How leading brands are getting their event surveys right
Event surveys are much more than just a means of gauging whether your event was a success with your guests. They also provide invaluable insight into a brand’s market, helping them to improve their overall brand offering, marketing strategies and customer satisfaction. The considerations below will enable you to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your event surveys as possible.
1. Ask the right questions, in the right way
In order to gather vital feedback from guests, event surveys need to include questions about the most important facets of an event from the perspective of the guests. This will differ by company, but some important aspects you might want to include are: venue, catering, entertainment and décor or theme of the event. In addition, in order to gain pertinent insight into your guests, always leave space for comments – this allows people to add in any additional information that you might not previously have considered as relevant.
2. Your event surveys need to be quick and easy to complete
If you want to get as much feedback from your event attendees as possible, don’t present them with a lengthy or complicated survey. This will only serve to put them off – leaving you without invaluable data about your guests. Keep your event surveys short and sweet – we recommend five questions at the most.
3. The more personalised your event surveys, the more valuable the data
Some brands who’re using event management software like ours, are taking their event surveys one step further by sending different surveys to the different demographics of their event attendees. By asking specific questions to specific individuals, they’re able to paint an even more accurate picture of their audience.
4. Timing is everything
The most influential aspect of event surveys is their timing. If you send them to your guests too long after an event – the chances that you’ll receive more than one or two completed surveys is slim to none. We advise sending your event surveys out just before an event ends, while the experience is still fresh in people’s minds. This is when they’ll be talking about your event – to their peers and on social media – making it the perfect time to pick their brains. Once you’ve sent them out, follow up on your SMS or email surveys with a phone call the next day. As well as adding a personal touch, this allows you to consolidate your feedback, and ask any additional questions too
5. The success rate of your event surveys hinges on using the right technology
In an age where every single one of your guests is bound to own a smartphone, an SMS is a quick and efficient means of gathering information. The method you use to send your event surveys is only one piece of the puzzle, however. If your event surveys are linked to your overall event management software, you’ll be able to store this information and build up individual profiles of guests.
6. Information gathered from event surveys is useless if not put into practice
It’s pointless gathering information about your guests only to look at it once. Brands who hold events that see high attendance, engagement and ROI are the ones who carefully combe through their event surveys, and then tailor their future events around the data gathered. If they see that the majority of guests prefer an early evening cocktail party, they know to stop spending money on elaborate, night-long gala dinners. In the same vein, if they see that many of their guests weren’t happy with the vegetarian meal option, they’ll know to seek alternative caterers for their upcoming events.
Having detailed information about your guests and their event history is crucial for post-production meetings as you’ll be able to show your clients actual data – which in the world of events that entail substantial amounts of money – is priceless.
Image Credit: Respectful Workplace
