91制片厂 鈥� SurveyMonkey | Tipsheet
The Most Important Event Survey Questions to Ask Attendees
Only 23% of event creators used post-event surveys last year, according to 91制片厂鈥檚 2019 Pulse Report survey of Australian event professionals. That鈥檚 surprising 鈥� and a huge missed opportunity 鈥� because gathering feedback is critical to growing an event business.
There鈥檚 no time like right after an event to gather feedback. Reach out while attendees鈥� memories are fresh, and you鈥檙e more likely to get accurate, honest responses you can act on.
Ready to take proactive steps to find out exactly what attendees are looking for? We teamed up with SurveyMonkey to identify the most important event survey questions to ask attendees.
鈥� Pro Tip
Keep your surveys short
SurveyMonkey recommends you keep your post-event survey to just five questions (and ten at most). Choose from the questions below based on the size of your event, the audience you鈥檙e targeting, the venue you鈥檙e in, and 鈥� of course 鈥� what areas you鈥檙e most eager for feedback in.
Start with a question about their overall impression of the event
Start your event survey with a general question about the overall experience that lives on its own page. When the survey taker clicks 鈥渘ext,鈥� the answer to that question is captured immediately, so that you collect feedback even from people who don鈥檛 complete the entire survey.
SurveyMonkey鈥檚 data shows that this is the most common question events use in post-event surveys:
Overall, how would you rate the event?
• Excellent
• Very good
• Good
• Fair
• Poor
Benchmark your performance: Based on SurveyMonkey data from 42,000 organisations, the typical event sees 45% of respondents respond "excellent" to this question and 37% respond 鈥渧ery good.鈥� Only 13% of event survey respondents say 鈥済ood鈥� on average, with 4% saying 鈥渇air鈥� and 1% saying 鈥減oor鈥�.
If your own responses index lower on attendee satisfaction, it鈥檚 time to think seriously about how to improve your event experience.
Ask if they would recommend your event to a friend
Whether your goal is to grow your attendance or account for natural attrition, you鈥檒l need to attract more people. And since a friend recommends, you hope attendees answer that they鈥檒l recommend your event to a friend when you ask:
How likely is it that you would recommend the event to a friend?
This question will give you your Net Promoter Score鈩� (NPS) a common industry measurement to measure customer satisfaction. This score gives you an estimate how many people would speak negatively about your event to a friend (鈥渄etractors,鈥� who answered 6 or below), those who wouldn鈥檛 mention your event at all (鈥減assives,鈥� who answer a 7 or 8), and those who will be your best word-of-mouth salespeople (鈥減romoters,鈥� who answer a 9 or 10).
Benchmark your performance: Based on SurveyMonkey data from 6,800 organisations, most events have an overall NPS score of 53. That breaks down into 64% promoters, 26% passives, and 11% detractors.
You can use Use this number as a benchmark to compare yourself against in future surveys to track how much you improve.
NPS, Net Promoter & Net Promoter Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.
鈥� Pro Tip
Ask your NPS question early
Your NPS question should be one of the very first in your survey. According to SurveyMonkey experts, the lower in your survey you ask this question, the worse your NPS score could become 鈥� simply due to its placement.
Dig deeper with questions about their specific experience
Once you鈥檝e taken the general temperature of your attendees鈥� reaction to your event, you can probe for deeper answers.
If you simply ask, 鈥淲as the event fun?鈥� no answer will give you helpful insights. Instead, you need to ask very specific questions to capture your attendees' full impressions
Was the event too long, too short or about right?
• Much too long
• Too long
• About right
• Too short
• Much too short
Benchmark your performance: According to SurveyMonkey data from 14,500 organisations, 81% of event survey respondents typically say it was 鈥渁bout right鈥�, with about 8% saying it was too short and 8% saying it was too long. If more of your respondents say the event was too long, that鈥檚 a sign to reevaluate your programming.
How organised was the event?
• Extremely organised
• Very organised
• Somewhat organised
• Not so organised
• Not at all organised
Benchmark your performance: According to SurveyMonkey data from 18,000 organisations, 37% of event survey respondents typically say 鈥渆xtremely organised鈥� and 50% say 鈥渧ery organised.鈥� Another 11% say 鈥渟omewhat organised鈥� while less than 2% will say 鈥渘ot so organised鈥� or 鈥渘ot at all organised.鈥�
鈥� Pro Tip
Ask additional questions to dive deeper for your specific event:
• Who were your top three performers, speakers, or entertainers?
• How would you rate the food and drink options?
• How easy was it to find your way around the venue?
• Were there enough accessible bathroom options?
• Was there enough time for networking?
• What your favourite part of the event?
Ask direct questions about your staff
Interactions with your team are a critical part of the attendee experience. You might have intense oversight of your box office staff, but remain blissfully unaware of how your outsourced security detail interacted with attendees.
Give attendees a chance to fill you in on their interactions with various staff members. This information will help inform your hiring and the partners you choose next year.
How helpful was the staff?
• Extremely helpful
• Very helpful
• Somewhat helpful
• Not so helpful
• Not at all helpful
How friendly was the staff?
• Extremely friendly
• Very friendly
• Somewhat friendly
• Not so friendly
• Not at all friendly
Benchmark your performance: On average, SurveyMonkey data from 4,000 organisations shows that the majority (57-63%) of event survey respondents will say staff was extremely friendly or helpful. About a third (31-34%) will say 鈥渧ery friendly or helpful鈥�, with less than 8% giving worse ratings. If your survey receives worse reviews of your staff, check out Event Staffing: How to Build an All-Star Events Team.
Discover which of your marketing tactics won them over
Just as important as learning about attendees鈥� experience at the event is discovering what encouraged them to buy tickets or register in the first place. It may be worth asking a few questions to discover which marketing efforts left an impression 鈥� and which fell flat.
Consider questions like:
How did you first learn about the event?
• Word of mouth
• Local events listing site
• Flyer
• Print advertisement
Why did you decide to attend the event?
• To learn a skill
• To spend time with friends
• To meet new people
• To see the performer
• To try something new
These questions will help you better target your marketing in the future.
Finish with an open response question so attendees can speak their mind
One of the tricky things about surveys is that much of the time, you鈥檙e guessing which questions are even relevant. You might grill attendees on the entertainment, food choices, and entry queue experience, but neglect to ask about the one area they had the most hiccups: the restrooms.
Nothing is more aggravating to a survey taker than taking the time to fill out your survey, then getting denied the opportunity to speak their mind. Leave room for one open-ended question at the end of your survey, like:
Is there anything else you鈥檇 like to share about your experience?
鈥� Pro Tip
Limit your open-ended questions
Questions that ask survey takers to write in their own responses are more taxing than multiple-choice questions and are much more difficult to analyse. Instead of asking them to remember every single performer they saw or snack they ate, give them options in multiple-choice format. Open-ended questions work best for collecting more detail, surfacing issues you hadn鈥檛 thought of, or understanding how your respondents think about an issue.
Ready to put these questions into action?
Use to set up your post-event survey in minutes.
Looking for more ways to make your attendee experience smoother overall? Learn how you can use 91制片厂 to learn more about your attendees and make their experience flawless.
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