How to Administer a Coworking Survey to Collect Feedback

Some of the most successful clients we see are those who have created a continuous feedback loop of implementing a change, collecting feedback on it, and making optimizations.

Feedback is really the secret sauce. More often than not, your members are willing to share their opinions. It’s up to you to create a space where they feel comfortable enough to provide honest and helpful criticism. 

In this article, we’ll discuss how coworking spaces can gather feedback from the community using a coworking-specific survey and use this data to make better business decisions.

When should you administer a coworking survey?

We commonly see operators administer a survey after a significant change has taken place in the space, a desired action is taken, or a milestone is reached.

Ideas on survey timing

• Send an onboarding experience survey to new members after their first month of membership
• Collect feedback after you host a new type of coworking event to determine its efficacy
• Send a survey to employees to gauge their satisfaction with the workplace experience

What are best practices for sending out surveys?

When sending out a survey, it’s always best to make sure they fit into the schedule of the coworking member who is receiving them. If not, it’s unlikely to get done.

Tips for effective feedback forms

• Make it short and digestible
• Ensure mobile-friendliness
• Send a follow-up email for those who don’t complete the survey
• Consider an incentive if your concerned as to the overall completion rate

The hospitality industry is very effective at collecting feedback on their support and services. Hotels send out their surveys immediately after a customer checks out, when the service is still top-of-mind.

What types of questions should you ask your members?

The questions you choose to ask your coworking members will depend on the information you want to gather. If you’re looking for feedback around a particular room or specific resources for example, you’ll tailor your questions to fit this need.

Example questions

If you’re looking to distribute a more general survey, here are some survey questions to consider asking in coworking spaces:

• Workspace experience: “How would you rate the amenities offered in the office?”
• Customer service experience: “How satisfied were you with the service you received?” 
• Overall experience: “How likely is it that you would recommend our workspace to a friend or colleague in the future?”

How should you survey your coworking members?

Typically, the best way to collect feedback from members in coworking spaces is with a digital survey. They’re easy to administer, easy to track, and easy to pull data from.

We recommend using Typeform, a survey tool used by many of our coworking clients. Survey respondents are more likely to engage with this well-designed tool quickly because it asks one question at a time through an intuitive interface (bonus – it’s also mobile-friendly!)

Ways to distribute your survey

After completing the design of your online form, send it out to your relevant few members. There are a few ways you can do this:

• Email it to members directly or via a push notification
• Publish it on social media
• Publish it on to a private, member-only Community Feed using your coworking software of choice
• Put a link on your website
• Place a QR code in your coworking space that people scan for access

Which way you choose to go will ultimately depend on the level of security and personalization of your survey, along with the behaviors of the person receiving it.

What do you do after you ask your coworking space survey questions?

Next comes the most crucial part of the process: data analysis and identifying trends. In order to complete this step, begin by defining your survey’s KPIs.

One important survey metric that we see many clients measure is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). This score is gathered by asking the question, “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this coworking space to others?”

This is a powerful question because it gauges a customer’s overall sentiment towards your service. NPS can also indicate customer loyalty and since they are easy to understand and benchmark, they appear in most questionnaires.

Going beyond NPS for coworking spaces

An NPS score doesn’t have the in-depth or actionable information that can be gleaned out of open-ended questions. It can also be a very subjective indicator, thus it’s a good idea to ask a multitude of questions and define a few metrics to align with your overall survey objective.

Once your survey ends, the real work begins. Immediately following the conclusion of the survey, make sure you:

• Send out a note of gratitude to your members for their participation
• Prepare to communicate the insights and trends gathered from your survey back to members
• Write down how you intend to implement the feedback or the issues that were brought to light

You can choose to install shorter programs or initiatives during this “feedback implementation process” or spur transformative cross-company action if your results indicate the need for greater change.

If you come across particularly critical findings, immediately offer support to help rectify the issue at hand, while you work towards providing a long-term solution.

How often should you distribute a coworking survey?

It’s best practice to build out a timeline for subsequent feedback surveys, such as on a quarterly or half-yearly basis.

For those operating coworking spaces, forging deep connections with your members is crucial to your success. If you can keep communication open with your members, then you can continue to deliver value to them beyond just providing an office space, and in turn build a truly successful business.

Using Optix to support collecting feedback and administering surveys in coworking spaces

Optix is a coworking software that can be extremely beneficial in administering surveys and collecting feedback from your members. With Optix you can:

• Send the survey directly to those who you want to complete it
• Send the survey as a push notification to members’ phones
• Post on the Community Feed, encouraging members to complete a survey
• Embed an evergreen survey directly into your White-labeled App, so members always know where to find it

Understanding your customer’s needs is an invaluable skill in today’s competitive business environment. By interpreting feedback and effectively tailoring your offering, you can help make your clients happier, and grow your revenue.

Collecting member feedback can be simple with Optix. To learn more about how Optix can support your members and ensure a more enjoyable space for everyone, connect with a member of our team today.