Exhibitions provide the ideal chance for brands and companies to interact and communicate directly with their target audience. No other marketing platform can prove as beneficial as exhibitions for live interaction with the target group and retrieving value feedback and input from them. The data you extract from this process can prove to be highly beneficial and help your business tremendously. With the data you draw out you can modify your marketing plan and even make improvements in the product or the way it is projected.

A good way to collect quantifiable data from your visitors to the trade show is through exhibition survey. Exhibition survey or questionnaire is a good way to derive relevant data from visitors. Most exhibitors often find the task of formulating exhibition survey questions overwhelming. Resorting to third-party exhibition questionnaire sample won’t help you achieve the desired outcome.

First and foremost you need to be clear about what data you want from your audience. Whether you want to know them better or gauge their reaction on a particular product or service your company offers, exhibition questions can help you to generate precise data from your target group.

Specific survey questions enable you to get to know your customers better. However, developing a good exhibition questionnaire sample is harder than it seems

Survey questions at an exhibition: 10 do’s and don’ts

An exhibition is a perfect occasion for market research. Exhibitors meet a lot of customers. By asking specific exhibition questions you will discover their needs. However, developing a good exhibition questionnaire is harder than it seems. That’s why we come up with ten do’s and don’ts for the good survey questions.

Sales and marketing is a strange profession to be in. You don’t need to come up with the best solution, to attract customers. Customers must feel you offer the best solution. For this, you must anticipate their needs. What are important values for them? What problems do they face? What ‘triggers’ them to purchase a product? What are their main concerns and how is your product lacking?

At an exhibition, you meet many potential customers in a relatively short period of time. It’s a gold mine for valuable information for example about your products, organization, and stand. As long as you don’t ask things, you won’t get an answer. How can you make sure your visitors fill out your exhibition survey?

10 Tips For Developing Exhibition Survey Questions

 

1. Drawing up survey questions: What do you need to know?

Answering questions or filling out exhibition survey questions should only take a few minutes. Time is scarce and they probably prefer to do something else. For this reason, the process of filling out your exhibition questionnaire should be simplified. Only ask what’s strictly necessary.

In advance, you must determine the essential information. An exhibition questionnaire should consist of max. 8 questions and should definitely include essential exhibition questions. The exhibition questionnaire should– preferably – fit on 1 page. So that visitors are motivated to fill it out.

2. Ask short, specific questions

If a visitor is faced with long questions, he won’t probably read them. We recommend that you ask short, specific, clear questions, a maximum of 20 words each, allowing a short answer. Multiple-choice questions simplify the process for visitors. However, don’t give too many options, as most visitors will drop out. Also, avoid answers which resemble each other. If people start doubting, they usually skip the question.

3. Add short instructions to the survey

You can either ask questions personally or have visitors fill out the exhibition survey. If you prefer the last option, you should add a short instruction to avoid indistinctness.

Explain to the participants how they can answer questions and the number of answers they can choose from. Are they allowed to fill it out anonymously? Emphasize it, to convince doubting visitors.

4. Offer extra space for remarks and suggestions

Most visitors prefer closed, multiple-choice questions. You should, however, offer the possibility to add remarks, suggestions or additions. If people take the time to write something down, it usually brings valuable information.

 

 

 

 

5. Start your exhibition questionnaire with opinions

Would you like to know where a visitor comes from and in which line of business he/she works? This shouldn’t be your first question, as visitors usually drop out. We recommend you to start by asking their opinion. Everyone loves to be heard. You need to make your visitors feel important. Ask and value their opinion and it will automatically help you to form a strong bond with them.

Ask important, essential exhibition survey questions at the end of the survey, or scan their badge if you use a digital exhibition questionnaire.

 

 

6. Test your exhibition survey questions

What might be completely clear to you, doesn’t have to be clear to people who fill out your exhibition questionnaire. For this reason, you should test your exhibition survey questions before asking them to visitors, to avoid indistinctness. Have multiple exhibition questionnaire samples and spread out your questions based on what you want to know. Pay attention to one-sided, leading and two distinct questions. Over-simplified questions evoke new questions. In that case, you’d better formulate it differently.

The order of questions is important as well. You can lead people (unconsciously) towards a certain direction, “forcing” them to give answers you’d like to hear. This might be good for your ego but doesn’t bring objective information.

7. Reward visitors who fill out the questionnaire

Everyone performs better when there is an incentive involved. Your exhibition visitors aren’t any different. A visitor will be more willing to fill out an exhibition questionnaire if he is rewarded. For this reason, you should consider giving a reward to anyone filling out your exhibition survey questions. By rewarding them they will usually take more time to fill it out, which brings more and better information.

 

8. Never waste your customer’s time

How do you feel when you waste your time standing in the wrong queue? Frustrated right? And irritated, that you wasted your time for no relevant reason! Customers feel the same when you ask them to fill an exhibition survey that they know is irreverent or doesn’t apply to their lifestyle choices. To avoid this, ask a qualifying question to your potential customer before you hand them your exhibition survey form.

For example, if you are a fast-food company, the qualifying question would be “Do you eat outside once a week?” If the customer answers in affirmation then you would continue by saying

“We are offering this free meal hamper for customers who can fill this survey, would you be interested?” The added benefit of having a screening question is that you will get answers that are useful and accurate.

9. Value your customer’s privacy

Make it clear to your customer beforehand, how their responses will be used. Let them know which information will be shared and what will be kept private. If you can afford to keep the responses your customers give anonymous, do so. Customers will appreciate this and feel more encouraged to answer your exhibition survey questions, with honesty. Similarly, if your survey asks for contact details, specify what you will mail, SMS, or notify them about and present them the option to opt-out before you had the survey.

 

10. Let customers get familiar

It can be tempting to handle out your prepared questionnaire to exhibition visitors the instant they show up at your stand. But hold that thought. Rather you should introduce your brand to the prospect, explain its purpose and let them peruse through your exhibition stand. This will help them to get to know what your brand is all about. This will provide a better context for the customer when you present your exhibition questionnaire to them. They will also remember your brand longer now that they are familiar with it.

 

Survey questions at an exhibition, this is how it works!

Successful selling is all about getting to know your customers. If you know what inspires them and what’s important for them, you can better anticipate it. At an exhibition, you meet a lot of customers in a relatively short period of time. This makes it the perfect occasion for real-time market research.

Visitors don’t like filling out questionnaires, especially if it takes a lot of time or if they are complicated. Make use of the tips in this article, develop an effective questionnaire and get to know your customers better. It will be a positive contribution to your product and marketing.

About Expo Display Service:- 

Established in 1979, Expo Display Service has over 3 decades of experience in exhibition stand designing and construction, making it your most reliable exhibition partner in Europe. With 12 offices in 7 countries, Expo Display Service has catered to some of the biggest names in the industry all across Europe.

We at Expo Display Service have the largest online catalog of exhibition stand designs in Europe! With an in-house designing team and state of the art production unit you can be assured of unique design and top quality, exhibition stands anywhere and everywhere in Europe. With just 3 clicks on our, Expo Stand Configurator get your perfect match!

Partner with Expo Display Service for exclusive exhibition stands, turnkey solutions in an all-inclusive package. Contact Expo Display Service to avail services at competitive prices.