How to Ask the Right Post Event Survey Questions (With Examples)

You’ve just wrapped up a customer webinar, onboarding session, or product walkthrough. The deck was polished, the team showed up, and the delivery felt solid. But now comes the real question: Did it actually help? Too often, Customer Success Managers (CSMs) are left guessing whether their events moved the needle—or just filled the calendar.

Without asking the right questions afterward, it’s hard to know what worked and what needs to change. Worse, you might end up acting on assumptions instead of real customer input.

This blog explains how to create post event survey questions that actually lead to useful feedback. We’ll walk through examples, best practices, and how to act on the feedback you receive. 

What is a post event survey

A post event survey is a short questionnaire sent to participants after a session—like an onboarding call, webinar, training, or executive business review. The goal is to collect honest feedback on how the session went, what was useful, and what could be improved.

These surveys can include a mix of rating scales, multiple choice, and open-ended questions. The format depends on the kind of feedback you're looking for—quick sentiment, detailed insights, or both. They’re typically delivered via email or in-app, and ideally, sent within a day or two of the event while the experience is still fresh.

Why post event surveys are essential for Customer Success

As a Customer Success Manager, you invest time into onboarding sessions, webinars, and EBRs to support adoption, engagement, and retention. But without gathering feedback afterward, it’s hard to know what actually worked.

Post event surveys give customers space to share their experience in their own words—what was clear, what was useful, and what fell short. That qualitative insight helps you interpret metrics more effectively and understand how your efforts are landing.

They also show you which parts of your event hit the mark and which didn’t, so you can improve future sessions. Over time, this feedback helps you strengthen your overall strategy and catch issues early—before they lead to churn.

Before you write your next survey, it’s worth considering the type of session you’re evaluating. That context should guide the questions you ask.

Types of post event surveys CSMs can use

Not all post event surveys should look the same. Different types of sessions serve different purposes, so the feedback you collect should reflect that. Here are a few common categories Customer Success Managers often encounter.

Onboarding sessions

The goal here is to understand whether the customer left feeling confident about using your product. Ask about clarity, pace, and whether their specific questions were addressed. This helps you spot gaps in your onboarding flow early.

Product training or walkthroughs

Use surveys after feature-specific sessions to see if customers now feel more capable of using that part of the product. These sessions are often tied to activation or upsell goals, so feedback helps align product training with actual outcomes.

Webinars and customer education events

These events usually focus on broader learning or thought leadership. Survey questions should center on the value of the content, whether the session was engaging, and if customers want more on similar topics.

Executive business reviews (EBRs) or success plan reviews

Post EBR surveys can tell you whether the customer felt the conversation was strategic, aligned with their goals, and worth their time. Since these are high-stakes interactions, even a small piece of feedback can shape future relationship management.

Once you’ve identified the right survey for the event type, the next step is crafting questions that are clear, relevant, and easy to answer.

Best practices for writing post event survey questions

The goal isn’t to overwhelm your customer with a long list of questions—it’s to get honest, focused feedback that you can act on. A well-crafted survey respects your customer’s time while still giving you insights that matter.

Keep questions short and focused

Limit your surveys to 3–5 questions. Long surveys tend to get skipped or rushed through, which defeats the purpose. Short and intentional is more effective than comprehensive and ignored.

Choose the right format

Mixing formats can help you collect a wider range of feedback:

• Multiple choice for quick analysis
  
  
• Likert scales (e.g., “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”) for sentiment
  
  
• Open-ended questions for detailed responses in the customer’s own words

Avoid bias or leading language

Try to keep your tone neutral. A question like “How amazing was the presenter?” invites flattery more than honesty. Aim for clarity and neutrality to get more reliable insights.

Customize to the customer’s journey

Not every customer is at the same stage. Tailor your questions based on whether this was their first onboarding session or a quarterly business review. Relevance increases the chance they’ll respond thoughtfully.

Use consistent language across surveys

This makes it easier to compare results across similar event types. Repeating the same question formats can also reduce confusion for the customer.

Limit friction in the response experience

Use single-click ratings or dropdowns when possible. If a question requires typing, keep it optional and clearly framed.

Ask one thing per question

Avoid compound questions like “Was the session useful and engaging?”—you won’t know which part the customer is actually responding to.

Test your survey before sending it out

Run through it yourself or ask a teammate to take it. Make sure it’s clear, quick to complete, and aligned with the purpose of the event.

Now that you know how to frame your questions, let’s look at some examples that you can use or adapt for different event types.

Essential post event survey questions (with examples)

You don’t need to reinvent the wheel when building post event surveys. Here are tried-and-true questions you can adapt based on the type of session and your goals.

General event feedback

• “How satisfied are you with today’s session?”
  
  
• “What were your key takeaways?”
  
  
• “Did this event meet your expectations?”

Relevance and usefulness

• “How relevant was this session to your role or goals?”
  
  
• “Did the content help you progress towards your objectives?”

Presenter and delivery

• “Was the session clearly delivered and well-paced?”
  
  
• “How engaging did you find the presenter(s)?”

Suggestions for improvement

• “What would you change or improve about this session?”
  
  
• “Are there any topics you’d like to see in future events?”

Format and logistics

• “Was the session length appropriate?”
  
  
• “Did the platform or technology work well for you?”
  
  
• “Was the timing of the session convenient?”

Follow-up and next steps

• “Would you like a follow-up session on this topic?”
  
  
• “Do you feel confident about your next steps after this session?”
  
  
• “Would you like more resources or documentation on this topic?”

Net promoter-style questions

• “How likely are you to recommend this session to a colleague?”
  
  
• “How likely are you to attend a future session from our team?”

Event-specific outcomes

• “Do you feel more confident using [feature/tool] after this session?”
  
  
• “Was your main question or challenge addressed today?”
  
  
• “Has this session helped you move closer to achieving your goals with our product?”

If you’re using a tool like Velaris, these can be added as reusable survey templates and sent automatically after each event. But before you get to automation, you’ll need a plan to handle the responses.

Analyzing and acting on post event survey results

Collecting feedback is step one. Making it useful means analyzing patterns and turning insight into action. This part is where the value of post event surveys really comes through.

Aggregate feedback across similar event types

Look at trends across the same category of events. Are onboarding sessions consistently rated as too fast? Do EBRs consistently miss the mark on goal alignment? Identifying these patterns helps you improve entire workflows, not just one session.

Prioritize follow-ups

Pay attention to outliers, especially negative responses. A quick check-in with a frustrated attendee can restore trust and show that their input matters. It’s also a good moment to clarify any misunderstandings.

With tools like Velaris, you can trigger follow-up surveys automatically after the AI flags negative responses in communications. 

Close the loop

Let customers know when their feedback leads to change. Even a quick message like “Thanks for your feedback—we’ve adjusted future webinars to include more Q&A time” helps build trust and transparency.

Conclusion

Post event surveys are a practical way to understand what your customers actually experienced and whether your efforts made a difference. With the right questions, you can collect feedback that helps you fine-tune future sessions, catch issues early, and stay aligned with your customers’ goals.

But as your customer base grows, managing surveys manually becomes harder to keep consistent. Tools like Velaris can help you build, send, and analyze surveys at scale—without adding more to your plate. You can trigger surveys automatically, centralize responses, and even use AI to surface trends and suggest follow-ups.

If you want to make post event feedback a reliable part of your Customer Success process, book a demo today to see how Velaris can support you.