The Importance of Good Communication: Building Relations with Respondents and Users

1. The Importance of Good Communication: Building Relations with Respondents and Users Presentation at theUNECE / UNFPA Seminar on Census Dissemination and Communication Geneva 27 – 28 June 2011 Petteri Baer, Marketing Manager, Statistics Finland

2. Themes to be discussed in this presentation • The enhanced role of internet in distributing statistical information and Census results • User needs – how can they be found out? • Marketing – that’s something for businessmen – not for statistical organizations? • Relationship marketing, Permission marketing, Social media • Stakeholders – Users – Customers • Tourists – Farmers – Miners • Responsibilities – Resources - Results Petteri Baer

3. More and more statistical publication takes place on the internet… • This is a very positive development • Availability and accessibility of official statistics has grown substantially • In the beginning of the year 2008 • > 500 Million internet hosts in the world!

4. Internet has in recent years helped to build corporate imagos • It has also highlighted the often pretty different approaches statisticians may have on ways of publishing data • Much good experience has been accumulated on this in the last ~20 years • UNECE Work Sessions • IMAODBC Conferences

5. User needs & demands – how can they be found out? • Is knowing user needs & demands important – or maybe it is “just a side function”? • Not a simple task • Which users’ voices are heard? • How good is the coverage of our information servicesfor our users?

6. How do we perceive ourselves? How do decision makers perceive our services? • How important is our role in real decision making? • In practical terms? • How covering is our information on users? • Do we know enough about our potential users, our potential customers?

7. User demands – the basic ones • User friendly • Easily accessible • Understandable and clear • Focused on the essentials • With visual presentations • Politically neutral • Balanced Petteri Baer

8. Customer Service Principlesof Statistics Finland • We are easy to approach • We serve our customers flexibly and efficiently • We attend carefully to the needs of our customers • We operate fast and with precision • We keep our customers up-to-date • We learn continuously from our customers • www.stat.fi/feedback Petteri Baer

9. Dialogue with customer and analysisof customer behaviour Growth of customer loyalty More information about and consolidation of the present and forthcoming customer relationship needs of the customer Willingness of both parties ALEARNING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP to invest both time More efficient marketing and money in building the and service profile to customer customer relationship The value of the customer More activities responding to relationship grows for real customer needs both parties More efficient customer contacting and a decline of contacts made in vain Petteri Baer

10. User friendly statistical services • …can be established only through interaction with users • Interaction with real users • Not with solely our imagination on them • Building relations • Collecting feedback • Enhancing cooperation structures

11. Trade-offs almost every day • Accuracy is a must – but what about timeliness? • Relevance is a must – but what about needs specific only to one or a few users? • Remember:Only used statistics are useful statistics!

12. Often it is not easy, especially if the quantity of materials is huge – as it always is with Censuses Petteri Baer

13. If we do not know our users • We will not know how satisfied or dissatisfied they are with the present services we provide • We will not know about any unmet needs in the field of statistics • It will be difficult to develop services that better fit their information needs. Petteri Baer

14. Back to the basics:Who are our stakeholders? • The President and his office • Government & Ministries • Parliament • The National Bank & other central gvt • Regional & local governing bodies • Is THIS the list?

15. One way to categorize users • Central administration • Local administration • Media • Corporations and enterprises • Educational institutions and public libraries • Research institutions • Organizations

16. Other important stakeholders and users of statistical information • Libraries • Educational institutions • International organizations • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) • Trade unions • Social issues • Environmental issues • Information brokers • Information service agencies • Business intelligence systems • Knowledge managements systems

17. Different user groups have different need structures • Consequently they have varying demands for statistical services • Business people versus researchers • Local authorities – comparisons with other local authorities and with the average • NGOs, lobbyists – focus on the themes, relevant for their interest group • It is not wise to serve them all with the same common approach Petteri Baer

18. To disseminate Census results efficiently: Database services! • The Census will produce a huge amount of multidimensional statistical information • Different users have different need structures, they want information • By regions, by small areas, national • By family and socio-economic and housing categories • Comparisons over different time periods • International comparisons • And numerous other aspects… • PC-Axis, PX-Web… User friendly services!  Moldova Petteri Baer

19. Census information dissemination will need good Contact information • User lists • Existing customers and contacts • Regular and heavy users of economical statistics • Contact directories • Feedback contacts •  Contact / Customer database •  Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

20. To improve user interaction at least a Customer Database is needed • For contacting • For surveys on satisfaction or dissatisfaction • For presenting the new targeted services • For other forms of interaction

21. Customer Database FunctionsInformation providers Information users Customerservice Customers Developmentprojects Customerintelligence Contactintelligence Lead intelligence Mana-gement Customer database Campaignintelligence Product development Informationretrievals Project intelligence Quoteintelligence Adminis-tration Marketing Project groups Sales Petteri Baer

22. Tools assisting work for better satisfaction of user needs • Simple, but well structured MS Excel tables • Use of MS Access structures - Moldova • Customer databases • Information on regular and heavy users – UNECE... • Customer Relationship Management system（CRM） • For good and systematic follow-up and planning of interaction with regular and heavy users • Example NSA:s: Canada, Finland, Estonia • Business Intelligence systems Petteri Baer

23. We will profit much from active feedback • Having more feedback will help us to develop our services • Interaction with critical customers will help us in having a positive pressure on performing better • A demanding customer is like a grain of sand within the mussel. It doesn’t feel good but the result may be a beautiful pearl!

24. A modulated approach - basics for efficient user services • The importance of • A good information architecture • Effective databases • Metadata information made available • Linking identifications exist between different data • XML may help to build electronic bridges

25. The media is a partner of the NSO • In disseminating the main results of all your hard work on the Census and on statistics • In making problematic issues known • Help the media to be well informed!

26. Take publicity seriously • Develop useful statistical service products • Make a good plan of what will be published • Publication calendar • Highlight news stepwise with Media releases • The Census publication process may take a year or more • Make use of your agency’s Press Officer • Press Conferences from time to time • …but not too often! • Also critical media should always be invited! • Prepare a Cost plan and a Budget for publicity activities • Follow up on media appearance – both quantities and attitudes Petteri Baer

27. Statistical literacy • It goes much beyond students or school pupils • Special information seminars, breakfast sessions or other kinds of light information meetings for selected target groups would be advisable • The web site of the International Statistical Literacy Project of IASE could be helpful in planning • http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/islp/countries Petteri Baer

28. Improve your web site (1) • All NSAs have some kind of internet site • However, pretty much remains to be improved • The structure reflects too often the internal organization structure, not the users’ need structures • Too many of the NSA materials are available only in the PDF- of Word formats, not so easy to reuse by the users • Navigation and finding is complicated and difficult • The search functions do not give good results • The sites are often too crowded and estethically lousy • Check that your structures are built in a way that Google and other search robots easily find your information Petteri Baer

29. Improve your web site (2) • Check that your structures are built in a way that Google and other search robots easily find your information • Open Google and write • ”site:addressofmysite.qa” • If nothing comes up, you have a problem to fix • Perform some usability testing • Perform some card sorting excercises with the material you provide • You will be surprised with how numerous different approaches to your material there are! • Learn to know your users and their need structures Petteri Baer

30. Become an active part of what’s going on in the spheres, important for your organization • Listening • Use Google Alerts or Business Intelligence for systematic follow up • Reacting • Take a stand on clear misinterpretations, important issues, bring the facts to the discussions • Active reacting • Contextualization – bring your rich Census materials and supply of factual sources also into real discussions of other forums than your own Petteri Baer

31. React and participate when you have something to say or give • Build a blog of your own – or maybe even different blogs for different audiences • Put in core materials on YouTube or SlideShare together with links to the statistical information you provide • Create a Facebook site, possibly a Facebook fan site, use Twitter to alert your audiences about special things, create links to these from and to your materials • Make use of chargeable publicity services to draw attraction to your services • Google AdWords - brings in people searching on Google • Facebook Social Ads Petteri Baer

32. How to promote your materials in discussion groups and in social media? • Define which are the important discussion groups for your organizsation • ”If you sell cameras, probably sites where photography is discussed are important for you” • Listen first, don’t intervene unprepared • Try to identify opinion leaders – whose opinions are highly valued, who writes a lot • Represent your organization openly • Do not promote and sell in a pushy way • Provide something useful for the discussion group Petteri Baer

33. Prepare a policy on how your staff should behave in social media (1) Clear • Make it easy to understand what is the importance of social media for the NSA • What are the responsibilities and duties of the employee • Clear rules provide replies to at least following questions • What kind of things can I comment on? • On which kind of topics can I write? • In which channels can I participate and in the name of whom do I write? • Is there a specific style I should follow when writing? Petteri Baer

34. Prepare a policy on how your staff should behave in social media (2)) • Inspiring • Staff should not only be informed about what is allowed and not in relation to social media • It is also important to motivate people to be active in social media • Why participation in discussions is appreciated? • Any benefits a staff memnber can get from active blogging? • Who has the responsibility to provide advice and serve as a good example within the organization? Petteri Baer

35. Blogs and organizations (2) • In still not so frequent cases organizations see blogs as • Open forums for all sorts of interaction on themes and topics of common interest of the organization and • in more sophisticated cases providing differernt blogs for different kinds of audiences and actively participating in blog discussions of others • Note that internet was originally created for • interaction and networking • not for being used as a ”billboard” or ”megaphone” Petteri Baer

36. National Statistical Agencies – Social media may help coping with challenges • 1. All statistical agencies declare (in strategic documents, in festive speeches, in reports to higher authorities) that they are customer / user oriented • But do we really interact with our users and customers? • 2. Our job is to be a good provider of information services • Do we master the modern tools for this? • 3. Users and customers want good services, not so much collections of statistical publications • All basic materials are anyway in the electronic form • 4. Globalization is everywhere. • Are we there? Petteri Baer

37. Statistics Estonia – an active user of Social Mediahttp://twitter.com/REL2011 Population and Housing Census 2011 on Twitter Presently more than 460 followers (31.05.2011) Information related to population and 2011 Population and Housing Census in Estonia and in the other countries Petteri Baer

38. Statistics Estonia: Goals for using social media • to promote official statistics and improve statistical literacy • to provide more analyses on different subject areas and improve the timeliness • to change the conservative and formal image of Statistics Estonia to be more open and innovative • to find new customers and keep the current ones • Courtesy to Aira Veelmaa, Statistics Estonia Petteri Baer

39. Social media brings statistics to new users • At the UNECE Work Session on Dissemination and Communication (June 2010) Statistics Estonia presented their active and positive stand on social media [Link > & >>]http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.45/2010/sp.1.e.pdf • At the International Marketing and Output Data Conference, in Vilnius (September 2010), Statistics Finland presented important ideas about the topic

40. Who bears the responsibility that communication with users works well? • Is it the individual statistician, the subject-matter or Census expert? • Program managers? • Information & PR Unit? • Or – Is it a challenge for the top management? • Who should bring in a systematic approach on building user relations, if it is missing?

41. User relations are a strategic issue • User relations are directly linked to the strategic scope of the Agency: • Mission, Mandate • Capabilities • Responsibilities • Resources

42. But – that’s already another story • Thank you for your attention • Remember: • Only used statistics are useful statistics • petteri.baer@stat.fi • www.stat.fi A learningCustomerRelationship