Tip 9 – Evaluate live or lose the chance!

We all like to know how well our Webinars have gone by receiving feedback from the audience.

We might need this information as part of our reporting process to managers or for our own, more personal reasons.

Clearly, this kind of data helps a great deal when planning better events in the future.

However, just like at face-to-face events, it can be difficult to get 100% of participants to fill in the feedback form.

So, I decided to ask participants to fill in the virtual form before they left the Webinar.

I found that the form itself needs to be quick, to the point and easy to fill in in order to encourage  as much response as possible. It’s also a good idea to include at least one free text field to allow those who want to add open comments to do so.

Use the integrated survey tool – or not?

I started off by using the survey tool integrated into my Webinar software but this was only accessible to the audience after the Webinar had finished. I found that the completion rate was very low because most attendees ignored the form and carried on with their lives after leaving the Webinar.

So what’s the answer?

All webinar systems I have seen so far automatically turn web addresses into clickable links in the text chat, so I started using a thrid-party survey tool and I added the link to the survey into the text chat before the end of the Webinar. 

Asking the audience to click the link in text chat which opened the feedback form in a new window meant that I received many more completed forms and the quality of the responses was also better. I even started planning the final activity of the Webinar to happen after I had given the audience time to fill in the feedback form.

Overall…

Plan carefully how to approach feedback collection. Consider giving the audience access to the form before the end of the Webinar and in a format which will be appealing:

• not too long
• quick to fill-in e.g. using radio button rating scales
• fun and easy to complete
• including a free-text entry field for those who want to add their own comments

With a small amount of planning and preparation, higher rates of feedback are possible and will often be better quality responses as well.

This is exactly what we all need to help us assess our Webinar and plan more effective ones for the future.

Creative Commons image credit: .read. | Copyright music credit (used by permission): Mike Murphy