The One Question Survey: What Would It Be for Your Event?

If you could boil down your post-event survey down to one question, what would it be?

Recently I needed to call customer service for Delta Airlines regarding a possible change to my itinerary. Normally I’d use the web interface or mobile app for these types of things, but in this case apparently what I was trying to do somehow violated Asimov’s 3 Laws of Robotics, so digital methods were just not cooperating. I was forced to *GASP* use the telephone and talk to a real, live person.

The service representative was extremely pleasant, worked through several multi-city flight scenarios, trying each in turn to see how much they cost, including change fees, routing through various hubs, and other tricks of the trade. She was patient and creative as we tried out each possibility in the system. Wow, what a rare and wonderful customer service experience!

As she concluded the call, an automated voice asked me if I wanted to participate in a one question survey. I’m not normally good for completing ratings or surveys unless they’re only a couple of questions, and have abandoned more than my fair share of surveys once they’ve gone past the first page. But one question? I could handle that. Especially since my experience had been so great. I wanted to make sure my service rep was rewarded, and I was intrigued- what kind of information could you glean about my 20 minute call from one question?

The question was simple, brilliant, and not at all what I expected. It went something like this: “When thinking of the representative that just helped you, how likely would you be to hire them as a customer service representative?” I was presented with a 1-5 scale, I punched in the highest score, and that was it. Thank you, and goodbye.

Obviously, I was impressed with the power of that one question. Impressed enough to immediately jot it down as something I’d have to write about later. It got me thinking about the post-event surveys we deal with on a regular basis. As I mentioned a moment ago, I don’t have much tolerance for lengthy surveys, especially those where every response is marked “Required Field.” Unfortunately, far too often we see exactly that kind of survey as a follow up to our events.

How many people started your post-event survey, then abandoned it once they realized what they were getting into? How much of a representative sample are you really getting when only 5% of your attendees fill out your survey completely? There seems to be a hesitancy on the part of survey creators to have too few questions, as if important insights can’t be gleaned from a short survey, and that only pages and pages of required fields can get you the information you need.

But… what if… all you needed was just one question?

“Would you attend this event next year?” seems too simple, and doesn’t tell you much about anything. “Would you recommend this event to a friend?” Maybe, a little closer. But what about something like this: “If you were spend your own money, and not your organization’s, would you attend this event next year?” Getting closer. There are definitely events that I would only attend if the costs were being covered by someone else. There are others that I likely would pay my own money to attend.

So what would your event’s one question survey be? Leave a comment and let me know!