Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI) is one of the country’s leading chambers and is concerned with providing supportive and promotional services for the business community of Hertfordshire. HCCI’s main objectives are to establish a forum for the exchange of views and promotion of business, ensure international support is available and to provide a representational voice for the county’s business community.
The Business Requirement
A priority of HCCI is to ensure that it is kept abreast of all members’ opinions, so that it is able to provide a continually high level of public service to the Hertfordshire district. In order to find out member opinion on district matters, HCCI carries out many surveys on all its members but with over 1400 members this was proving to be a time-consuming and expensive task that was using up valuable staff resources.
The paper-based system in use had a response rate of only 5%, a statistic contributed to by the respondents being disinclined to take the time to fill in the questionnaires and then return them to HCCI.
HCCI needed an electronic service that could solve all of these problems, allowing them to work more efficiently and provide a higher level of customer care.
The Sigmer Solution
Sigmer's online survey software was perfectly suited to HCCI's requirements.
The web-based system allows HCCI to quickly and easily create real time questionnaires, utilising a variety of question/answer formats. Their surveys can be compiled and sent out to an email list within an hour, and HCCI can instantly view feedback as the online survey software automatically collates the responses and develops it into statistical information.
The Result
HCCI has seen a substantial improvement in survey processes since the implementation of Sigmer’s online survey software. The email format and automatic data analysis make the survey process far more efficient and effective than a paper-based system. The response rate to questionnaires has doubled, increasing to an average of about 10%, to the previous 5% response rate.
Tim Hutchings, Chief Executive of HCCI:
We can now do in hours what used to take weeks. Our response rates have improved dramatically and we are getting valuable information back within hours of asking the questions. Not only that, but we are now far more in touch with our members opinions than ever before. Sigmer's online survey software has opened up a wide range of new opportunities for us to find out about the business needs of our members and will therefore allow us to serve them more effectively.
