Candid member satisfaction survey responses
can provide a good deal to think about
—even a pipe dream or two, thrown in for good measure.
by
MAURI MONTGOMERY
In So Many Words...
Here are some random examples from our recent survey on how some members feel about their service.
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It sucks that this is my only option for electric, and yes, I am just a customer to your company. Don’t play it as if we are really “members.” That makes it sound as if it is an elite club or something.
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I absolutely love our United Cooperative Services team. I am always treated like family, and I sincerely hope to be part of UCS, always, I am blessed with great service, great pricing and a company that is truly part of our community.
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The cost of services is too high. There is no competition in our area, and we are bound to their service, so therefore price is not a consideration to them.
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We have dealt with TXU and Oncor in the past. This resulted in complaints to the Public Utility Commission. After those poor service experiences with companies who don’t care, United Cooperative Services has been great.
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I haven’t had any issues since moving into my home two years ago. The rates I pay are the best I’ve had compared to other providers. I like how they give you options for discounts, and they help you get them, like with the Nest thermostats.
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I just think we have too many power outages in stormy weather.
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I am curious to know what you are going to do with the data that is being collected from this survey.
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I have the best rate I've ever received! I’m saving and I have no problems.
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They are very responsive.
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They are too luxurious.
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They need to communicate better. All we do is pay the bill, and we go to that meeting they have once a year. But they don’t communicate during the year.
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What are the competitive rates out there? Are they competitive? My only complaint with the service is the price. I think we pay too much for electricity.
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It’s because of all the experiences I have had with them. Every experience has been adequate, and above and beyond my expectations. They have just been great! The electric cooperative far exceeds service I get from other providers.
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I appreciate the communications, the newsletter and the fact that they make an effort to keep the rates lower. They show us a comparison bar chart showing how our rates compare to other utilities.
Evaluating and improving service value in every sector of United’s daily work is never ending, and member satisfaction surveys provide a critically important measure of service quality and performance.
One day perhaps, members may be able to point to the cooperative’s journeymen pizza specialists as further evidence of those claims.
To that end, the cooperative seems to have perfected 89 as the bar to leap in 2019 after members awarded cooperative employees their fourth consecutive score of 89, on a 100-point scale, to cap the 2018 quarterly American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) survey series.
The flawless string of 89s preserved the cooperative’s commanding lead for the year in quarterly scoring averages among electric cooperatives grouped by similar size and including Touchstone Energy Cooperatives (the national brand alliance for electric cooperatives).
The service satisfaction score stands as a respective high across all business sectors that are surveyed.
Clearly, the latest succession of high marks says a lot about consistency—the hallmark of which emphasizes the collaboration that exists between members who are willing to be engaged in the business of their cooperative and a United employee group that is committed to exceeding service delivery expectations.
By and large, service satisfaction surveys over the past decade have shown most members clearly notice and appreciate the level of service and reliability United provides. On face value, that success might seem trivial to others outside of the service industry. But it is rare for any business—especially a utility—to earn that sort of lasting rapport with the consumers it serves.
While United’s devotion to member service largely revolves around honed business attributes such as functionality, price, convenience, design, reliability, performance, efficiency, communication, compatibility, empathy and fairness, options and information; the cooperative has ultimately sought to find and flip service challenges into opportunities for improvement, and to develop a wide range of services that better fit member needs.
Hearing from members about their service experiences is vital to the cooperative in interpreting what member needs and services aren’t being offered or met, whether services align with the company’s mission, and whether new service options stand to benefit the entire membership, rather than an individual member.
Member satisfaction surveys provide a platform for timely, personal interaction with members, and another means of service-oriented discovery.
In essence, it is difficult for any business to know what folks are really thinking until they ask.
In addition to answering straightforward questions that rank service and reliability on a sliding scale, randomly selected members who agree to participate in the surveys have an opportunity to explain why they chose a certain score in their survey responses—all of which are reported to the cooperative word-for-word. When scoring and verbatim responses are coupled, they provide a clearer picture of prevailing member views.
Responses can be informative, kind, generous, snarky and humorous, and the cooperative wouldn’t toss out a single one. Most comments are conventional, some raise eyebrows and not all members are in complete agreement about what great service means to them, personally. Yet, all remarks are taken seriously in assessing what the cooperative is doing well, or what the company might be missing in delivering exceptional service and value to its membership.
Whether comments are positive or negative or even constructive, United’s interest in determining what is on members’ minds will never wane—ever member is important, the service quality every member receives is important, and being judged a really good service provider is never going to be quite good enough.