The Post-Show Survey.
Five questions, anonymous, sent after the show. This is the survey I ran at a regional opera company, and it is the fastest way to find out whether the experience kept the promise your marketing made.
Everything you need to build it is on this page. It takes about six minutes.
Keep it anonymous.
When it is anonymous, people tell you the truth. Our audience was unafraid to say a show was boring. That is a gift, and it is a gift you only get if they believe nobody is watching.
Not “we won’t share your name.” Anonymous. No email field, no name field, no “may we contact you.” The moment there is a name on it you get politeness, and politeness is not data.
Short is the other rule. Five questions. If it takes more than a minute, the people you most need to hear from, the ones who were disappointed, are the ones who will not finish it.
The five questions.
Copy these. Replace [ART FORM] with yours, opera, theatre, dance, music, and [COMPANY NAME] with yours.
- 1Have you ever been to a [ART FORM] performance before?Yes / No · Multiple choice · Required
- 2Have you ever been to a [COMPANY NAME] production before?Yes / No · Multiple choice · Required
- 3How would you rate your overall experience?1 to 5, Not great to Wonderful · Linear scale · Required
- 4Would you come back to another [COMPANY NAME] performance?Yes / No · Multiple choice · Required
- 5Anything else you'd like to share with us?Long answer · Paragraph · Optional
The form title.
The three settings that keep it anonymous.
In Google Forms, open Settings and under Responses:
- Collect email addresses:Off
- Limit to 1 response:Off. Turning it on forces people to sign in.
- See summary charts and text responses:Off
And in the form itself, no name field and no contact field. If any of these are wrong, you are not running an anonymous survey. You are running a survey people know is attached to them, and you will get politeness back.
The dates.
Add a closing date above and these fill in. The rule:
The email.
Schedule it for the next morning, to everyone who bought a ticket. Two sentences, the link, and the date.
Thank you for spending your evening with us. If you have one minute, we would love to hear how it went, anonymously: [YOUR FORM LINK].
Build it in six minutes.
- 1Go to forms.google.com and start a blank form.
- 2Title it “[COMPANY NAME] Audience Survey.”
- 3Add the five questions. Questions 1, 2 and 4 are Multiple choice. Question 3 is Linear scale, 1 to 5, labelled Not great and Wonderful. Question 5 is Paragraph.
- 4Mark 1 through 4 Required. Leave 5 optional.
- 5Open Settings and set the three items above.
- 6Click Send, copy the link, and shorten it. Make a QR code from the same link for the program book and a sign at the exit.
Sending it.
Schedule the email for the next morning, while it is still fresh, to everyone who bought a ticket, with the two-sentence thank-you from Part 4 of the Kit. Put the QR code in the program and on a sign at the exit for the people who bought at the door or came on someone else’s ticket. Keep the form open for a week. Log the results in the Survey Log tab of the planner the following Monday.
I am building this into GreenRoom, the CRM I make for performing arts organizations. The survey goes out on its own, the responses stay anonymous, and the numbers land in your audience development scorecard without you retyping anything.
I’m Katie Spencer. I ran development and marketing at a regional opera company, co-founded an opera company in New York, and now build GreenRoom.