Customer Satisfaction How to talk to and learn from our customers Team: Ellen Halliday Steven Lamonea Anthony Loum Janelle Welch Kristen White Sponsor: Jason Carey

Project Scope To develop a mechanism for launching and sustaining a system-wide survey to gauge the satisfaction and needs of BPL patrons

Project Goals To develop a process for a systemwide survey that will: Measure satisfaction of BPL users Determine which library services are used most by BPL patrons Collect patron e-mail addresses To develop a process for BPL to use survey results to: Improve library services Develop new services that are not currently offered Attract new library users and donors EH- Maybe we can incorporate the part where we talk to staff in this slide, and eliminate the separate slide for that?

Deliverables Timeline Budget Process for presenting results to BPL decision makers Recommendations Presentation Report

BPL Survey History Winter 2006 Xerox Survey Online only survey Offered at selected branches Demographics limited to computer users Individual program evaluations - ongoing No standard form Limited to program attendees No central database of this information Heart of Brooklyn survey – when? Broad survey did not specifically capture library users

How can a survey help BPL fulfill its vision? EH:

Process Research was done on large and small library systems across the country to find out how they talk to their customers Based on this research both internal and external survey methods were examined Consultants Group’s working Wiki http://www.bplcustomersatisfaction.wetpaint.com/ EH- -Explain why we recommend an paper survey ability to reach all users -Why a consultant size and complexity of project

Who are our customers?

Recommendations Form Customer Satisfaction Steering Committee Customize survey Plan staff participation Use ULC for Survey, Analysis, Report EH-We’ll get some specific and lots of general information. We have to put it together. A survey doesn’t tell us what we should do, but provides the seeds for ideas. How does our project fit into Dionne’s ideas: Buildings as our Brand – welcoming and inviting Serving busy patrons Fundraising Immigrant community

Survey Consultant ULC Comprehensive Statistically valid Database to compare to other systems All data will be BPL property EH-recommend ULC, etc. Go through the steps to plan this survey as an organizational priority list roles of ULC (process info, provide array of questions to choose from, etc), BPL (staff training, participation, etc.) Survey is customizable – Sample questions? BPL will receive summary report and all raw data.

Process of presenting results to staff Create Customer Service Steering Committee Recurring agenda item at system-wide meetings Final report made available on the B-line EH-Clearly articulate why we’re recommending this idea, this consultant. Steering Committee’s role: the go-to people for planning and implementing survey, filter recommendations to appropriate staff by reporting what we’ve learned/what we’re doing with that information.

Timeline Future research Planning – 10 weeks Assemble Steering Committee – 2 weeks Appoint internal survey coordinator Draft and finalize questionnaire – 4 weeks Staff Training – 4 weeks Launch marketing campaign for survey – 3 weeks Conduct Survey – 1 week Data entry and results analysis by ULC – 6 weeks Final Report prepared by ULC – 2 weeks Steering Committee reviews results/prepares recommendations – 6-8 weeks Results/Recommendations presented to Board/EMT – 1 week Results/Recommendations presented to staff at systemwide meeting – 1 day (recurring at all systemwides) Future research Focus groups Mini surveys EH- Planning, implementation, reporting out and acting on results included This is how this continues and evolves i.e. focus groups

Budget Survey translation Incentives Total $55,000 Consultant fee $35,000 - $40,000 based on an expected 10,000 to 12,000 survey completions. This fee includes: Survey design Data entry Data analysis Final report Ability to benchmark customer satisfaction against other large urban public libraries Survey translation $3,000 ($200 per page/ 5 languages) Incentives $6,000 for BPL pens as a giveaway for those who complete survey (12,000 at $.50 each) $6,000 for BPL Customer Satisfaction t-shirts for all BPL staff (1,200 at $5 a piece) Total $55,000 EH-Estimate staff @ 1,000, Survey 15,000 to account for incomplete/unusables? Total Incentive purchase of 16,000.

Alternatives with a smaller budget Two page ULC survey Lacks section on reasons for use Internal survey process Longer process because BPL lacks dedicated staff to work on this No guarantee of statistical validity No major urban library systems surveyed used internal survey Partnership with local university social sciences/social sciences department Class project – no guarantee of statistical validity

Opportunities for funding BPL will seek private funding to finance this project Prospects include longtime corporate and foundation funders including Con Edison, … Prospects will be approached to cover total cost or a specific portion such as incentives.

Questions EH- Wrap up presentation and take questions