10+ New member survey questions (+ free templates & tips)

As an organization, institution, or club, your main goal is to unite as many people as possible. And, you want your presence and aim to be known widely. To be sure you are on the right track, why not inquire about the new people who are becoming members with a member needs assessment survey?

To help you with this goal, we have gathered some new member engagement survey questions with answer options and their definitions. We hope to guide you on your next online surveys. Now, let us get started with the basic definition.

What is a new member survey?

A new member survey is a planned way to collect information from newcomers using predetermined questions.

You can ask them about basically anything you want to know, from their contact information to how they decided to become a member. Additionally, it can be a good idea to survey long-term members who renew their memberships. Of course, there is a way to perfect it and uniform it in a way that does not cross any boundaries. Therefore, be mindful of what types of questions you ask and how you ask them.

Why do you need a new member survey?

A new member survey is not solely about collecting data from a member who joins you. You can collect a lot of information about how members feel about your activities, whether or not they attend events regularly, what types of events they would like to see added, etc. Therefore, a new member survey can serve several important purposes, including:

10+ Must-ask new member survey questions

We mentioned above that you could ask anything you want to know in a new member survey. However, if you plan the questions beforehand and regularly ask the same set of questions, it will make it easier to see progress and growth over time. When you keep focusing on similar details, you will see when there are changes for the good and the bad. And these 10+ questions we provide you with are safe choices that can help you. Let us get started with the first one.

1 - How did you first hear about us?

You may have your ways of spreading the word about your institution, but it is still great to ask people how they found out about you. You may realize the means you pour your money into does not constitute results, and word of mouth and whatnot is so much more effective.

2 - What made you decide to be a part of the team?

This question lets you know your strong suit and what makes them take that next step and be a member. Once you understand your main attraction, you can focus on it to make it better or more well-known. The result may surprise you and may make you take a different route than before.

3 - What are you hoping to gain by attending our organization?

This question may have answers that are different from what you expect. That is why even if providing some options is good, this question can also be asked in an open-ended way. Also, you can collect this information and utilize the skills of members according to what they value. Not everybody expects the same thing, and it should not be forgotten that everyone is equally important.

4 - What types of gatherings would you enjoy seeing more of?

You may have a budget for a number of gatherings and activities, and by the most number of responses, you can organize your next activity. It can give you a good starting point and maybe some new ideas, too. You can try new things to spice things up in your community, but it may be a wise choice to ask them before doing so.

5 - What's your preferred method of communication?

Some people hate sudden phone calls and would instead be contacted another way. And some people would rather have face-to-face meetings. The best way to know a person’s preferred method of communication is, of course, straight-up asking them. Then, you can catalog the answers and reach out to the people according to their choices.

6 - Is our organization something you would recommend to someone you know?

This question is an easy indicator of how people perceive you and whether or not they are satisfied with you as a whole. If they say they would not recommend it, you can ask them further to improve their experiences, too. And, even if they are a first-time new member, you can find out what kind of first impression you leave people with.

7 - Do you currently follow us on our social media platforms?

This is a good question to find out more about your social media presence and if you can effectively use it on different platforms. With this question, you may find out that you may need to advertise it more to newcomers. People may use one of the platforms more frequently than others, and you can put your energy into that particular one.

8 - Do you have any suggestions for better understanding your needs, interests, and priorities?

This is a great question to open your horizon to new possibilities. You can see better ways to get stuff done or an idea for a new improvement on your part. People want to be heard, and it is up to you to find the best way to make sure of it. And, the same as other questions, you can take a one-on-one approach with the members if they think that would be helpful.

9 - Did you feel welcome when you first came?

First impressions matter, and not just from you. The other members and people working for you should be as welcoming and warm as you. The main goal is to make everyone who comes feel part of a group. If the majority of the people say they do not feel welcomed, then it means there is a big problem you are not aware of.

10 - How old are you?

Finding the age range of your members will give you a good idea of which trends you should be aware of. You can also focus on improvements according to the age groups in mind and try to focus on the age group that participates the least. It is always good to know your audience.

11 - Would you be interested in volunteering in any particular area?

You can find hidden gems and talents by asking this question, as well as who is looking forward to doing more. After this question, you can put the data aside and contact the members when they are needed and ask for help. Volunteering and helping among members improves the sense of community and belonging.

How to craft a new member survey

When you have the right tool in hand, crafting your survey should be no trouble. forms.app has more than 4000 ready-to-use surveys and forms templates and numerous form fields and functions. Now, let us see how to create a new member survey easily.

1 - Choose a template or start from scratch

Choose a beginning option

After you log into your account, you will find a lot of survey templates for different uses ready at your fingertips. You can start with the one that is the most suitable for you, such as one of the membership registration form templates. Then, you can edit the questions by changing, adding, and deleting. 

It goes without saying it is also possible to start your survey from scratch with 100% autonomy. Once you do that, you decide on everything one-by-one.

2 - Use AI tool to form questions

Try Rewrite with AI

forms.app offers a super helpful AI tool with a number of features. With forms.app AI, you can rewrite the questions with different tones and have it generate answer options to add under the questions.

And, even more importantly, when you give AI a survey prompt, such as “Give me a new member survey with 6 questions,” it will make the survey ready for you in seconds! It is the best use of AI technology in the context of making surveys and forms.

3 - Customize the design

Change the new member survey’s design

Once you are finished with the questions and answer options, you can go on to the design section. It is possible to edit the colors of the survey according to the colors of your institution. And you can even add an image as background. Additionally, remember to add images and customize the writing's font, color, and size.

4 - Start sharing with your members

Share your survey

When you think you are satisfied with the survey, check that it is working as you want it to be. Then, the final and most crucial step is to share the survey with your members. You can share the unique URL link that comes with the survey, post it on your social media, or embed it on your website, etc. After all this, all you need to do is sit back, relax, and collect survey results. 

4 Tips to follow while conducting a new member survey

If you use a smart survey maker, such as forms.app, it will be a tremendous help when you are building your survey. For instance, you can easily customize one of the membership form templates and obtain the data you need. 

However, there are always some details you should be mindful of to maximize the response number of the survey. If you mess up a small but crucial detail, it may result in people leaving without fully submitting the survey. Let us see some tips to follow while conducting a new member survey. 

 ✔️ Do not make it over-excessive and too long. No matter how interested they are, sometimes people find it difficult to spare time for a long survey. Or they may feel intimidated by the length of the exercise.

 ✔️ You can use different question types, such as multiple-choice, rating scales, and open-ended questions, to keep it interesting and collect different types of feedback.

 ✔️ Make sure your language is easy enough and does not include any jargon or terminology. You do not want to confuse people and get conflicting results.

 ✔️ It is a good idea to follow up after taking the survey. Letting people know that you will take certain actions based on their feedback will show them that you care about their opinions.

Conclusion

Asking new members questions about themselves and the organizations they become members of shows that you care about their opinions and you always want the best for them. Doing this by using an online survey is both effortless and effective. 

That is why we have written this article to give question examples for a new member survey. Once you set your mind to it, you can pick the appropriate questions you want and start collecting that precious data. 

Additionally, if you want to see more examples of all kinds of membership survey questions, you can check out this article on membership satisfaction questions on the blog of forms.app!