How do you balance the length and depth of your conference feedback form to avoid survey fatigue?

1 Define your goals

Before you start creating your feedback form, you need to define your goals and objectives. What do you want to learn from your attendees? What aspects of your conference do you want to evaluate and improve? How will you use the feedback data to inform your future decisions? Having clear goals will help you focus on the most relevant questions and avoid asking unnecessary or redundant ones.

2 Choose your format

There are different formats and methods for collecting feedback, such as online surveys, paper forms, mobile apps, live polls, or interviews. Each format has its advantages and disadvantages, depending on your audience, budget, and timing. You should choose the format that is most convenient and accessible for your attendees, and that allows you to collect the data you need. For example, online surveys are easy to distribute and analyze, but they may have lower response rates than paper forms or live polls.

3 Limit your questions

One of the main causes of survey fatigue is asking too many questions. If your feedback form is too long or complex, your attendees may lose interest, skip questions, or drop out altogether. To avoid this, you should limit your questions to the minimum necessary to achieve your goals. A good rule of thumb is to keep your feedback form under 10 questions, and preferably under 5. You can also use branching logic or conditional questions to tailor your form to different segments of your audience.

4 Vary your question types

Another way to prevent survey fatigue is to vary your question types and formats. Using different types of questions, such as open-ended, closed-ended, rating scales, or multiple choice, can make your feedback form more engaging and interactive. However, you should also be careful not to use too many different types of questions, as this may confuse or overwhelm your attendees. You should also use consistent and clear wording, labels, and instructions for your questions, and avoid leading or biased questions.

5 Test and optimize your form

Before you launch your feedback form, you should test and optimize it to ensure that it works well and that it provides you with the data you need. You can test your form on a small sample of your attendees or on a group of colleagues or friends. You can also use online tools or platforms to test your form for usability, clarity, and validity. You should look for any issues or errors in your form, such as broken links, typos, or missing options. You should also check the length and time of your form, and see if you can reduce or simplify any questions.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?