Post-event surveys are one of the most powerful tools available to competition organizers. They can provide valuable insight from athletes, volunteers, spectators and sponsors, allowing you to make changes and improvements for future competitions.
Here’s how to create a post-competition survey, including a free template you can use:
Table of Contents
Who to Ask
Athletes: The most obvious group of people to ask. You want your athletes to leave your competition feeling great (even if they didn’t win) so that they can spread the word and come back for future events.
Volunteers: Without them, your event would not be what it is. Volunteers are a fantastic source of information and insight since they interact with athletes, spectators, and sponsors and can pick up on raw feedback candidly. They also have a unique POV that can help future competition management logistics.
Sponsors: Keeping up your relationships with sponsors is critical. By asking for feedback about your sponsor’s experience, you also let them know that you value their input.
Spectators: A quick survey for spectators helps you create more organized, dynamic, and inviting experiences in the future – and earn more profit.
When to Ask
We suggest sending a survey within 12 to 48 hours of your event. The sooner the survey is sent, the more enthusiastic the response and the more detailed the feedback.
Tools for Post-Event Surveys
There are several tools available to help you create effective post-event surveys.
Google Forms
- Pros: Free to use. Create an unlimited number of surveys and responses. Data from Google Forms is easy (and free) to export to Google Sheets.
- Cons: Not much customization; limited to colors and a header photo.
Survey Monkey
- Pros: Beautiful, professionally-designed templates. Survey Monkey offers a library of almost 200 ready-to-use templates and questions. Results are nicely displayed in semi-customizable graphs, and the paid versions offer high customization.
- Cons: The free version is limited to 10 questions and up to 10 responses per survey and does not offer all the features of paid. If you want to export your data, that will also cost an added fee.
Typeform
- Pros: Beautifully designed and super user-friendly. Great experience in mobile.
- Cons: Only ten responses per month are included in the free plan.
Best Practices for Post-Event Surveys
Follow these tips to make your post-event survey effective:
- Make it easy to complete on mobile
- Think about quick, creative subject lines for your email with your survey link. For example:
- How was x Comp?
- Help us improve
- Get $10 by giving your feedback
- Make the first question easy to answer
- Make the first question the one that’s most important to you
- Make the event survey short. According to Survey Monkey, 45% of survey takers are willing to spend five minutes at most on the process.
- Include a clear survey time estimate. For example, “it will only take 4 minutes of your time.”
- Avoid long, complicated, and confusing questions.
Free Template: Post-Competition Event Survey Questions
- How likely are you to recommend this event to a friend? (1 to 10 rating, from not likely to very likely)
- Why did you decide to attend this event? (open-ended)
- How satisfied are you with the number of workouts? (Rating from very unsatisfied to very satisfied)
- How satisfied are you with the quality of the workouts? (Rating from very unsatisfied to very satisfied)
- Were the workouts right for your skill level?
- How helpful was the staff? (Rating from very unfriendly to very friendly)
- How well-organized was the event? (Rating from extremely disorganized to very organized)
- How satisfied are you with this event overall? (Rating from very unsatisfied to very satisfied)
- What was the highlight of the event? (drop-down)
- What was your least favorite aspect of the event? (drop-down, with possible open-ended What didn’t you like about it?)
- Do you recall any sponsors of the event? (yes/no, with possible open-ended Please, name all the sponsors you remember)
- How do you think the event could have been improved? (open-ended)
- What was your biggest takeaway from the event? (open-ended)
- Any other comments or suggestions for us? (open-ended)
Post-competition surveys should include questions that measure the overall satisfaction of attendees, the success of specific elements of your event, and the overall experience of it. Now that you know the power of post-event surveys, why not start using them for your next event?