Gathering information about your target audience can be a great way to enhance your virtual event. Virtual event surveys can help you get there effortlessly. How? Let’s find out!
Surveys are a time-tested way to figure out what your audiences expect from your event, their thought process, and so forth. To curate a successful event, conducting multiple surveys is a must. It should carry a thorough brief about your event and specific credentials as well. And a good survey can act as a treasure trove of essential propaganda. But if by default, there is any flaw, your survey can turn out to be a complete waste of time.
In this article, we have put some practical virtual pre-event questions that you can incorporate in your survey to earn actionable insights from your targeted prospects to cater to their expectations before the big day!
Why Is A Pre-event Survey Important?
A virtual attendee can provide you with valuable insights that you’ll require, especially during the early stage of event planning. Hence there are multiple reasons why pre-event feedback is essential for any organisation.
A world-famous quote says, ‘First you must grab your listeners’ attention- then you need to hold it’. This phrase turns out to be true! For any event to be successful, you must understand and know what exactly your audience wants. But how to know what they want? Is that what you are searching for? Well, the answer is relatively easy; ask them! Instead of assuming how many people will show up or how many are willing to see a particular celebrity or speaker, asking questions is a far better idea of calibrating interests than guesswork. This aspect is essential to consider for your event.
Furthermore, there are questions of engagement. Remember, an engaged attendee is the one who goes beyond just attending the event. They are more attentive, provide 100% active participation, and a lot more! Asking questions enables attendees to know that you are interested in their opinion and what they think. This makes your attendees feel more important and more involved with your organisation and your event.
Types Of Survey Questions For Virtual Event
Survey questions for virtual events come in three main categories Binary, Quantitative and Qualitative. This type of question helps in curating essential information. While drafting a pre-event survey, you must understand what information you want to derive, as this pin down the type of questions you are willing to ask from your target attendees.
The Three Categories of Survey Questions Explained
Binary – Binaries are the most accessible set of questions in which you have to answer either yes or no or add on a checkbox just like an MCQ. The drawback of this type of question is that you can only generate basic information such as demographics. A detailed report cannot be derived from binary questions.
Quantitative – Such surveys are percentage-driven, which means they seek quantitative information, for example, multiple-choice questions or questions asking attendees to rank a specific category.
Qualitative – Qualitative questions are open-ended questions designed to elicit more specific responses from the participants. Descriptive queries approximately yield valuable information. The idea is to inspire people to spend time addressing them.
Note that qualitative questions are mostly time-consuming, and people avoid them to answer. They have the lowest response rate. If you’re sending out a survey, make sure that you balance it by using mainly binary and quantitative questions and limit the number of qualitative questions.
Questions to Ask in A Pre-Event Survey
1. How did you find out about this event? (Quantitative)
- Message from your marketing channel with an MCQ (Multiple Choice Question)
- Marketing strategies have introduced multiple channels for trade shows, public events, and other types of events.
- Add to your registration form or include the survey after registration.
Survey registrations questions are vital because it gives insight into which marketing channels are most effective. It helps to evaluate the media. You can also assess your marketing strategies.
2. Why did you choose this event? (Qualitative)
- Introduce MCQ with a box for personal comment (optional).
- Suitable for events that have a gap between event commencement and registration. For example, annual trade shows.
- Purchase confirmation page or add to a post-registration survey.
Introduce recommendations and message from you. A comment field will help the attendee to share their opinion.
3. Have you attended this event before? (Binary)
- Introduce a 2-choice question, yes/no.
- May apply to corporate events and any non-corporate event that occurs periodically
- Can include optional questions on registration forms or confirmation pages.
The question will help to identify regular attendees. Loyal attendees provide accurate answers; hence the more loyal attendees you have, the better the event will seem to be.
- MCQ allows the attendee to depict their opinion in options, as many as they want.
- Can apply to any non-corporate or corporate event
- Incorporate in registration forms and on the confirmation page after a purchase or a survey.
Analyse your marketing channels and determine which gets the most attention. The answers provide valuable information regarding which sector needs more investment, time and money. Choose a platform that creates event-specific hashtags to help attendees find you and your event virtually.
5. Which event/speakers/sessions interest you the most? (Quantitative)
- offers a list that allows respondents to choose up to 30% of the available options. Different questions for different categories. Give the people some choices, rather than forcing them to attend anyone.
- Use in case of multiple speakers, sessions etc.
- Develop interest in the people’s minds by posting queries on social media after everything is finalised. It is not compulsory to wait till the commencement of registration.
Be a little flexible and shift the priority to what people like in your event. Change the session of the desired speaker (who gets more attention) to a larger space, add extra seating, or arrange for the session to be filmed.
While this is a helpful question that you can start asking before your event takes place, you can also ask these questions during the event. You can include it in a post-registration survey or on the purchase confirmation page.
6. Do you have specific needs, or restrictions of which we must be aware? (Qualitative)
- MCQ with an option to share their opinion (a comment box).
- Critical for almost every events, including associations, industry and public events
- Incorporate central questions during registration, early responses from participants is crucial in determining accurate results based on requirements.
The attendees can share their opinion and experience via the MCQ and comment box. It is essential to ask in advance to make the necessary accommodations, physical or technical.
7. Is any event information confusing or hard to find? (Qualitative)
- Optional yes/no question, with a comment box
- Appropriate for any event, especially new possibilities, or any event that has undergone a substantial change since the last one
- After registration, include this: example, the confirmation page.
Information should be crystal clear and easily navigable. Such questions improve the process and help you understand what necessary improvements are needed.
Over to You
The success of your event depends on knowing the maximum amount as potential regarding those that opt to attend. This can be true in the slightest degree stages of the method before the event starts! With an honest set of pre-event survey questions—deployed at the correct components of the registration process—the survey results can offer valuable data for event strategy, benefiting gifts, and future events.
