This walkthrough builds a post-stay survey for a small hotel in St Paul’s Bay. The same steps apply to a client survey for an accounting firm or a member survey for a football club.
Step 1: Define what you want to learn
Write down two or three decisions the survey should inform. For our hotel: “Should we upgrade breakfast?”, “Is the airport transfer worth offering?” and “Would guests recommend us?”. Every question should serve one of these.
Step 2: Draft short questions
- How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? (0 to 10)
- How would you rate breakfast? (1 to 5 stars)
- Did you use our airport transfer? (yes/no)
- If yes: how would you rate it?
- What one thing would you change?
Five questions take most people a couple of minutes. Longer surveys lose respondents.
Step 3: Build it in Mailpro
Open the survey builder, add each question with the matching field type and use rating fields for scales. Add a progress bar so guests know how much is left.
Step 4: Add branching
Show question 4 only to guests who answered “yes” to question 3. Branching logic keeps the survey relevant.
Step 5: Translate
Guests come from many countries, and local guests may prefer Maltese. Create language versions for your main markets and have a fluent speaker review each. The FAQ on customising surveys covers the options.
Step 6: Add a privacy notice
Explain at the top who is running the survey, why, and how long you will keep answers. Offer an anonymous option if you don’t need names. This keeps you aligned with GDPR and with Malta’s Data Protection Act.
Step 7: Send it
Send the survey link in a post-stay email automation, the day after checkout. If you have SMS consent, a short text with the link works well for guests who rarely check email on holiday; Maltese numbers take the +356 prefix, foreign guests their own country code. A survey request is not marketing in itself, but if you add a promotion, the consent rules of S.L. 586.01 apply. See how to share a survey.
Step 8: Analyse and act
Watch results in the survey statistics. Compare scores by season: summer and winter guests often have different expectations. Share one visible change with guests in your next newsletter; it shows their feedback counted.
Share results with your team
Export responses to a spreadsheet or share the summary with managers. Look for comments that repeat; three guests mentioning slow Wi-Fi is a pattern worth fixing.
Tips for higher response rates
- Send while the stay is fresh, within a day or two.
- Keep the subject line honest: “Two minutes to tell us about your stay?”
- Send one reminder, not three.
More ideas are in how to boost survey response, or return to online surveys in Malta.