QMP CLIENT SATISFACTION SURVEY – RESULTS
The results of the inaugural client satisfaction survey for The Quality Standard for Mailing Production (QMP) have been published this week by the British Accreditation Bureau (BAB).
95% of the 6,003 clients interviewed stated that they were likely to use direct mail in the future – good news for the direct mail industry overall, indicating client confidence in the value and effectiveness of direct mail.
The results also indicate strong customer loyalty to their chosen supplier – 77.6% of customers stated that they would definitely use their current Mailing House again in the future – a clear message to Mailing Houses to put CRM at the top of the priority list.
The survey forms part of the accreditation process for QMP (launched in March this year to replace the now obsolete DMARC scheme) and sits alongside mandatory knowledge tests and a site visit. Under strict rules of confidentiality, BAB reviewed 13 aspects* of service with more than 6,000 clients of QMP-accredited Mailing Houses.
Samantha Hicks, Operations Director with BAB explains the aims of the survey. “The survey gives the industry and its clients an independent view of Mailing House commitment to client service and provides valuable client feedback to all participating Mailing Houses. It also allows us to gauge levels of awareness of QMP amongst clients and whether Mailing Houses are actively communicating their QMP accreditation.”
Clients considered the most important service aspects to be “Reliability” (92%), “Producing Mailings” to the “Agreed Specification” (90%), and “Meeting Time Scales” (90%).
“Generally very high satisfaction ratings were achieved in all aspects of service reviewed, with the highest being “Politeness and courteousness of staff” (average satisfaction rating of 8.9 out of 10). The lowest satisfaction rating was recorded against “Proactive in making suggestions” with only 48% of respondents giving a rating of 8 or above. “Being kept informed of problems” proved an area of weakness with 29% of respondents rating satisfaction at 7 or below.
The survey showed that QMP is beginning to make its mark on clients and to influence their decision-making. 60% of those interviewed were aware that the Mailing House they used was QMP accredited and 40% of these said that this factor was very important or important in their purchase decision.
In future, the results of the survey will be used to establish a like for like benchmark in order to develop a performance indicator of customer satisfaction levels to be built into the QMP accreditation process.
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For further information contact Linda Stevens, In-house Communications, Tel: 01689 82 9000 Fax: 01689 82 9100 Email: [email protected]
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Notes:
QMP replaces DMARC and is managed by BAB on behalf of Consignia and overseen by an Advisory Council that includes representation from Consignia, The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA). The aim of QMP is to improve and maintain standards in direct mail production services and to become the recognized industry standard for direct mail.
*The mailing houses that have been awarded QMP accreditation, have demonstrated quality through successful completion of a comprehensive training programme, culminating in an in-depth knowledge test and a rigorous on-site audit of their service capability.
QMP – Quality Standard for Mail Production
