11 June 2024

Sarah Winnett MCIM ACIPP,  the CIPP marketing manager, explores the results of the 2024 survey and your feedback on our products and services


As a membership organisation, and like any business, it’s critical that the CIPP continually monitors the level of service, as well as the relevance of the products and services we provide to industry and our members. The four main objectives of this year’s survey were:

1. To measure and evaluate customer satisfaction and experience with our members, stakeholders and industry professionals.

2. To review existing products, services and business areas, to establish what you value most, and where we can improve.

3. To ensure we’re aware of issues facing industry, to communicate and position the products and services effectively.

4. To assist the CIPP board and senior management team in producing the 2024/25 strategy and business plans.

 

Customer satisfaction and experience

A net promoter score (NPS) measures customer loyalty and satisfaction. Looking at industry averages, scores of 0-20

are considered ‘fair’, between 20-50 ‘good’, 50-70 ‘excellent’ and anything over 70 ‘exceptional’.

We asked respondents if they would recommend the CIPP and reassuringly, the NPS for 2024, based on those who completed this survey, was 57. We started the NPS in 2020, and back then, scored 48, averaging ‘good’, so we’re delighted that by 2024, we’re now reaching ‘excellent’ and are continuing to improve our level of service.

The questions throughout the Market Insight Survey (MIS) then sought to gain further insight into this score and identify the areas in which we excel, as well as areas for improvement. As one of our main objectives was to measure customer satisfaction and evaluate your experiences of interacting with us, we also asked respondents to confirm whether they had been in contact with us over the last 12 months, and if so, to rate their experience. We received a total score of 8.7 out of 10 which corresponds with the overall NPS score as ‘excellent’.

As a key membership benefit, we also asked respondents about contact with the

Advisory Service, to examine customer satisfaction levels. 80% of respondents had been in touch with our advisory team and rated the service 8.7 out of 10. This mirrors our overall service level score, and when reviewing last year’s score, shows consistent levels of excellent customer service from the team.

Due to growth across digital marketing channels, particularly for a younger target audience, this continues to be at the heart of our marketing strategy moving forward. These channels have seen continuous growth in the last 12 months, so it’s important we continue to analyse and improve our online engagement.

 

Our digital strategy

Our website attracts thousands of visitors each month and so it’s important to continue to gauge the user experience. We started by asking how often respondents used our website and the majority (69%) use it weekly and monthly, which is consistent with the 2023 results.

The majority felt the site was user-friendly, with 60% rating it ‘good’ and 32% rating it as ‘excellent – easy to use’. 87% felt the content was good and they didn’t feel anything vital was missing, 11% said it was ‘okay, but needed improvement’ and 2% felt it was ‘difficult to navigate’. When asked what content you would find useful, 15% fed back ideas as shown overleaf and this has been shared internally for consideration moving forward.

We want all our products, services and news updates to be easily accessible via our website and for the member area to be engaging and offer value. A website project is currently underway to improve the website user journey and experience, so this feedback will be incorporated into the audit.

Our social channels have seen a 12.5% increase in followers since the 2023 MIS report, with our following currently at 30,000+ across LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and X (formerly Twitter). 87% of respondents follow us on LinkedIn, 34% on Facebook, 18% on Instagram and 14% on Twitter.

Respondents told us that LinkedIn and Facebook were their preferred professional platforms, and that they followed the CIPP as it provided ‘real time updates’ and ‘advice from within the industry’, all from a ‘reliable source’. This marries with 98% stating that the CIPP social content was ‘relevant’ or ‘extremely relevant’.

We then asked if there was any additional content we could share to provide further value. Requests covered various topics including umbrella payroll, global payroll news, poll results from our website, free webinars and automatic enrolment. These will all be discussed as part of the content plan moving forward and we always encourage you to contribute any topics you wish to see via the various feedback mechanisms in place as part of your membership.

Diving further into our main channel of LinkedIn, 76% told us that they weren’t part of our LinkedIn closed group. While this has grown to an international audience of 13,000+ individuals, further content on holiday pay, pensions, payroll cycles and compliance was requested, as well as more free webinars and facilitation of networking in the group. These ideas will be shared for further development, as we recognise the need to reward loyalty and encourage group participation.

 

Existing products, services and business areas review

81% of those responding regarding membership grade were aware of their membership benefits. We asked members how they would therefore rate each of the 18 benefits based on their membership grade.195 responded and the top five benefits rated were:

1. The Advisory Service

2. Annual Tax Pack

3. BeConnected national forums

4. BeKnowledgeable webinar series

5. Benchmarking Report.

When comparing data with our 2023 and 2022 surveys, the trend shows that the reliance on each member benefit changes slightly year on year. However, the Advisory Service, annual tax pack and staying up to date via events have always remained high.

We also asked if there were any benefits respondents would like to see going forward. Ideas included more networking opportunities, mentoring, mid-year policy updates, well-being discounts and member pin badges. Members have previously told us that their member grade shows their standing and professionalism in the industry, so they would like a mechanism for displaying this as part of their membership. We’ve been researching digital badges to deliver this recognition for our members. 60% of this year’s respondents told us they would like to see this introduced. All suggestions will be reviewed to ensure we’re meeting member needs over the next year and into the future.

 

How valuable is Professional magazine?

An overwhelming 97% of those surveyed told us they felt this magazine was relevant to their role. Payroll news, our Advisory Q&As, employment law updates, compliance articles and pensions articles remain the top five areas you feel the best support your day-to-day roles. Respondents requested more content on the following areas:

  • global mobility
  • pensioner payroll
  • The Pensions Regulator records
  • umbrella payroll
  • best practice in holiday accruals, year end and preparing for audits
  • teacher and local government pension schemes
  • reward
  • archiving
  • contingency planning.

Please do reach out and email our editor at [email protected] if you feel you can contribute to any of these topics:

 

Member representation

The policy and research team was established in 1999 to influence payroll and pensions legislation, as well as to raise the profile of payroll and pensions.

Through bringing together the views of thousands of payroll and pensions professionals, the team aims to provide a strong authoritative industry voice to influence change and assist government.

We want to ensure members continue to feel this is the case. Following positive feedback over the last two years, a resounding 97% this year told us they felt the team are representing payroll individuals and the wider profession. 77% went on to tell us they were aware of the work the team carries out within government forums and 98% indicated they were satisfied with how the policy team engages with them through think tanks, BeKnowledgable webinars and the BeConnected National Forum events.

 

Upskilling you and your teams

In 2023, the CIPP launched a new learning management system, and we wanted to evaluate whether the platform and learning methods were of a good standard. 83 respondents answered from 1 (very difficult) to 5 (very user-friendly). The learning was rated a 3-4 by 77%, and assessments rated 3-4 by 78%, which shows many of the students surveyed were happy. As we look to develop the qualifications matrix and training portfolio in the future, we again asked respondents to map specific tasks to job roles. This will ensure we continue to provide the most appropriate and accurate content in our qualifications and training moving forward. 49% were currently studying, 38% had finished within the last three years and 13% in the last five years, so respondents were well placed to provide first-hand feedback. We then asked if completing these qualifications had positively impacted their careers. 45% said it led to recognition within their organisation, 35% stated it gave them a clear career path, 30% told us it led to an increased salary and 23% said it led to promotion.

Specifically looking at our training courses, 55% had undertaken training within the last 12 months and we continue to monitor delivery methods year-on-year as behaviours, wants and needs have changed since the pandemic. 54% took online training with a live trainer, 42% followed with self-directed eLearning, while 32% of respondents took a face-to-face course and 24% learned via an online recording of a trainer. We then asked respondents for feedback on our current training portfolio. 63% told us they were ‘extremely satisfied’ or ‘satisfied’, with 28% ‘somewhat satisfied’.

We then asked about training topics we could consider in the future. Ideas included termination payments, Europe, Middle East and Africa payroll, pension / inheritance tax changes and redundancy calculations.

A big thank you to all of you who participated in this year’s survey.

 

Prize draw winner

We’re delighted to announce that Daniela Fech from Versalis International was the lucky recipient of the £150 Amazon voucher. Well done again, Daniela. 


 

This article featured in the July - August 2024 issue of Professional.