demonstrating commitment to improvement: By sending out feedback surveys, attendees know that you are committed to continuously improving events. This can build trust and loyalty among attendees and encourage them to attend future events.
- Identifying trends and patterns: Analyzing the feedback from multiple events can make trends and practices recognizable over time. For example, if attendees consistently rate one aspect of events poorly, then it is an area that requires attention.
Sending out after-event surveys is a powerful tool to improve the attendee experience and make events more successful. Learn more about how feedback surveys can help your business.
What questions should a post-event survey include?
There are a number of typical event survey questions attendees can be asked, ranging from traditional multiple-choice questions to more complex open-ended ones. The most common types of event survey questions include:
1. Demographic questions
Though not directly about the event itself, it is essential to ask these questions. It is crucial data to collect. Knowing the respondents’ gender, age, race, income, education level, and other valuable information is very important moving forward.
Such demographic data provides valuable information about the current attendees of events and eventually how they are changing through time, which can be compared to changes being implemented during event planning.
2. Dichotomous questions
These are the common yes-or-no questions that appear in most event surveys. Answer simple questions like “Have you attended our event before?” Use them for direct information that does not require additional explanation.
You can also use such questions to rule out unsuitable respondents. As a first question, ask “Did you attend this event?” If the answer is no, then respond with a thank you and end the survey.
3. Multiple-choice questions
Another common type of question that offers attendees the opportunity to choose one or more options from a list of answers.
These are appealing to respondents because they are easy to answer, don’t take long, and don’t require too much work. They can be divided into single-select questions (respondents are allowed to choose only one answer) and multi-select questions ( more than one answer can be selected).
4. Rating scale questions
These offer respondents a number scale from which to answer. The most common are Likert scale questions that show the level of agreement from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
5. Open-ended questions
These allow respondents to share their two cents’ worth using their own words. There are no pre-set answer options. Instead, respondents are presented with a text box in which they can type answers.
Open-ended questions allow people to share their experiences, voice opinions, or give suggestions. They are also an excellent way to share, if they have any, dissatisfaction with an event (and perhaps not share those opinions on social media or website reviews).
However, these are not as easy to analyze. Therefore, it is better not to base an entire survey on them. Instead, mix questions with pre-set answers and open-ended ones.
How many questions should a post-event survey have?
Opinion is divided on this. There is the argument that the more you ask, the more feedback you get, though on the other hand, it might be best to ask fewer questions so that respondents don’t get bored.
Both arguments have merit. It’s important not to make surveys too long—no one is going to spend 20 minutes filling out another boring survey.
This means that, when designing a survey, be mindful to not waste the time of folks who attended an event. Make it as quick as possible to get the information needed. As a rule of thumb, about 10 questions will not be too lengthy. That will take approximately 10 minutes and plenty of valuable data can be gathered.
If the information being sought is more complicated, use question branching to ensure that only the right participants are asked the right questions about an event. This avoids asking participants about something that doesn’t relate to them and this will increase the success of your survey.
What content should after-event survey questions include?
Although determining how many questions to ask is essential, another critical point is the content of the questions.
To collect data that is about advancing your business, the wording of questions is vital. To gather valuable information that will improve future events, questions should be fully thought through.
Consider carefully what information you want to gather. A clear understanding of what you want to learn and how such information will eventually be used will make composing questions easier.
So, make sure you don’t ask too many questions, make them specific and engaging, and then be on your way to creating an excellent survey.
How should post-event survey questions look?
It’s best to mix question types. Start with a welcome message that explains who you are and what the survey is about. Make sure it isn’t too long; otherwise, potential respondents will immediately get bored.
Then proceed to some demographic questions. Next up is the survey’s core, including a couple of rating scale questions and a couple of multiple-choice questions about your event.
At the end, ask two or three open-ended questions, which allow attendees the opportunity to make suggestions and share experiences in more detail. Finally, conclude the survey with a polite thank you.
Ultimately, how surveys are composed depends on the type of data you want to collect.
How do you know which questions to use?
Examples of post-event survey questions to ask
Here is an example of a well-structured post-event survey. It gives a sound basis from which to build surveys, though feel free to add and remove as much as you want—as long as it’s meaningful and in accordance with your branding.
1. Demographic questions for getting to know participants
Start with demographic questions about participants’ age, ethnicity, educational level, marital status, employment status, and so on. Get to know the event attendees a little bit better.
Use drop-down answers to prevent participants from facing a considerable number of responses. Interested in learning more about demographic questions? Read our complete guide about how to use demographic survey questions with examples and phrasing guidelines.
2. General questions about the event
Move on to some general questions about the event:
- “Did you participate in this event?” This is a yes-or-no question, though remember that this question can also be used to filter out participants. If the answer is no, close the survey with a thank you.
- “How satisfied were you with the event?” This can be a Likert scale question about the participant’s satisfaction with specific things like the date, location, venue, vendors, speakers, catering, etc. If the answer reflects dissatisfaction, follow up with additional feedback questions like:
- “What didn’t you like about the venue/catering/etc.?” This is an open-ended question in which attendees can share their experiences in detail. It can give you valuable insight into what attendees thought about the event and what can be improved in the future.
Questions that can provide better insight into the success of your events include:
- “How likely are you to attend one of our events in the future?”
- “How likely are you to recommend our events to a friend or a colleague?”
The second question provides valuable insight because people are more likely to try something that friends have shared. Word-of-mouth marketing is the best marketing.
3. Open-ended questions about an event
Conclude the survey with a couple of open-ended questions. These are very beneficial because they provide valuable qualitative data to the quantitative data gathered from basic yes-or-no and rating scale questions.
Understanding strong and weak points gives insight into where future improvement is required and what is currently working just fine. Ask things like:
- “What did you like the most about the event?”
- “What would you like to see improved at a future event?”
- “Is there anything else you would like to share with us?”
While the data collected will be harder to analyze, it is still a worthwhile practice to better understand attendees’ authentic experiences at an event. Any business that listens to customers will want to include such questions in a survey.
Getting feedback from event attendees is essential. There are many types of questions to choose from, along with content parameters. The critical factor to great surveys is asking the right amount of questions with the correct content.
This is not always easy. But with practice and help from SurveyPlanet, you’ll surely get there.
Post-event survey questions additional tips
Always keep in mind the need to not ask too many questions. Otherwise, participants get bored and exit the survey before finishing or even just click random answers. The latter is worse because it returns false feedback that won’t benefit operations or future events.
Regarding content, ask meaningful questions that match intent. For example, if seeking to improve future events then ask meaningful questions about event details. If researching current word-of-mouth marketing, ask about that. And provide space for participants to make suggestions in the form of open-ended questions.
Write exceptional post-event survey questions with Survey Planet
We hope this article has provided insight into how post-event surveys should be constructed. If you need help creating a survey, check out our customer service satisfaction templates.
Are you interested in becoming an experienced survey writer? Start off exploring our resources and learn helpful tips for writing an engaging post-event survey, ideal survey length, or how to avoid bad survey questions.
Photo by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash