Market Research for Customer Services

Improving access to services, service standards and customer satisfaction is a Government priority.   Our aim is to provide a solid foundation of market research to inform your decisions on customer service performance. 

We are a full service market research company that specialises in delivering cost effective research solutions for local government.  Our consultants have extensive experience in the public sector and have conducted a wide range of customer services research.

Customer Services research can provide the benchmarking data to establish future commitments policies or evaluate performance against current policies.  The research will:

• Assess how accurately customer   commitment policies are being adhered to throughout council departments
• Assess whether there are areas for improvement with regard to response times
• Assess possible additional commitments to the Customer Service policy list as a result of feedback from users
• Look at the levels of importance that customers place on each of the Customer Service Commitments

We employ a range of both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to assess customer service performance including:
 
TELEPHONE SURVEY (Computer Aided Telephone Interviews)

Telephone surveys can be used to call back a sample of recent contacts from across your organisation.  Alternatively we survey a representative sample of the general public from across your district – this is particularly useful if you also want to capture feedback on communications, awareness levels, or general perceptions.  

Computer Aided Telephone Interview (CATI) surveys are quick and cost effective, and can ensure a significant amount of responses from particular areas.  CATI surveys also ensure particular demographic quotas are achieved to ensure a truly representative sample of respondents.

MYSTERY SERVICE USER

We have found that mystery service user work into customer contact is an effective way to establish issues that may not become apparent from asking public opinion.  Our senior interviewers will assess the actual experience of being a service user in terms of speed of response; attitude and helpfulness of staff; whether call waiting procedures are working effectively etc.  A range of contact methods will be used, including telephone, letters, emails, and face-to-face at reception areas.

INTERNET CONSULTATION

Online surveys hosted on your web site would provide an opportunity for all residents to have their say in a consultation and will also compliment other survey methods.  Completed questionnaires will automatically be returned to our software at CN Research.

FOCUS GROUPS

We feel that it is important to include qualitative research if possible as it will bring insights to the research that may not come out of the quantitative investigations. This information will complement the quantitative research.

All the research will be collated and analysed to produce a report which will look at customer access throughout your council to see if there are trends or issues affecting departments and the council overall.

For more details please call Tony on 01228 612335