Feedback form

What is a feedback form?

A feedback form is a structured document you use to gather input from people, such as customers, employees, colleagues, students, or visitors. It usually contains questions or fields in which the respondent can share his or her opinions, suggestions, or experiences.

Feedback forms can be paper checklists, digital templates, or forms you use through software such as Treams. In this case, employees can gather 360-degree feedback using specific feedback templates. These forms are often tailored to the employee's position or role, and offer targeted questions that help evaluate both strengths and areas for development. By using this feedback, employees gain valuable insights into their talents and areas for improvement, not only with respect to their work, but also in their interactions within the work environment. It promotes personal and professional growth and contributes to more effective collaboration within the team.

What can you use a feedback form for?

You use a feedback form to gather targeted information from respondents. Of course, you can just ask people for their opinions and experiences, but a feedback form gives you structured input. This means that different feedback providers can answer the same question. That way you get insight into the average experience people have on the feedback topic. With 360-degree feedback, you get insight into different categories of respondents, such as managers, colleagues, externals or self-reflection.Moreover, you can decide exactly what you want to get feedback on. So the feedback form helps you pinpoint feedback.

Feedback forms can be used in a broad sense. We mention some examples:

1. Improving products or services: Gain insight into what works well and what could be improved.
2. Customer service evaluation: Feedback on the quality of interactions.
3. Measuring user experience: Assess how people experience a website, app, or event.
4. Satisfaction Measurement: Gauging satisfaction with a course, workshop, or business process.
5. Collect ideas: Get input for future improvements or innovations.
6. Personal development: Feedback provides an essential basis for working on your personal development. It provides insight into your talents and areas for improvement.
7. Team Development: Understanding the talents within a team allowing everyone to contribute optimally.

In short, a good feedback form helps make targeted improvements and strengthens the relationship with the parties involved.

Benefits of working with a feedback form

We've mentioned it before: you can also just ask for someone's opinion. Why does it have to be through a form? To give you more insight into that, we list the advantages of working with a feedback form:

1. Structured information collection:
   Feedback forms, as mentioned above, provide an organized and consistent way to collect information. This makes it easier to analyze and compare input.
2. Engage customers and employees:
   Asking for feedback shows that you value the opinions of others, which contributes to commitment and loyalty.
3. Efficiency:
   Collecting feedback through a form is often faster and more practical than personal interviews or other methods.
4. Promote anonymity:
   Respondents can often provide feedback anonymously, leading to more honest and open responses.
5. Measurable results:
   A well-designed form allows you to quantify data, track trends and visualize results, such as in graphs.
6. Easy storage and sharing:
   Digitally completed forms can be easily saved, shared and edited, which is useful for reports.
7. Widely applicable:
   Feedback forms can be used for a variety of purposes, including customer satisfaction, product evaluations, event reviews, and more.

By using feedback forms, you create a systematic and professional approach to collecting and applying valuable insights. But realize that working with a feedback form is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. You want to do something with the feedback you receive. If you ignore the results and do nothing with them, there is a good chance that the feedback providers will not take the time and effort to fill in the form the next time. Therefore, communicate structurally about the steps you have taken or will take in response to the feedback you have received.

Applications for using feedback forms

Working with feedback forms has many applications. Think of forms that people can fill out on a website, satisfaction surveys, polls, 1-on-1 feedback requests. Besides a wide variety in form, working with feedback forms also has a wide applicability in field or type of respondents. To give you more insight into this, here are some examples.

1. Colleagues
   Feedback forms can be used effectively to help colleagues gain insight into how they work together. Consider questions about communication, reliability, and teamwork. This promotes self-reflection and strengthens relationships within the team. It provides a safe way to share areas of improvement and appreciation, which enhances collaboration and work atmosphere.
2. Care
   In healthcare, feedback forms are valuable for improving the quality of handover and collaboration. They can be used to evaluate experiences of caregivers, such as during shift changes or multidisciplinary consultations. This creates insights into bottlenecks, such as unclear communication or incomplete handover, which directly contributes to better care delivery.
3. Presentation
   Feedback forms are useful for evaluating presentations. They provide participants with a structured way to provide feedback on the clarity of the content, the use of visual aids (such as slides), the appropriateness of the duration, and the degree of interaction with the audience. This feedback helps the speaker improve future presentations.
4. Education
   In education, feedback forms are often used to assess student progress and improve the quality of teaching. Students can provide feedback on the teacher's teaching skills, such as clarity, engagement and interaction. Teachers, in turn, can gather feedback on how students perceive their learning, allowing them to better tailor their teaching methods to the needs of the class.

In all cases, feedback forms contribute to growth, quality and collaboration by providing structured and actionable insights.

What should a feedback form meet?

An effective feedback form must meet some basic requirements to gather valuable and useful information. Here are the points and an explanation:

1. Theme: what is the subject of the feedback?
   The form should clearly state what the feedback is about, such as a project, presentation, collaboration or specific situation. It is helpful to provide a brief introduction or background information so that the respondent understands the context. This helps to make the feedback focused and relevant.
   
   For example,"This form is about the presentation 'Innovation in Care' held on January 5. Please provide feedback on content, structure and presentation skills."
2. What went well?
   A good feedback form invites you to name specific strengths. This motivates the recipient and highlights what can be retained. Ask about behaviors, outcomes, or aspects that were done well.
   
   For example,"What did you find positive about the presentation? Think about the clarity of the message, the slides, or the interaction with the audience."
3. What could be improved?"
   The form should provide space to name specific areas of concern. Ask the question in a way that encourages constructive criticism so that improvements are feasible and focused.
   
   For example,"What parts of the presentation could be improved? Consider pacing, depth or time management."
4. Other Comments
   Give the respondent an opportunity to share additional ideas, questions or suggestions. This open-ended question can provide unexpected and valuable insights.
   
   For example,"Do you have any other comments, questions or suggestions you would like to share?"

Additional tips for a good feedback form

When you ask people for feedback, you are also asking them for their time and attention. While the feedback is important to you, "what's in it for me" is usually not concrete to the respondent. So consider what you are asking for(does the respondent have visibility into it?), how you are asking for it(what is the time investment?) and consider whether the respondent is free to speak up(can it have consequences for the respondent?).

Specifically, we give you the following tips:

1. Use clear and simple language
   It is important that the feedback form be accessible to all audiences. Avoid jargon or complicated sentences and make sure questions are easy to understand. This avoids misunderstandings and makes it easier for people to answer the questions quickly and correctly.
   
   Example:
   Instead of "How do you evaluate the interactive dynamics between stakeholders during the presentation?", you can write:
   "How did you find the cooperation between stakeholders during the presentation?"
2. Don't make the form too long
   A form that is too long can cause respondents to drop out or give incomplete answers. Focus on the essential questions you need to gather actionable feedback. Limit the number of questions to no more than 8-10, depending on the situation, and keep open-ended questions to a minimum.
   
   Tip: With each question, ask yourself, "Is this question really necessary to achieve my goal?"
3. Use both open and closed questions
   A good balance between closed and open questions provides a combination of measurable data (such as grades or yes/no answers) and detailed insights. Closed questions (e.g., scale of 1-5) make it easier to analyze trends, while open questions allow for personalized feedback and nuance.
   
   Example:
   - Closed question: "On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate the presentation?"
   - Open question: "What would you like to improve about the presentation?"
4. Anonymous or not?
   Making feedback anonymous or not can make a big difference. Anonymous feedback forms can encourage people to be more honest, especially on sensitive topics. However, if you need more specific follow-up, it's important to ask for contact information.
   
   Tip: Give respondents a choice:
   - "Would you like to keep your feedback anonymous? [Yes/No]"
   - "If no, you can leave your name and email address for further communication."
5. Provide a logical order
   Questions should be in an order that feels logical and intuitive. Start with general questions and then delve deeper into specific topics. End with open-ended questions or space for additional comments. This helps respondents get into the form gradually and ensures better quality responses.
6. Use visual aids
   If the form is digital, adding visual elements such as sliders, star ratings or emojis can increase usability. This also makes filling out the form more fun and less boring.
   
   Example:
   Instead of: "Rate the presentation on a scale of 1-5," use a star system or smiley icons.
7. Test the form before distributing
   Have a few people test the form to see if it is clear, user-friendly and to the point. Ask for feedback on the wording and order of the questions and adjust the form if necessary.
   
   Tip: A short test can prevent you from getting too few or irrelevant answers later.

With this explanation, you can design a feedback form that is effective, encourages people to answer honestly and provides high-quality feedback. To make a professional impression, you can use platforms that generate feedback forms. Examples include Jotform, Clickup and Google forms.

Easily exchange feedback with software

If you work with feedback in an organizational context, you must take into account that it can be experienced by employees as an activity "on top of" their regular work. An extra investment of time in their already hectic working day. Although it is about their personal development, or other things that improve their work, the immediate benefit to be gained is not always clear. 

For that reason, it is crucial that you make working with feedback as approachable as possible, to the point and intertwined with daily work practices. Treams offers a software platform that makes exactly that possible. The platform contains templates, specifically tailored to employees' jobs or roles, that allow them to ask for 360-degree feedback themselves at the push of a button.

Also measure employee engagement, or satisfaction, with the same platform. Pulse surveys are preferable to annual comprehensive measurements. Thematically classified and scientifically based questionnaires can be found in the Treams platform. You can get started right away.

The software platform helps you enormously to keep all information about performance, development and engagement centralized. Both on an individual level for employees and managers, as well as for HR and management through all analytics possibilities.

Feedback templates: some free downloads

Convenience serves man. At Treams, the ease of use of the platform is therefore of paramount importance. In addition, Treams has a lot of knowledge of substantive HR matters such as personal development, performance and employee engagement. After all, it is the content that really matters.

In the Treams platform, you can therefore use different feedback forms, specifically focused on your functions, roles, competencies or goals. In the Treams online customer community, in addition to knowledge, best practices and instructions, Treams shares a multitude of templates. To get you started, below are a number of downloads of feedback forms that you can use right away:

1. Feedback form: How did you like our collaboration?
2. Feedback Form: What did you think of my presentation?
3. Feedback form: How did you like my communication? 
4. Feedback Form: What did you think of my project contribution?
5. Feedback Form: What do you think of my leadership?
6. Feedback Form: How do you experience the support from HR?
7. Feedback Form: How did you experience your application?
8. Feedback Form: How do you experience my lectures?
9. Feedback form: How do you experience our general practice?
10. Feedback Form: Your opinion on the brainstorm?

How do you activate asking for and giving feedback?

Working with feedback within organizations ideally becomes second nature. Feedback provides crucial, fertile ground for development. The more feedback exchange is embedded in the way of working and organizational culture, the stronger the positive impact it has on employees and the organization as a whole. At the same time, working with feedback is something you have to learn. 

As we mentioned at the beginning, it is important to facilitate working with feedback. Feedback forms provide a practical tool for this. But giving and receiving feedback must also be taught. In addition, the organization must provide a safe environment in which people dare to speak out. You can read all about giving and receiving feedback at Giving and Receiving Feedback. For organizations that want to work with feedback, you will find all the ins and outs in the Feedback Toolkit.

Facilitating feedback in practice?

As you have understood by now, feedback plays an important role in both development and growth and in achieving positive results, but it requires care and attention to be effective. After reading all the information, do you still have questions about using feedback forms or want to learn more about how to use them effectively within your organization? At Treams, we're here to help. Whether you need advice the do's and don'ts of feedback, collecting feedback, or optimizing your feedback processes, we offer the support you need. Feel free to contact us, and we'll help you out!

This webpage was written by Iris Zonneveldt. The founder of Treams. This article was last updated Feb. 1, 2025. The following sources were consulted in the creation of this web page: Zendesk, Clickup and Young Capital. Do you have questions about this content? If so, please contact us on 040 744 08 88 or send an email to info@treams.nl.