How to create and use Surveys in Lily

01 / OVERVIEW

What Surveys are

Surveys are a dedicated module in Lily for collecting structured feedback and audience information.

A survey can combine familiar profile fields, such as name, city or telephone, with your own questions. The result is more than a set of isolated answers. Where Lily can identify the respondent, survey data can become another source of insight around the audience profile, alongside purchases, permissions and engagement.

Survey signal“I prefer jazz and smaller venues.”

Audience contextProfile, permissions and behaviour

Audience VisibilityA clearer picture of what matters

02 / CREATE

Create a new survey

Start in the Surveys module and choose New survey.

Name the survey

The public name is shown to respondents.

Add context

Use the internal description for your team and the public description for respondents.

Set the action

Write clear submit-button text that matches the purpose of the survey.

Survey setup and selectable profile fields in Lily.

03 / PROFILE DATA

Choose the profile fields you need

Lily lets you choose standard contact and profile fields for the survey, including:

E-mail
First name
Last name
Address
Postal code
City
Telephone

You can adapt the display name for each selected field and mark a field as required where the survey interface supports it.

Ask only what you need. A shorter survey is easier to complete and leaves you with cleaner data.

04 / QUESTIONS

Add custom questions

Custom fields turn a contact form into a survey that reflects what your organisation actually wants to learn.

Create questions in Manage custom fields, then add the fields you need to the survey. The current interface shows reusable field types for free text, a single checkbox, multiple checkboxes and dropdown selections.

Lily Custom fields window with survey questions and field types — Arena Næstved questions configured as reusable custom fields.

Text

Open feedback in the respondent’s own words.

Dropdown

One answer from a controlled set of options.

Checkbox

A single opt-in or yes/no style choice.

Checkboxes

One or more answers from a set of options.

05 / SETTINGS

Customize consent, confirmation and notifications

The survey settings let you shape what happens before and after a response is submitted.

Marketing consent termsAdd consent copy and up to two linked terms or policy pages with your own link text.
Success textConfirm that the response has been received and explain what happens next.
E-mail notificationNotify one or more internal recipients when a new registration is completed. Separate multiple addresses with commas.
Image and button colorsAdd a survey image and, when needed, override the default submit-button colors.

Lily settings for marketing consent links, success text, email notifications and image — Consent, confirmation, notification and image settings in Lily.

06 / PRESENTATION

Make the survey feel like you

Survey structure and survey presentation are two different layers.

Lily holds the questions, options and response settings. Lily AI Survey Composer can then create a branded survey experience based on your visual identity.

The composer changes how the survey is presented. It does not rewrite the questions, answer options or system values that were configured in Lily.

Data layerQuestions · options · fields · settings

Presentation layerBrand · layout · typography · color

Arena Næstved branded survey created with Lily AI Survey Composer — Arena Næstved survey styled with Lily AI Survey Composer.

07 / DISTRIBUTION

Publish, share or embed

Make the survey available through its Lily URL or place it directly on your own website.

Enable

Use the survey’s Enabled setting when it is ready for respondents.

Use the survey URL in the channels that fit your audience and purpose.

Embed

Copy the embedded form code from Lily and add it to your website.

08 / RESPONSES

Read responses as audience data

Review the responses collected through the survey in Lily. Look for patterns across questions, not only individual comments.

When responses can be associated with known audience profiles, they add declared insight to the wider audience picture. This is useful because surveys answer questions that transactions and clicks often cannot.

Behaviour shows what people did.
Surveys help explain what they think.

09 / EXAMPLES

Practical ways to use Surveys

EVENT FEEDBACK

Learn what worked

Ask about the overall experience, information, venue, service or likelihood to recommend.

AUDIENCE PREFERENCES

Understand interests

Collect declared preferences about genres, formats, topics or future experiences.

DEMOGRAPHICS

Add useful context

Ask for the few demographic details that are relevant to your analysis.

STAFF AND EVENT TEAMS

Improve delivery

Collect structured feedback from staff, volunteers or event teams after an event.

COMPETITIONS

Combine an entry with insight

Use a focused form-like survey when participation and a small number of questions belong together.

AUDIENCE RESEARCH

Explore a decision

Test a clear question with a defined audience before making a programming or communication choice.

10 / BEST PRACTICES

Make every question earn its place

01
Start with one learning goal.
Know what decision the answers should help you make.
02
Keep it short.
Ask only the questions that support that goal.
03
Reuse what Lily already knows.
Do not ask for profile data again unless it is needed for this response.
04
Make optional fields optional.
Reserve required fields for information you genuinely cannot do without.
05
Use clear answer options.
Avoid overlapping choices and leave room for useful open feedback.
06
Close the loop.
Use the success text to thank respondents and set expectations.

Ready to begin?

Surveys in Lily