
Best practices for creating a satisfaction survey
Satisfaction surveys are a valuable tool for measuring the effectiveness of training, to get feedback from learners but also from trainers and to identify areas for improvement. Well designed, they are a valuable source of information on training courses and help strengthen the learner experience.
Clearly define the objectives of the investigation
As is often the case, the first essential step is to clearly define the goals to be achieved. What information do you need to collect? Know the strengths and weaknesses? Areas for improvement? Or even get concrete ideas? Follow the evolution of satisfaction over time?
With regard to vocational training, the most frequent objectives are:
- Assess the quality of educational content.
- Know the adequacy between the content of the training and the expected educational objectives.
- Measure the effectiveness of the trainer.
- Understand the impact of training on skills
- Identify areas for improvement for future sessions.
Your goals allow you to define the key indicators that you will monitor, who you will interview, how and how often.
The survey form
The form must consist of several questions that must meet the objectives of the survey.
However, it is important to include certain elements in the questionnaire:
- An open question allowing everyone to express themselves freely.
- A question of type NPS to measure the evolution of satisfaction and to be able to compare it objectively.
- A statement indicating whether the responses are anonymous or not.
- If and how the results are reported.
With some exceptions, it is recommended that all other closed-ended questions use the same response scale, such as the Likert scale.
The Likert scale is a measurement tool commonly used in surveys and questionnaires to assess a respondent's opinion, satisfaction, or degree of agreement with a statement. It generally takes the form of a series of ordered choices, for example, from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree”, or from “Very dissatisfied” to “Very satisfied.” This approach makes it possible to quantify subjective perceptions into usable data, facilitating statistical analysis and comparison between different populations or over time. Simple to understand and use, the Likert scale is a standard for measuring experience, attitudes, and behaviors in social science, marketing, or training assessment studies.
It is also not recommended to use boolean Yes/No questions, which are too simplistic and do not allow the respondent to qualify their satisfaction (for example, “Are you satisfied with the training provided? Yes/No”).
In general, you should avoid overly technical terms or complex sentences, and not ask several questions in one (for example: was the course clear and interesting?). It is important to use neutral language so as not to influence responses. The questionnaire should be limited to a maximum of 10-15 questions and should be able to be completed in less than 5 minutes so that respondents do not give up along the way.
A good training satisfaction questionnaire must follow a fluid architecture composed of several sequences:
- A short introduction to explain the purpose of the survey.
- Questions about organization, content, media, animation.
- The NPS.
- Questions about what the learner retained, their overall level of satisfaction.
- One or two open questions to gather ideas and allow the learner to express themselves freely.
Automating the investigation process through digitalization
Automation is the key to creating truly effective satisfaction surveys!
No more paper-based surveys, hastily distributed at the end of the training by the trainer and hastily completed by the learners, for which the results had to be compiled by hand. Digitalization makes it possible to facilitate and secure the vast majority of the investigation process, even for hybrid or face-to-face training!
Digitizing satisfaction surveys is quite simple and inexpensive. It will allow several things that will contribute to enriching the learners' experience while facilitating the trainer's work:
- Hot evaluation: Schedule the survey form to be sent to participants at the end of the training.
- Set up reminders at regular intervals to encourage people to respond.
- Cold evaluation: Program the sending of a survey some time after the training to find out if the learners have retained and applied the concepts learned during the session.
- Compile and analyze the results.
- Automatically analyze open questions thanks to AI.
- Historize sustainably and reliably the answers and the results.
- Specify actions or consequences based on the results.
The administration of the investigation
The survey form can be administered to learners in several ways:
- Sending by email or SMS.
- Via a QR Code or a URL, either with mandatory identification, or in public mode without authentication.
- Directly integrated into the module elearning or directly integrated following a summative assessment for example.
- Accessible from their learner area on the platform LMS.
The method of distribution of the survey therefore depends on the format of the training and the target audience. It is of course possible to combine several approaches to maximize feedback: if during a face-to-face session a participant did not complete the survey, it can automatically be sent to him later by email or SMS.
The form must be accessible on a computer, tablet and smartphone.
Analysis of the results
Analyzing survey results is an absolutely crucial part. This analysis should answer the questions posed by the objectives of the survey and highlight areas of dissatisfaction.
The results should be able to be filtered by training session and by trainer. In some cases, if the survey is not anonymous, the responses should be accessible by user.
The analysis of free responses is more complex because it is difficult to automate and therefore involves having to read the answers one by one. On Experquiz, artificial intelligence helps trainers on this point: the AI analyzes each answer and will give a mood level between 1 (very unhappy) and 5 (very satisfied). The trainer can then focus on the lowest mood levels.
All the results must be freely exportable in order to be reprocessed if necessary.
A well-designed satisfaction survey is a powerful tool for improving the quality of your training. By defining clear objectives, by asking the right questions and by valuing the feedback of participants, you transform your surveys into a real educational management tool.