At the close of a virtual event, sending out a post-virtual event survey for attendees and sponsors is a great way to gather useful data. Along with metrics such as ROI and the net promoter score, surveys can help you gauge the success of an event. Event feedback surveys also provide useful information that can help you improve future events. However, not all survey questions are equal. Read more examples of post event survey questions you don’t want to miss!

(If you’re looking for question to ask before a virtual event, see these pre-event survey questions.)

Types of Questions to Ask in an Event Feedback Survey

When writing a survey, it’s important to make sure you ask the kinds of questions that will get you the information you need. There are three different types of survey questions to use in a post-event survey, and each is useful for getting specific types of information.

• Binary questions are those that can be answered with a simple yes or no, or by marking a checkbox. 
• Quantitative questions are similar to binary questions, but they have more than two possible answers. Examples include multi-choice questions, rankings, ratings, and scales.
• Qualitative questions are more open-ended than the other two types, and may require that the survey-taker write a sentence or paragraph to explain their answer. They are often used to ask respondents to elaborate on a previous binary or quantitative answer. 

Qualitative questions ask the survey-taker to provide more detail, so they take longer to answer. If a survey is too heavy with qualitative questions, many people may drop out before completing it. But these questions usually give you the highest-quality information, so it is important to include a few in any survey. 

It can be tough to get the balance of question types right. Typically, your best bet is to include mostly binary and quantitative questions, with a smaller number of qualitative questions.

Another method is to include an optional comment box underneath each binary or quantitative question you ask. That way, people can choose to add more detail, but are not forced to.

Survey tip: Don’t use comment boxes that have a minimum character requirement. Some surveys use these to encourage people to give detailed feedback, but they often do the opposite. People get frustrated that they’re forced to type a lengthy answer when they don’t have much to say—so they opt out of the survey altogether. 

When adding comment boxes, don’t include a minimum character requirement, and make commenting optional whenever possible. Even if people don’t want to answer all the qualitative questions, you’ll still get useful data from binary and quantitative questions. 

How to Send Out a Post-Event Survey

Once your survey is ready to go, you need to decide on the best way to circulate it, to be sure you reach the right people. There are several possible options, and it’s often best to send a survey out via at least two different methods to ensure you reach everyone. If you do opt for multiple methods, make sure to limit participation to once per person. 

Possible ways to circulate surveys include:

• Mobile event app. With online events, you have this extra option. Simply embed the survey in your event app. After the event is over, send out a push notification to remind people about the survey.
• Email. Send the survey to every email address on the event registration list. 
• Social media. Use individual questions on social media as a way of both getting feedback, and prolonging event engagement. 

Survey tip: Offering a prize draw or perk to respondents is a simple and effective way to improve your survey response rate. 

9 Post-Virtual Event Survey Questions to ask Attendees 

1. How did you find out about the event? (Quantitative)

For this multi-choice question, you can list off several answer options, then add a final “other” option with a comment box. This lets people answer even if their choice isn’t listed. Some answer options can include:

• From a colleague or other work contact
• Via your email marketing list
• On social media
• From a news article or blog

This question is useful because it tells you where your marketing campaign was most—or least—successful. For instance, if you publicized the event heavily on social media, but few respondents pick that option, your social media campaign may need an overhaul for the next event.

2. Why did you choose to attend? (Quantitative/Qualitative)

What was the main element that encouraged people to attend the event? You can make this an open-ended qualitative question by providing a comment box. Or you can list off a few options and add an “other” option with a comment box to let people write-in their answer if their choice is not included.

Some options might be:

• To see a specific speaker
• To learn a new skill or update their subject knowledge
• To network/meet new people

3. Do you plan to return next year? (Binary)

This works as a simple yes/no question, but can also be structured with a 1 to 5 scale that asks how likely the person is to return. A successful event will have a higher return rate.

4. How likely are you to recommend this event to others? (Quantitative)

For an event feedback survey, this one works best as a 1 to 10 satisfaction scale. It’s also useful to add an optional comment box to allow people to add extra details if they want to.

This question is important because it provides your net promoter score (NPS). This event metric is a measurement of how satisfied people are with the event overall, another measure of event success. It also measures how likely people are to recommend your event to others. 

• People who rate the event 9 or higher are generally likely to recommend it to others.
• A rating of 7-8 is considered neutral. These people are satisfied but not enthusiastic enough to be considered promoters or loyal customers.
• People who rate 6 or lower are unlikely to offer a positive recommendation.

5. How would you rate the…? (Quantitative/Qualitative)

With this question, you’ll ask people to rate their satisfaction with different aspects of the event, such as:

• The event platform or virtual venue environment
• Networking opportunities
• Live-streamed sessions
• On-demand video sessions
• Exhibitor booths
• Event app
• Event speakers
• Specific experiences or moments during the event

For each aspect you’re interested in, add a separate rating scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. These questions are great opportunities to get qualitative data too, by adding an optional comment box.

For these questions—and any others where you use a scale—make sure to fully explain how it works, so that it’s clear what constitutes a high or low score on the scale.

6. What element of the event did you like the most? What element of the event did you like least? (Qualitative)

For clarity’s sake, these are best used as two separate questions, each with its own separate comment box. Offer some example elements—such as networking, virtual exhibits, or event speakers—so that people understand the context of the question.

These open-ended questions help you figure out what people find valuable at an event, whether personally or professionally. They also help you pinpoint those areas that need improvement. You may be surprised which event experience your attendees value the most. Knowing a favorite or least favorite experience from the event will help you repeat or avoid similar experiences in the future.

7. What did you like/dislike about the event platform? (Qualitative)

Questions that are specifically about the virtual event platform can help you decide if you want to continue using the same platform in the future. This is especially useful if you’re holding your first virtual or hybrid event or are using this particular virtual platform for the first time. Even if you’ve used a platform for a virtual event in the past, it may or may not be the right fit as a hybrid event platform, so make sure to ask about it.

8. How easy was it to navigate the virtual event platform/environment? (Quantitative)

For virtual and hybrid events, it’s important to know if people have a difficult time using the event platform. If lots of people say they found the virtual event platform hard to use, you may decide to investigate alternate platforms that provide a better user experience. 

Similar to the previous question, ask respondents to rate usability on a scale of 1 to 5 or 1 to 10. Then add an optional comment box to let them elaborate if they have more to say.

9. Did the event meet your expectations? (Binary/Quantitative)

With this question you are assessing the attendee’s overall satisfaction. You can set it up as a binary question (yes/no) or as a quantitative scale. Even if other aspects of the survey show success, you should be wary of a low score here. Likewise, if you’re getting low scores elsewhere, a high attendee satisfaction score allows you to distinguish between a specific aspect of your event that needs improvement and an overall negative experience. That can be encouraging for event planners, as you problem solve to prevent future issues.

10. Do you have any other thoughts about the event you’d like to share? (Qualitative)

For people with very specific feedback to offer, it’s frustrating to get to the end of an event feedback survey without getting the chance to say it. This final open-ended question lets people offer any information that doesn’t fit elsewhere in the survey.

3 Post-Virtual Event Survey Questions for Sponsors 

Event sponsorship is crucial to the success of most events. You may have spent months cultivating your relationship to event sponsors. Make sure now that they’ve invested, you find out how their experience went.

Many of the above questions for attendees are appropriate for sponsors, but there are some additional questions you can include in a sponsor survey.

1. Do you expect to meet your ROI objectives for attending this event? (Binary/Quantitative)

This question works with a simple yes/no format, but you can adjust the format if you want to add more detail.

One method is to format this as a quantitative question with a number of example objectives. For instance:

• Education
• Networking
• Brand recognition
• Product launch
• Sales

Different sponsors may have very different objectives, so make sure to add a comment box to let people write in their own answers.

2. What impact do you expect this event to have on your overall business? (Qualitative)

This question is similar to the previous question about ROI, but is more open-ended. It lets the survey-taker answer in their own words, and add some further details to flesh out their response.

3. How could we improve the sponsorship experience for next time? (Qualitative)

If you want your sponsors to return for events in the future, this question shows them that you’re committed to the partnership.  It also shows you’re willing to go the extra mile to give them a positive experience. 

Event Feedback Surveys Help You Make Future Events Better

The future of events will likely continue to include virtual experiences. The good news is that virtual attendees are already staring at the app or device where they can send you their feedback! Take advantage of that fact, and collect the data. 

Event KPIs provide lots of useful data and information about an event, but that data is incomplete if you don’t know what your attendees really think! Post-virtual event survey questions for attendees—and sponsors too—is the best way to get that vital information. The answers to those questions will help you make sure each future event improves on the last.