Unlock Member Insights With Club Surveys

Whether you belong to a thriving country club or want to run a more organized athletic club in your community, you need to keep your finger on the pulse of members’ needs. It’s easy for leaders or board members to become disconnected from club members, making it even harder to make decisions that align with the club’s will.

Club surveys are an easy and cost-effective way to gather accurate data from club members. Not only do surveys tell you where club members stand on important issues, but this information will help you make well-informed decisions about the club’s future.

In this guide, we’ll break down why surveys in clubs are so important and offer six expert tips for creating effective club surveys.

The importance of membership surveys in clubs

It’s tempting to focus solely on growing the club and having fun with group members. However, even if you’re close to members, they likely won’t share honest feedback with you face-to-face. Many people feel awkward sharing feedback — even if it’s helpful or constructive — for fear of hurting the relationship or their place in the club.

This environment only perpetuates problems that leaders are blind to, potentially hurting the club’s longevity and value. It might sting to receive feedback if you aren’t used to it, but when implemented well, club surveys are a smart way to find opportunities for improvement that allow the club to grow.

Membership surveys have a range of other benefits, including:

• Finding areas for improvement: Every club has something it could improve on. If you want this club to be the best option in your area, you need to take member feedback seriously. In fact, spotting areas of friction can help you design a richer and more satisfying club experience that stands out. Face-to-face feedback is great, but formal surveys increase the odds of gathering constructive, actionable feedback from a wider range of members.
• Tracking opinions over time: Times change and members’ opinions will change, too. What worked at the start of your club might not work anymore. Club surveys help your organization gather information about views and issues that matter. Providers like Survey & Ballot Systems (SBS) make it easy to track member feedback over time and spot changes or trends. Instead of feeling blindsided, the data will tell you about changing member preferences so you can pivot ASAP.
• Measuring satisfaction and engagement: Happy members are more likely to stay engaged with your club. But how happy are your members? Most people won’t air their grievances unless prompted. Club surveys give these members an avenue to share what they like and want to improve about the club. Instead of watching a stream of members slowly disengage from the club, you invest in what works and fix what doesn’t, keeping the club alive and well.
• Updating contact information: Email and text lists change all the time. Club surveys are a great time to update members’ contact information. This step decreases miscommunications and keeps members in the know about your latest happenings.
• Understanding needs and preferences: Surveys allow clubs to stay connected to their members by giving them a voice and letting administrators know what everyone is thinking.

SBS client Gleneagles Country Club discovered just how valuable it was to engage with its members. After surveying its members, the country club realized its outdated paper voting system created too many headaches during the voting process. With the help of SBS, the club embraced online voting. This change resulted in a dramatic increase in voter participation as well as member satisfaction. That’s the power of surveys in action!

How To Create Effective Membership Surveys

Club surveys give club leaders a much-needed line of communication with members. While surveys have an average response rate of three to five percent, you can increase responses with high-quality surveys. Follow these six steps to develop effective membership surveys.

1. Define Objectives

First, ask yourself what you want to get out of this survey. What does your leadership team need to know? What are the most pressing issues facing your members?

Your goal will have a tremendous impact on the club survey, from the format to the types of questions you ask. There are so many types of surveys you can send, depending on your goals:

• Leadership assessment survey
• Scheduling survey
• Needs-assessment survey
• Pricing survey
• Satisfaction survey

Let your objectives guide you at every stage of the process. Ask yourself whether the survey’s format, questions, and other features support your objective. If not, it’s back to the drawing board.

2. Pick a Frequency

How often will you send these surveys? You don’t want to overwhelm club members with a weekly survey, but a few well-timed campaigns can help you gather information without being a pest.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to survey frequency. Experts say once yearly is the minimum, but twice a year is recommended. SBS has sent surveys on quarterly, biannual, and annual bases for clients, so it comes down to the nuances of your club. When in doubt, aim for a survey once every six months.

3. Select the Right Formats

How will you send the surveys to club members? The question of distribution gets more complicated the larger your club is. Some members might prefer paper surveys, for example, while others might prefer an online option.

The good news is that you don’t have to choose. SBS offers online, paper, and hybrid survey options. We create a mobile-friendly voting website tailored to your club members’ expectations. Plus, we’ll even send email invites reminding members to share their feedback.

4. Use Multiple Question Types

It’s tempting to make the entire survey open-ended, but that will make it much harder to sift through a bevy of qualitative data. It’s okay to ask a few open-ended questions, but don’t stick to one question type.

For example, multiple-choice questions and rating scales are great for quickly gathering input from members. Not only that, but it retains members’ attention as they go through the survey, reducing the chances of early abandonment.

You can always end the survey with an optional open-ended text box for sharing additional thoughts. This question format is ideal for gathering ideas from members that the survey didn’t cover.

5. Keep the Club Survey Concise

No one wants to spend 30 minutes filling out a club survey. Try to keep your surveys as short as possible. The surveys should take around five to ten minutes for the average member to fill out. Opting for question formats like multiple-choice or rating scales will speed things up, too.

If you’re sending a digital survey, consider adding a progress bar. This visualization tells members how much longer the survey will take, increasing the odds that they’ll stick around to complete it.

6. Implement Changes Based on Feedback

Revisit the objectives you set at the beginning of the club survey process. Did the survey support your goals? Did you execute it in accordance with your organization’s objectives?

In most cases, clubs send surveys to gather information they can use to improve the member experience. Your club exists to serve its members, so it’s crucial to act on the feedback you receive. In fact, not acting on feedback can hurt morale by making members feel like their voices aren’t heard.

For example, SBS sends voter satisfaction surveys to close the feedback loop on club governance and election processes. We use this data to design more effective and user-friendly elections for our clients.

Once you review the surveys, hold a club meeting to share the highlights of the survey. Thank members for participating and outline the board’s plan to act on their input. If you can’t act on it right now, explain the reasons why and what you’ll do in the meantime to improve the issue for members. 

Fuel Club Success with Feedback

Clubs are all about connection and shared purpose. However, members don’t always feel comfortable sharing their feedback for fear of rocking the boat. Create a culture that embraces feedback by regularly surveying members. That’s the key to designing a more valuable club with longevity.

However, it’s hard to design, send, and tally surveys on your own. Clubs and organizations lean on SBS to run clean, user-friendly club surveys in less time. 

SBS survey services gather the information you need to make intelligent decisions for your members. Our cost-effective services include:

• Building and hosting paper or web surveys
• Distributing and collecting customized applications
• Managing ongoing survey programs
• Establishing proper methods to conduct your survey
• Creating specialized reports

With paper, online, phone, and hybrid options available, SBS will help you get the answers that you need. As one of the most trusted names in the member surveying industry, SBS works with your database to move quickly.

Are you ready to take your membership surveys and information gathering to a new level of accuracy, speed, and flexibility? Contact SBS now to speak with a club survey expert.