case studies

Customer satisfaction research – continuous tracking programme

Our relationship with Ford Motor Company is built on a strategic partnership spanning two decades. Our continuous tracking programme has enabled Ford and its dealers to understand customers better, deliver more satisfaction and, ultimately, build their bottom line.

The programme is a pan-European customer satisfaction survey covering 22 countries in 26 language versions. Lorien Research mails over 3 million customers each year on behalf of Ford and the responses are processed, analysed and reported to Ford management and dealers throughout Europe.

The programme delivers sales and service metrics, in-depth analysis and recommended actions, with individual written comments fed back to dealers. It allows tracking of customer perceptions, development of ongoing loyalty strategies and drivers for change.

Vigilant monitoring of customer satisfaction levels and early action to rectify problems over the years has contributed to constantly increasing satisfaction ratings. In 2003 Ford achieved ‘Best in Class’ in terms of sales satisfaction and the number of customers who rate the Ford ownership experience highly continues to grow year-on-year.

• 3 million postal questionnaires per annum, personalised with the recipient’s vehicle
• 5,000 dealers
• 22 European markets
• 26 languages
• 45% response rate
• Web-based Performance Management Tool
• April 2005 – Ford is voted most trusted car brand (source: Reader’s Digest survey)

"Without doubt, the development and launch of the Performance Management Tool has been our most important process improvement initiative. With web-based functionality that provides performance by dealer, trends of key indicators, prescribed root causes and recommended actions, all with automatic upload to a standard format action plan, we have a first class tool that is an industry first."
Customer Focus and Loyalty Manager, Ford Motor Company

Click here to contact us for more information.

Customer satisfaction research – continuous tracking programme

Lorien Research has worked with Renault on its Customer Services Department (CSD) survey since 1997 and was approached to run Renault’s Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) programme in 1999.

The objective is to measure dealer performance across new car sales and aftersales service activities by asking customers to rate every aspect of their experience with dealerships. These indicators form the basis for developing loyalty strategies and satisfaction improvement tools to find new ways of enhancing that experience.

During the six-month planning stage, we set up a dedicated Computer Aided Telephone Interviewing (CATI) unit and currently handle in excess of 70,000 telephone interviews on behalf of Renault each year.

Renault supplies Lorien Research with the contact details of all customers who buy a new car in the UK, or who bring their car to the dealer for routine servicing or repairs and all customer data is screened against the Telephone Preference Service register.

• 225 dealers in the UK
• 6,000 calls each month
• Sales and aftersales
• Individual customer responses and full verbatim comments captured online
• In-house team of 70+ Lorien-trained interviewers
• Freephone help line for Renault dealers

"The attention Lorien paid to every detail in setting up such a complex operation was impressive. Despite having to make thousands of calls every month, the research team guaranteed that reports would be delivered in less than half the time we had previously experienced."
Manager, Services & Quality, Renault UK

Click here to contact us for more information.

Key Account Loyalty (KAL™) – B2B satisfaction research and loyalty measurement

Scottish Water wished to discover the views of its key B2B customers in respect of service provision and to gauge their level of understanding of the wide range of Scottish Water services available to them.

To date Scottish Water account managers have conducted over 100 face-to-face interviews, each taking between 90 minutes and three hours to complete. Based on the findings, Scottish Water carried out a SWOT analysis. With advice and input from Lorien Research, Scottish Water prepared an action plan and resulting strategy for improving key customers’ perception of Scottish Water as well as its performance in meeting key customers’ needs and expectations.

Outcome and benefits

Scottish Water was aware that many of its customers purchased utilities centrally but did not realise until conducting a KAL assessment that this was as high as 80%. This level of risk was not established until the KAL process was undertaken. Scottish Water is now preparing a strategy to identify which customers are most at risk, and to co-ordinate initiatives to reduce the future loss of revenue. Conversely there is also an opportunity for Scottish Water to negotiate UK-wide contracts significantly extending their revenues.

This KAL process ensures that key customers interact closely with Scottish Water and appropriate and timely action is taken as a direct result. Scottish Water intends to continue this process on an annual basis to ensure that it does not miss a vital piece of customer-related information.

"Initially, we expected each interview to take a maximum of 90 minutes. The fact that they did not indicates the importance of this activity to our customers and Scottish Water. Moreover, the results have revealed many things we did not already know and have been exceptionally valuable to us."
Commercial Marketing Manager, Scottish Water

Click here to contact us for more information.

Employee survey

National Express wished to conduct a survey that would reveal a more holistic view of its operations and its employees. Lorien was commissioned to conduct a survey that would enable National Express to base its business decisions on reliable information.

National Express had carried out two employee surveys previously. However, these had been devised and conducted in-house and the results analysed by a specialist company. These results were focused on individual departments. The surveys had also included a large number of questions, which made the form long and may have put people off completing it.

The high response rate was not only impressive but also significantly higher than in previous years and puts the survey firmly into the upper quartile in terms of response rates. Among other things, this means that National Express can be confident that this employee survey has produced information that is truly representative of the company’s employee attitudes.

The results of the survey revealed issues that were previously unknown to senior management. Such vital information has proved invaluable to National Express, which continues to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its operations.

• Postal questionnaire
• 1,700 employees
• 67%
• Phase 1 conducted in March 2004, phase 2 scheduled for May 2005

"We were impressed with Lorien’s understanding of employee satisfaction issues. Based on the results, Lorien made a number of recommendations to our Board. The Board has accepted all of these recommendations and we are beginning to put these into practice."
Head of Human Resources and People Development

Click here to contact us for more information.