5 Top Tips for Effective Resident Satisfaction Surveys

Satisfaction surveys are regularly performed in the social housing sector. Be it in the form of a STAR survey or a survey to gain feedback on a service a tenant has received (e.g. repairs surveys).

Here at Arena Partnership we have many years experience delivering such surveys and our Head of Survey Operations – Sandy Grange gives us her top tips for running a successful campaign.

1. Set your goals

Before you design and implement a survey campaign make sure that you have thought of the reasons why you are doing the survey and what you will do with the results you receive. Think through the following questions before commencing:

• What would a good result look like? What KPI’s are you tracking?
• Will you have any information to compare these results against (e.g. last survey figures / other benchmark info) to compare satisfaction rates?
• If you get a decrease in satisfaction have you asked the right questions so you can implement an action plan to improve these again?
• What answers do you want to know to really help you improve the service or show you what you are doing right?

2. Choose the right methodology

When you deliver a satisfaction survey there are multiple methodologies that can be used; post, text, telephone, face-to-face or online. The survey can be delivered by one method or multiple methods dependant on your tenant and organisational needs. To help consider which methodology might be best answer the following questions:

• Do you know your tenants’ preferred methods of communication?
• Do your tenants have access to the internet or a mobile phone?
• Do you have enough data on individual emails / phone numbers if you want to choose that methodology?
• What would provide the best value for money option?
• What are the response rates like for a particular methodology?
• How long is your survey going to be? Would a particular methodology be better for this?

3. Implement good survey design

As highlighted before a good survey is largely about asking the right questions. The following prompts will help you choose questions that are right for you:

• Can you get ideas and questions from a recognised source (e.g. HouseMark – STAR Questions)?
• Do you want to include a Net Promoter Score question?
• Do you want to include a comments box so you can gain more detailed insight into why they have responded positively or negatively?
• Make sure you include a permission opt-in or opt-out so that you can contact respondents if they need a personal response to a problem raised.

4. Survey the right people

When surveying individuals, care must be taken when choosing your survey sample. The following should be taken into account:

• Do you have a system to keep track of who has been surveyed and when? So you don’t over-survey and risk annoying the tenant. (I.e. do you have survey fatigue controls?)
• Have you picked a representative sample?
• How many people will you have to survey to gain statistical reliability?

5. Understand your results

The responses are in and it is time to analyse your results. So what does the data mean and how do you interpret it? The following prompts will allow you to delve deeper into your results and plan further action if needed:

• What was the response rate? Did enough people respond to make the data meaningful?
• If the response rate is low is there a way you can boost it? (e.g. send reminders, use an alternative methodology)
• Does the data need weighting to correct for an unrepresentative sample?
• What was the satisfaction rate? Does this differ across different customer segments?
• What does the comment analysis tell you (if performed), are there particular areas that are repeatedly coming up?
• What trends can you spot? Are satisfaction rates in one question linked to another?

This is just a very quick overview of resident satisfaction surveys. If you would like to find out how our Survey Tracker Software allows you to easily perform your own surveys with the support of our experienced team always on hand if you need. Please email info@arenapartnership.co.uk to book a free demo.

Alternatively if you would like us to quote for the design, delivery and analysis of your resident surveys check out our survey services page and email sandy@arenapartnership.co.uk for a free quote.