Membership Survey: How to Create the Best Membership Survey Questions

A membership survey is the best tool for helping organizations get to know their customers and audience.

The membership survey acts like the questions you ask when going out on a date with your newfound partner. At first, it feels like a match made in heaven; then you get them talking and later realize that there’s a lot you didn’t know about the person.

Membership surveys are how organizations get to know new members. The survey helps you collect information that will help you decide what steps to take to improve the value of your organization to your members. You learn ways to boost member engagement, membership, satisfaction, and benefits.

So without further ado, let’s dive deeper into what a membership survey is all about and how to create the best membership survey questions.

What is a membership satisfaction survey?

A membership survey, member satisfaction survey, or member satisfaction survey is a set of questions designed to obtain relevant information about your organization from a particular group of people.

An example is a preference survey, e.g., you can ask your members how many of your events they’ve attended in the past year. If they’ve attended more than two events, you can ask them whether their expectations are being met during the event. If not, the next question you can ask is how you can meet their expectations during an event.

Member surveys can be:

• Short
• Long
• Open-ended
• Close-ended

You can conduct surveys in different ways: online, face-to-face, by telephone, or by mail.

Online surveys are more effective because you save time, especially if you’re using a predefined survey template. They also have the added benefit of being anonymous and non-intrusive compared to physical surveys.

Surveys can benefit companies in any industry. Done right, the survey questions reveal the issues and needs of your members that you should address to give them a richer experience. That’s why it’s recommended that you conduct at least two membership surveys a year. That way, you’ll always have data from your members on how to provide valuable experiences and which areas to improve.

One example of a membership satisfaction survey from Upwork. The company takes data from its members/subscribers using clear and concise survey questions like the one below.

Tips to creating the best member satisfaction survey

A membership questionnaire does not entail coming up with a bunch of questions to ask and disseminating them to your targeted people. Instead, you have to identify the objectives for the survey and come up with questions that will help you meet those objectives.

Let’s say your objective is to find out if people like your new product. You can come up with questions like:

On a scale of one to ten, with one being strongly disliked and ten being absolutely loved, how do you feel about the new product?

• What do you feel we should change about the new product?
• Would you recommend this product to a friend/loved one?

When creating a member survey, the goal is to focus on the topic you want to explore. If the topic is feedback on a new product, focus on that. Don’t veer off by asking questions about your customer service, website experience, or other stuff.

Other tips to bear in mind are:-

Tip 1: Determine which members you want to ask

You can send a general survey to all your members for insights about your brand; however, targeted surveys are the best for deeper insights.

When we talk about targeted surveys, we mean having a set of questions to ask new members and a different set of questions for long-term members. That way, you can gain insights into what attracted the new respondents and how to boost retention.

The GroupApp online community-building tool lets community admins create membership surveys that appear when a member joins their community. A course instructor, for example, can create membership questions for their community and access the responses by clicking on a member’s profile. It’s simple to create the questions and easy to check how many of your members have responded to your survey.

Below is an example of a membership satisfaction question designed for new members so that the course instructor can understand how best to serve them.

The membership survey questions above help the creator understand what value to give the new member. If the member admits that they have used other tools prior to considering Adobe Creative, the instructor understands that this is a member with some level of experience who wants to try out a new tool for one reason or another.

The next question is also relevant as it helps the instructor understand the client.

Suppose the new customers are just starting out. The instructor can start them off by sharing a video that explains the features of Adobe Creative and some popular terms that they’re likely to hear in the course.

The length of the membership survey above is fair and would take less than 2 minutes to answer. The questions are also a no-brainer, which is encouraging for a new member. For us, the instructor, the questions provide them with powerful insights, including which marketing channels work best for their brand.

Tip 2: Opt for close-ended questions instead of open-ended ones

An effective member survey consists of closed-ended questions. Such questions provide predefined answers, making them great for understanding benchmarks and trends.

Here’s an example of a close-ended question from a nonprofit organization.

Whereas open-ended questions would provide valuable information, effective member surveys get members’ opinions by providing a mixture of closed and open-ended questions.

For example, you can ask open-ended questions at the end of the survey. A question like, “What is the biggest challenge you face when you attend events in your locale?”

Such a question will provide great insights that you can use to improve your product/service.

Consider the following open-ended questions for your survey.

Q1. How did you hear about us?

Q2. What do you like most about this product?

Q3. What do you dislike most about this product?

Q4. If this product was an animal, what kind would it be?

You can use open-ended questions when:

• Surveying a small audience
• When surveying experts
• When the survey is a preliminary research

Close-ended questions work better when:

• You’re dealing with a busy audience
• When you want quantitative data
• When you intend to categorize respondents

Tip 3: Keep it short and simple

When you keep your assessment survey short and simple, you’re likely to get a high completion rate from members.

Tip 4: Avoid repeating questions

The secret to avoiding this issue is to set clear objectives for the survey. Each goal gives you an idea to focus on, guiding you when crafting the questions.

Still, there are instances where repeating questions work well. You can do so when you want additional information from your members. This strategy is called “loop questions” or “smart loops” in surveys, and you can either craft them manually or use the software.

Tip 5: Leverage the right tool

The right tool lets you create membership survey questions without stress-free. Such a tool is easy to use and comes with multiple features that you can use to customize your survey.

There are free and paid survey tool options like Zoho Survey, Survey Monkey, and Google Forms. Each of these tools works well for creating short, simple, and straightforward surveys.

If you’re looking for something that lets you do more than create surveys, like engage your community or offer learning materials, you can use GroupApp.

Tip 6: Be intentional with your timing

Timing is everything when it comes to a survey. If the survey is meant to gauge the clients’ experience after an event attendance, it should come immediately after the event.

Tip 7: Test the questions

How would your members feel when answering your questions? You can test this experience by sending the questions to yourself or a small group of members in your community. Get their feedback and review the questions to ensure they are well-constructed.

Promote it

Promoting your online survey gives you a higher chance of getting a higher response rate. You can advertise it on your social media pages, or you can post it on your website.

You can also place a link and a note in your e-newsletter.

Tip 9: Share the results

Once you receive responses to your questionnaire, sharing the results with members is essential. This way, you can thank everyone who participated.

Most creators would shy away from posting negative feedback on their social media. But negative responses are still valuable as they give you clues on how you can improve your services in the future.

Respond thoughtfully to the negative feedback by posting a statement thanking the members for their feedback. After that, apologize, if necessary, and offer a solution to improve the client’s satisfaction.

Examples of great member surveys

Member satisfaction surveys come in different forms. Some come with a rating scale, as shown below. This type is recognizable and easy to understand, and people will not get frustrated when they see it.

Another type of survey that gives clients a positive experience is one with video. This type entails an embedded video as questions. Video content is catching on, and so are video surveys, as they are more engaging and have that human touch. Below is an example of a video survey from Formsite.

You can create a video survey by embedding a video from Vimeo or Youtube. This video can be a short introduction at the beginning of the survey, explaining the purpose of the membership survey and encouraging members to complete it. Alternatively, members can watch a video about your product or services and answer survey questions afterward. What’s appealing about this survey format is that it’s attention-grabbing and provides a lot of information in a short period of time.

Our third example is a simple membership survey posted on Twitter. A growing number of people have a social media account, either on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Posting a short membership survey on social media gives you real-time feedback from your members. Your Twitter members can answer the questions easily as they scroll through their feeds.

The three examples show the different forms thats membership surveys can take. Each type is simple to understand and easy to answer. You can entice members to answer by providing an incentive, e.g., a free demo of your product or a gift.

Next, let’s look at the types of questions to include in your membership survey.

Survey for new members example questions

1. How did you hear about our organization?

This is a great question for evaluating your marketing tactics. If most of your new participants are coming from a certain social media platform like LinkedIn, you can decide to look for ways to improve your shortcomings on other platforms.

2. How likely are you to renew your membership?

This is an excellent question that helps you gauge interest and client satisfaction. If the client responds negatively, your organization can look for ways to improve relations with them.

3. What is the best way to contact you?

You can end your survey with this question, which is important as it leads you to getting the respondents’ contacts.

4. What benefits did you enjoy the most while engaging with our organization?

This question helps you learn how members feel about your organization. Its services, programs, and association with the community.

5. How would you rate your overall experience with us?

A member who’s had a great experience with you is likely to return or recommend your services to others. Remember that retained clients are likely to spend more than new ones. If their overall experience is poor, you can work on ways to improve it.

Member satisfaction survey for existing members

Surveying your current members is as important as conducting market research. A survey promotes engagement, which is vital when building a membership base. It will help determine how you’ll keep your members happy in the future as it looks at their level of satisfaction and dissatisfaction with your services.

Member satisfaction surveys will put you right on the spot in figuring out whether your existing members would consider long-term membership. If a majority of them would not, then you’ll be in a better position to address issues that would revive their interest in your product.

Now that we’ve covered that, let’s look at seven powerful questions to ask existing members in the survey.

Top seven questions to add to your membership survey

1. How long have you been with us?

This question sets the pace for organizing your feedback at the start of the survey. It helps you distinguish between the answers you get and determine whether they’re convenient based on the length of time the participant has been a member.

2. Would you renew your membership with us?

This question helps you identify whether you’re giving value to a customer. It also helps you gauge the retention rate.

3. How many events have you attended so far?

This question helps you figure out how engaged the person is with your programs. You can use it to make them open up about what they like and don’t like about your events.

You should remember to leave space for those who don’t attend your events at all. This will help you gather information on the reasons behind her not attending. Maybe they don’t attend because of travel restrictions or time constraints, or maybe they don’t see the value of attending.

1. Do you plan to attend events in the upcoming year?

This is another question that can help you measure your retention rates.

2. If your answer is no (in the question above), could you tell us why?

This question lets you identify what your organization should do more or less of in terms of events.

3. How likely are you to recommend our programs to others?

This question reveals whether the client sees the benefits of your organization compared to other organizations.

4. How did you hear about us?

This is another great question that lets you know which marketing channels and techniques work best for your organization.

Wrap Up

Your members are an essential part of your association, and you want to ensure they enjoy being part of your profit or non-profit organization. A member satisfaction survey is the tool you use to connect with your members and gain valuable information.

These survey questions are not just guesswork. Instead, it would be best to design each question with clear objectives.

If you’re looking for a tool that lets you set up survey questions, conduct follow-up, build a community, and maintain relationships, GroupApp is what you’ve been looking for.

You can watch the demo video to learn more.