Online vs phone: Online survey responders less satisfied with Whangārei District Council services

Whangārei District Council's customer satisfaction survey has revealed a difference in feedback given by online responders and those who answered over the phone. Photo / Michael Cunningham

Residents who responded to Whangārei District Council's annual customer satisfaction survey online tended to be less satisfied than those who answered over the phone.

This was the first year the survey was available online.

The council is not fazed by the shift in results.

Whangārei District Council strategy manager Tony Horton said the council was "unflinching" because the results gave a fuller picture of the range of ways its performance was perceived by different groups of people.

"That gives us more pointers about areas for improvement than we had before. We can use the information to focus on improvements in the areas that matter most to the most people."

Horton said the survey had been carried out by telephone for several years but people without landlines were concerned the survey was not reaching important sections of the community because the system only generated random landline numbers.

"In the past it has not been possible to survey via calls to cellphones for a range of complicated technical reasons, but this year we were able to survey 100 people online."

Horton said the online survey attracted a higher proportion of Māori and Pacific Island people and a higher proportion of people aged 18 to 39. A higher proportion were renters than in the landline group.

This year results showed a decrease in overall satisfaction compared to last year, with 61 per cent of people satisfied, compared to 71 per cent last year. That is the lowest figure in five years.

When the figures are split, 69 per cent of people who answered over the phone were satisfied or very satisfied, while 45 per cent of online responders were satisfied or very satisfied.