Strategy Team #1 – Enhance Customer Satisfaction

Every Columbus Water Works employee provides some form of customer service.  Every day, we all have opportunities to make sure our customers are satisfied, not only with the quality of their water, but also with our customer interaction, our job efficiency, our response time, and our overall effectiveness.  For all our employees, whether working in the office or in the field, our customers deserve and expect the highest level of quality customer service, which reflects our job knowledge, competency, professionalism, friendliness, approachability, and a willingness to help.

Participation in our strategic planning initiatives also considers input from customers and stakeholders.  As an initiative of Strategy Team 1, CWW conducts a monthly custom telephonic survey of randomly selected respondents to measure our customers’ perception of our performance.  There are over 100 questions which cover the categories of

 1) Water Quality
 2) Customer Service
 3) Information
 4) Reliability, and
 5) Value/Price

All factors are analyzed and an overall satisfaction level is determined and expressed as a customer satisfaction index (CSI) number on a scale of 0 to 1000.  The survey results are used to identify issues that may need to be addressed and the CSI is a performance benchmark that is tracked monthly.  Survey data is also analyzed on a quarterly schedule to reduce the margin of error and confirm significant issues with the results of the study provided to senior staff and strategy team members. 

Bill inserts, in conjunction with public service announcements, are also venues we use to communicate with our customers.  Topics are determined by reviewing the strategic plan and analyzing the results of the customer satisfaction survey.  Another method by which CWW measures customer satisfaction is by tallying results from our Door Hanger Program.  When service work is performed at a residence or on a street that affects a residence, a door hanger with a CWW postage paid return-addressed card is left with the customer (with the exception of unauthorized usage of water, non-payment, disconnection, or pipe installation) requesting feedback and comments in the areas of response time, competence, courtesy and quality of work.  Comments are reviewed to determine if further action is warranted and all data collected is tabulated and reported monthly to senior staff and the respective department.  Results of the program have been positive and it helps us to better understand our customers’ perceptions and expectations.