This blog post is a summary of a recent project completed by Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS). 

Background: Onondaga County Water Authority (OCWA) partnered with Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) to conduct a study regarding its current satisfaction, loyalty, image, and needs among customers. The client wanted to better understand key drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty, awareness levels of services offered at OCWA, and identify pricing options. The market research objective was to gather the insights needed for OCWA to provide an improved customer experience.

Approach: The study consisted of a telephone survey which resulted in 616 completions with a margin of error of +/- 3.95 at the 95% confidence interval. This means that there was strong statistical reliability in the sampling. The survey took approximately 10 minutes to complete, and was administered using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) software. RMS utilized its onsite call center QualiSight and experienced telesurveyor staff for the telephone survey fieldwork. Survey participants were selected from the client database list provided by OCWA. The project was complete in approximately eight weeks.

Results: Here are some highlights of the study’s findings:

  • Nearly all (99%) of survey respondents felt OCWA water service is reliable.
  • A large majority (93%) of survey respondents highly rated water quality provided by OCWA.
  • Most survey respondents (91%) felt water provided by OCWA is safe.
  • OCWA’s in-house customer service staff and employees in the field were both favorably rated by 97% of survey respondents.
  • Water was considered the most critical utility service by survey respondents (vs. gas, electric, phone, etc.).
  • Very few respondents (4%) did not have a favorable opinion of OCWA, and only 3% thought the cost of water provided by OCWA is not a good deal.

The announcement from OCWA regarding survey results can be found here.

RMS is a full-service market research firm located in Syracuse, NY. If you are interested in learning more about our research capabilities, please contact Sandy Baker, our Senior Director of Business Development & Corporate Strategy at SandyB@RMSresults.com or by calling 1-866-567-5422. Visit our website at www.RMSresults.com.