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A question of perception

 (Vital housing research questions, and what to do with the answers part 2)

Opinion can be divided on HouseMark’s perception questions. Landlords often use them in surveys, but at the same time dismiss them as being woolly and not informative enough.

At Acuity, we’re always testing how useful surveys actually are to our customers, so we’ve trawled back through some of our archive to try and find the definitive answer to this issue. We’ve discovered that not only is it important to find out residents’ views on whether your services are “efficient and effective”, but there’s also a clear link between this question and value for money.

It turns out there is a strong correlation between scoring highly on ‘efficient and effective service’ and overall satisfaction, as the tables below show. Being “efficient and effective’ is more important than many other factors such as trust and the National Promoter Survey (NPS) on whether your residents would recommend you to others.

Note: Over 0.6 = strong correlation

That makes these “woolly” questions a really important tool in your armoury when you need to know how happy your residents are.

To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following?

  1. My landlord provides an effective and efficient service
  2. My landlord is providing the service I expect from my landlord
  3. My landlord treats its residents fairly
  4. My landlord has a good reputation in my area
  5. My landlord has friendly and approachable staff
  6. I trust my landlord

Typical results for okay landlord:

Results for good landlord

But – there’s always a but – there is another important factor that shows up when we investigate our data further: communication. That can make such a big difference, I’m devoting the final blog in this series to it, in a couple of weeks.

With decades of specialism in the sector, and with a growing body of comparative data and analysis, Acuity is well-placed to support you in every aspect of residential surveys, involving your staff from start to end of the process, from design to action planning.

We can tailor a package to suit all needs and budgets, so please do get in touch if you’re planning a survey, and find out how we can help.

Next week, we’ll be looking at the bigger picture: how to use your survey findings to improve service levels and increase resident satisfaction.

Did you miss last week’s blog in the series, on open-ended questions? Find it here:  When yes or no just aren’t enough >>.

About Denise Raine

Denise Raine is a Director of Acuity Ltd, and has specialised in tenant satisfaction and feedback research for more than 20 years.
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