If you read our most recent blog post, you know how important it is to collect and utilize member feedback. Beyond providing a vent space to prevent members from doing it elsewhere (i.e., in conversations with other members or on review websites), Member Satisfaction Surveys can help you collect important member data to enhance engagement and increase retention. In this article, we will help you construct a Member Satisfaction Survey by providing you with a list of the most helpful questions to ask, based on the information that your association needs to collect. At the end, we’ll show you how you can create and send surveys to members using ClearVantage Association Management Software.
Before you start to create your survey, it’s important to understand and prioritize the feedback that your association needs the most. This will help you keep your survey as succinct as possible -- and improve the chances of your members filling them out.To do so, consider:
- What business problem(s) do we need the most help solving?
- What kind of information can we only get from our asking our clients now?
As an example, if your event attendance is low, you may want to add a couple of questions that focus on how you can make events more valuable for members. With this in mind, you may also want to compare previous event feedback to see which information you already have. Looking back on previous feedback will allow you to see which information and questions you’ll need to ask in your new survey.
Below, we have provided some example questions to consider for general and more strategic general data purposes. You’ll notice that each table has the question on the left and the question format on the right. If you’re unfamiliar with the question format types, please refer to our previous blog post on the topic. As a general rule of thumb, be sure to consider the data that you’ve already collected before posing it as a question in your survey.
General Questions
These questions will help you gather general but helpful feedback, no matter your situation.
| Question |
Question Format |
| Which benefits do you find most/least valuable? |
Radio/Multiple Choice |
| How likely are you to renew your membership? |
Rating/Likert |
| How satisfied with your membership are you overall? |
Rating/Likert |
| Additional comments (always leave an open-ended question to allow members to provide more qualitative feedback). |
Open-Ended |
Improving Customer Service
| Question |
Question Format |
| Our service representatives are well-trained and knowledgeable about our products/services. |
Radio/Multiple Choice |
| What do you turn to first for support? |
Radio/Multiple Choice |
| Which support resources/services do you find most helpful? |
Radio/Multiple Choice |
| How often do you use your online Member (or Support) Portal? . |
Rating/Likert |
Increasing Event Attendance
| Question |
Question Format |
| Did you attend an event this year? Please list why or why not. |
Open-Ended |
| What types of events would you like to see from us? |
Multiple Choice or Checklist |
| Which topics would you like to see covered at future conferences? |
Multiple Choice or Checklist |
| Which locations would you be most convenient and/or would you be willing to travel to in order to attend an event? |
Multiple Choice or Checklist |
How ClearVantage Association Management Software Can Help
Using ClearVantage, you can create and send surveys directly from the system. Check out this video tutorial to learn how to create your own survey. Then, send it out using CV Echion, our new drag-and-drop email editor that requires zero HTML. Though it is pretty intuitive, here is a video to help you learn how to navigate it!
Closing
The list and sections could go on forever but hopefully this article gave you the gist of how your Member Satisfaction Survey should look and function. Lastly, with all these different sections in mind, it’s important to remember that you want your survey to be as succinct and as strategic as possible. Choose to use questions only from sections that you need in this survey, and that will give you answers to questions that you don’t already have.