TSE Services in coordination with Hendricks Power and Touchstone Energy has initiated a market research study to better understand how different generations and segments of electric cooperative members view their electric provider and how cooperatives can better communicate the value of cooperative membership.
This year, dozens of rural electric cooperatives from across the country will participate in the study. Survey results will assist your cooperative:
• Identify overall satisfaction and value propositions by member segment
• Measure impact of member and community engagement activities
• Determine the strength of the relationship between members and your co-op
• Examine uses of new smart home technology
• Evaluate communications channels preferred by members
• Analyze the cooperative’s role as a trusted resource for managing energy use
Target Audience & Member Communications
This year’s study will target the opinions of residential members through a mix of online surveys sent via emails to co-op members as well as telephone interviews. TSE Services will complete interviews with residential members from various age groups from each participating cooperative. The survey is expected to last no more than 12 minutes. TSE Services has contracted with Bellomy Research to conduct all data collection. Bellomy Research is one of the top 50 market research firms in the USA. Headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, Bellomy Research has conducted over 100,000 surveys with electric cooperative members during the past decade.
Online Surveys
Online surveys will be distributed by Bellomy Research using an email invitation. The email invitation will include a link to the survey and a unique ID code. Upon clicking the survey link, members will be asked to type in the unique ID number provided. Both the email invitation and the survey are branded with Hendricks Power's logo. The email invitation also includes the name and contact information of the project liaison at the cooperative in case the member has any questions or concerns.
Telephone Surveys
Since not every member has an email address on file with the cooperative, phone surveys will also be conducted with a sample of co-op members. Residential member telephone interviews will be made primarily during weeknights from 5 pm to 8:30 pm. Bellomy Research uses the words “Opinion Counts” as their Caller ID code. All survey calls from our data collection center originate from area code 336. Please encourage members to participate in the study as their feedback is critical to helping the cooperative improve service to all members.
Interview Schedule
TSE Services will provide your cooperative with a timetable of when your interviews will begin and end. With over 50 cooperatives participating in this year’s study, surveys will be distributed in early July.
Reports and Deliverables
At the conclusion of the research project, each cooperative will receive a report summarizing the results and highlighting their individual cooperative’s findings. In addition to cooperative specific results, participants will receive an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) score, a Member Engagement Index (MEX) as well as National Cooperative Benchmark ratings.
We encourage members to provide their feedback to improve our offerings and member communications methods. If you have any additional questions about the survey, please contact our office at (317) 745-5473.
