||| May 14, 2025 by Leigh Fagin

Audience Surveys: Ask and Ye Shall Receive

The other day, from the privacy of my desk at the Chicago Cultural Center, I attended a webinar hosted by Patronmail Technology’s entitled “Audience Surveys: Ask and Ye Shall Receive,” with the president of Engaged Audiences, Jack McAuliffe.  In this 45 minute session, McAuliffe shared his insight and success with surveying audiences and the benefits of taking the time to survey with a purpose.

Through qualitative methods, such as focus groups and questionnaires, you can develop topics for further explorations

As we talked about in our recent Learning Circle “Asking the Right Questions,” you will never get information from your audiences until you ask – but do it to find our something.  Ask questions that help you address a problem, or to begin understanding what those issues might be at your organization that are most visible to those that engage with you.  As Mculiffe mentions, audiences are more than interested in answering your questions when they are approached in the right way – and the questions are developed with intentionality.

McAuliffe provided information on the various survey methods available, such as data analysis, focus groups, program questionnaires, online surveys and audience random research.  Guiding us through what is best suited for specific purposes, this webinar highlighted that you should be mindful of what research you can do with the information you already have, and use informal research that will help you identify questions your organization needs to ask.  Through qualitative methods, such as focus groups and questionnaires, you can develop topics for further explorations – this is NOT a way to get answers. 

Also, be mindful as you do quantitative research that can be measured.  Online surveys and program questionnaires are not completely random.  Many people who answer surveys are self-selected individuals with extreme opinions.  Through “Audience Random Research” – you take a slice through the bell curve.  The responses that you get, if you get enough (and statisticians suggest a sample size of 100 or more to be significant), should be representative of your audiences.  This approach requires a team on board to hand them out personally and to explain the impact their feedback can have.  McAuliffe reminds us that if you directly ask for their commitment to fill it out, then 99% of the time they will.  If they won’t, continue with the person behind them.  Get a truly random sample (every 4 person coming through the ticket taker etc.) and be there to collect them during intermission and after the event.  Be thorough, be consistent and be intentional. 

Most importantly, use that opportunity to bring those individuals back a second time – because what you can gain from getting them in the door again will have a true impact on your organization.  At the end of the survey, offer them a way to come back for a specific event – help them through the process of engaging with you.  Ask if you can send them an offer and give them a week to claim a discounted ticket.  The impact is immediate, and they will appreciate the opportunity to come back – and soon.  Or, McAuliffe suggests, communicating with your audience right after a performance/visit in what he calls the “morning after email.”   Follow-up is key, and is designed to engage audience members with the content of your work, and to remind them of their experience with you.  Remember, this is a crucial moment in your relationship with your patrons.  Mine them for their experiences and reward them for their time with you.  After you get them in the door once more in the immediate future, you are more likely to form a relationship that will last.

For a fleshed out article from Jack McAuliffe regarding these idea and techniques, please visit:
http://pm.patrontechnology.com/newsletters/article_apr10.htm
 

Tags: Research