Describe your show and the decision ahead. Makeform turns the brief into a focused survey about listening routines, formats, topics, discovery, and optional demographics.
Send listener responses to Google Sheets, Slack, and Zapier.
Sample prompts for the builder
Choose a goal, adapt the prompt, or send it to the builder. Each example supports an editorial decision.
Audience
Established listeners across podcast platforms
Format
Five-minute survey with optional demographics
Prompt size
280 chars
Example survey structure
Five-minute survey with optional demographics
How long and how often do you listen?
Where and in what situations do you listen?
Which topics and guest types do you prefer?
What should we change next season?
Optional age range, region, and work field
Suggested analysis tags
Regular listeners
Topic requests
Format feedback
Ask how often someone listens before asking what they want changed; a weekly regular and a first-time listener bring different context.
Step 1
Define
choose the programming decision
Step 2
Ask
mix habits, preferences, and context
Step 3
Share
place the link where listeners are
Step 4
Act
segment answers and plan changes
Useful listener evidence
Analytics show starts, devices, and locations. A survey adds the routines behind a play, valued subjects, and reasons to return.
Compare commute and at-home listeners, or weekly regulars and occasional visitors, before combining their answers.
Pair topic rankings with a short explanation of the angle, guest expertise, or outcome listeners want.
Ask feed setup only of users and discovery barriers only of newer listeners.
Four survey moments
Match the questionnaire to an upcoming decision and explain how feedback will be used.
Rank themes, formats, guest categories, and episode length before the editorial calendar is locked.
Trace recommendations, search, social clips, newsletters, and guest audiences back to the first play.
Learn what held attention, what felt unclear, and which segment listeners would send to someone else.
Collect optional role, interest, region, or age-range context only when it helps shape topics, access, or outreach.
Survey workflow
Generate from one decision, remove questions you cannot act on, then compare responses by listening behavior.
Choose next-season topics, adjust length, improve discovery, or review a member feed.
Keep actionable questions, make demographics optional, and test every branch.
Share the survey in show notes, newsletters, communities, and an episode callout.
Compare frequency, tenure, and situation with preferences, then record planned tests.
Question design
Combine structured choices for comparison with a few open prompts for unanticipated ideas.
Field guide
Six compact sections create a useful audience picture. Keep identity optional unless follow-up is essential.
Listening relationship
Tenure and frequency show whether a request comes from a weekly regular, occasional visitor, or new listener.
Habits & access
A commute, desk session, household routine, or walk creates different constraints for episode length and format.
Content preferences
Rank specific topics, guest profiles, and segments, then ask one reason to reveal the useful editorial angle.
Discovery & sharing
Capture both the discovery channel and trigger, then ask what makes an episode worth sharing.
Optional demographics
Ask only for context tied to a decision. Mark it optional, prefer broad ranges, and allow people to decline.
Open feedback & follow-up
Use one focused open question. Keep contact details separate so anonymous respondents can still volunteer for follow-up.
Related tools
Choose a broader research or guest-intake tool when the goal extends beyond current listeners.
Research newsletter or membership subscribers alongside listeners.
Open toolCompare choices and priorities for a wider consumer audience or media concept.
Open toolStudy how audio, video, newsletters, and social channels fit into the same routine.
Open toolCollect optional audience context without requiring names or contact information.
Open toolTurn audience guest requests into a structured intake path for potential contributors.
Open toolFAQ
Practical answers for hosts, producers, and audience teams planning useful research.
Ask about tenure, frequency, listening situations, discovery, topic and guest preferences, format, length, sharing, and one desired improvement. Add optional demographics only for a clear decision.
Aim for about five minutes. Put high-value questions first, branch around irrelevant items, limit open responses, and test the survey on a phone.
Ask before season planning, after a format test, during an annual review, or while improving a member feed. Tie every survey to a decision.
Anonymous responses can encourage candor. Require identity only when necessary; use a separate optional contact field for research interviews.
Explain the purpose, mark questions optional, use broad ranges, and allow self-description or prefer not to answer. Remove details you cannot use.
Share it in the episode, show notes, newsletter, and listener communities. State its length and purpose, then report what you learned.
Yes. Makeform provides unlimited free forms and responses, so you can generate, edit, publish, and collect audience feedback without a response cap. The paid tier removes the Makeform badge.
Segment answers by frequency, tenure, discovery, or context. Compare groups, keep comments with their segment, document decisions, and do not treat a voluntary sample as every listener.
Let listeners shape the next decision.
