During July, the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) will be emailing some of our customers to ask for feedback about LiveWest and their most recent experience with us.
We appreciate all the feedback we receive and want to share with you what we learned from your feedback in 2021. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond.
During 2021, we heard feedback from 1,255 customers across two email surveys, the first in the Spring and a further survey in Autumn. This is great, as it is a high enough number for us to be sure that the responses collected are representative of all our customers. This means that customers who did not respond are very likely to have given similar feedback in 2021.
How did our performance compare?
ICS independently ranks us against more than 250 organisations based on our performance. In our most recent survey in September 2021, LiveWest received a score of 74.6 out of 100. Positively this score is higher than the average score of other housing associations who also ask their customers the same survey, however it is slightly lower than the average score across all sectors.
How did customers score us in different areas?
Experience - this measures the quality of your interactions with LiveWest.
LiveWest: 7.7 out of 10
Other housing associations: 6.7
UK all sector average: 7.8
Responding to problems - this measures how LiveWest responds to and deals with problems, such as repairs.
LiveWest: 3.3 out of 10
Other housing associations: 3.5
UK all sector average: 6.0
Customer ethos - this measures how well LiveWest builds the experience to meet your needs and show you we care.
LiveWest: 7.3 out of 10
Other housing associations: 6.3
UK all sector average: 7.7
Emotional connection - this measures how well LiveWest makes you feel reassured.
LiveWest: 7.2 out of 10
Other housing associations: 6.2
UK all sector average: 7.7
Ethics - this measures our reputation, openness and transparency.
LiveWest: 7.3 out of 10
Other housing associations: 6.4
UK all sector average: 7.6
A focus on how we respond to problems:
Problem handling is our lowest score and the area where we see the biggest gap in performance when compared to others. To understand how we could improve problem handling, we looked closely at the feedback from 2021.
In 2021, 1 in 5 customers let us know that they had experienced a problem in the last three months and the majority reported their problem to LiveWest.
We see that only exceptional levels of problem handling; where a customer has scored a 9+ out of 10 for satisfaction with how their problem was handled, results in high average overall levels of satisfaction with LiveWest. The other time we see high levels of overall satisfaction are when customers have not experienced a problem at all (see below chart).
Where are we performing well?
As well as focussing on where we need to improve it is also important to build on areas where we are doing well.
Helpfulness of staff - 8.1 out of 10
Competence of staff - 8.0 out of 10
Information is explained clearly - 7.8 out of 10
How other housing associations scored on average
Helpfulness of staff - 7.3 out of 10
Competence of staff - 7.2 out of 10
Information is explained clearly - 6.8 out of 10
For a look at how our September 2021 results fit into our quarterly performance, please check out our March 2022 customer report.
Want to have your say?
In July, ICS will be emailing 10,000 randomly chosen customers to take part in an online survey. The survey should take no longer than 15 minutes. If you receive an email from ICS, be sure to have your say before 29 July. Your feedback will help drive improvements across LiveWest.
How do we protect customers’ personal information?
Customers’ responses to ICS are completely confidential. We do not include any information in our reports that could personally identify an individual, so you can feel free to be completely honest with your feedback.
At the end of the survey, you will be given the opportunity to provide your name and a contact detail if you would be happy if LiveWest wanted to speak to you about your feedback. This is voluntary and if you would prefer not to, we understand, however please be aware that without these details and consent we are unable to follow up on individual issues.
If you have any further questions about this survey, please email the Research and Insight team on surveys@livewest.co.uk. Alternatively, you can call the Customer Services team who would be happy to put you through to a member of the Research and Insight team.