Why Exit Surveys Are Your Booth's Best Friend (And Might Save Your Sanity)

We sat down with Joe Federbush, President and Chief Strategist at Evolio Marketing, who started his career mailing surveys back in high school and hasn’t stopped collecting data since. Joe’s been around the block (and the booth), and he’s here to tell us why exit surveys are the secret sauce for event marketers who want to know what’s really going on in their booths. Spoiler alert: It’s not always what you think.

What You'll Find in this Edition of One Thing:

• Benefits of Exit Surveys
• Entry + Exit Surveys = A Dynamic Duo
• How to Get People to Actually Take Your Survey (And Not Roll Their Eyes)
• Crafting the Perfect Survey
• What Happens with the Data
• What's the Investment?

Exit Surveys: More Than Just “Thanks for Stopping By”

Voice of the Visitor (VoV): Let’s face it — guessing how your booth performed based on your gut is about as reliable as using a Magic 8-Ball to make million-dollar decisions. Exit surveys give you the real-time visitor feedback you need to know what’s working — and what’s falling flat — so you can pivot before it’s too late. It’s like getting the director’s cut before the movie’s even finished.

Instant Team Motivation: Imagine starting each day with a pep talk straight from your visitors’ mouths. Survey results give your booth staff direct feedback, so they know what they’re crushing and where they might need to dial it back. Staffers love it — they get to see how their efforts are impacting the experience, and that morning review of the KPIs and metrics helps them fine-tune their approach each day. It’s like being on a reality TV show, but instead of getting voted off the island, you get tips to improve your booth game.

Response Rates that Make You Say ‘Wow’: On-site exit surveys tend to get a whopping 70% response rate, whereas post-event surveys barely scrape by with less than 5%. Why? Because people are still buzzing from the booth experience when you catch them on-site. Email surveys, on the other hand, are like trying to invite people to a party the day after — it’s too late.