Helping CalMac navigate to a new normal

A lifeline service during a time of crisis

It’s now over a year and a half since Scotland went into its first full lockdown to reduce the spread of the Covid 19 pandemic. Throughout this period our client Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) has continued to provide an essential lifeline ferry service to residents of islands on the west of Scotland.

During the first lockdown which began in March 2020, CalMac reduced its timetable to an essential lifeline service for use by only those who really needed to travel such as NHS workers and those responsible for the delivery of essentials such as food. Their timetable reduced to less than 30% of its normal capacity and at the height of the lockdown passenger numbers dropped to less than 5% of normal volumes.

During this period CalMac also introduced many other changes to ensure that the vulnerable island communities they served were protected from infection. This included a move from cash to card only payments, a limited food offering and a requirement for passengers to wear face coverings in all inside areas. Also, to ensure that physical distancing requirements could be met, some passenger areas were reconfigured, capacity was less than in ‘normal times’ and a change of rules was made on some routes to allow passengers to remain in their vehicles during the crossing.

While there was a degree of easing for some time during summer 2020, restrictions were reintroduced in full in late 2020 when Scotland entering a second full lockdown.  This second lockdown remained in place until April 2021 when the ‘stay at home’ rule was firstly changed to ‘stay local’ and by the end of the month non-essential travel beyond home local authority areas was allowed again. 

While at this point CalMac were able to resume their summer timetable, ongoing physical distancing requirements until early August meant that capacity levels remained below normal, and passengers were asked to continue to book travel in advance and build in extra time when arriving at ‘turn up and go’ routes.

While some uncertainty continues, easing has since continued with most remaining major restrictions lifted in August when the country moved to ‘beyond level 0’. However, on writing some guidance impacting travel remains in place, most notably advice to work from home whenever possible and a requirement to wear face coverings on public transport. 

Getting back to normal?

While the first lockdown seemed a temporary change for all of us, the second lockdown, and the likelihood that some restrictions are likely to be retained for a long time to come, is leading to many businesses re-examining their operations in the knowledge that behavioural change among consumers may be long lasting as our working and home lives continue to readjust. 

CalMac is no different so they are looking to gain a clear understanding of the requirements of their customers.  While various surveys and external sources such as our Scottish Tourism Index have provided them with an understanding of the needs of tourists and how these may impact upon the leisure side of the business, CalMac identified the need to better understand the views and changing requirements of commuters and islanders as we emerged from the pandemic. 

A survey of non-leisure passengers to inform future strategy

Given this context we were delighted to be commissioned in spring 2021 to support CalMac in the collection and analysis of insights which would help provide them with this understanding of their non-leisure market. 

The survey is very much a partnership, we have provided input on the initial questionnaire design, CalMac administer the online survey (promoting it via channels seen by regular customers such as social media) and we then undertake the data analysis and reporting of findings.

To date three waves of surveying have been undertaken to track changing passenger behaviours and aspirations as the restrictions were eased over the summer of 2021.

Across the 3 waves of surveying conducted so far, over 1,100 passengers have provided their input, including details on their usage of CalMac before the pandemic, currently and expectations for the future and their feedback on changes required to improve services now and in future. This feedback ranges from comments relating to the ongoing Covid 19 related protections to more ‘business as usual’ feedback on matters such as timetabling and ticketing.

Results are reported to CalMac quickly after the fieldwork completes allowing them to stay in touch with passenger needs around current topics such as capacity, reliability and the on board catering offer, as well as longer term subjects such as changes in commuting, leisure or shopping behaviours.

If you would like to find out more about the surveys we do in the transport sector or relating to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic please get in touch.

Assisting Anglian Water to help their customers to love every drop

As an essential service which homes and businesses can’t live without, customer service is essential in the water sector. Yet, the services delivered by water companies are taken for granted by most of us and our interactions with water companies tend to be few and far between.

Indeed, if asked to provide our opinion on our water company it’s likely that many of us might opt for the Don’t Know option or gravitate towards the middle of the scale if presented with the classic Net Promoter Score rating question. Feelings of indifference are common when it comes to water and many of us don’t have a full appreciation of the full scope of services provided by and supported by our water company.

However, although levels of customer engagement tend to be low, given the critical nature of the services they provide, water companies can’t afford to ignore customer experience. In England and Wales the regulator, Ofwat, measures household customer’s levels of satisfaction using C-MeX (Customer Measure of Experience). The results of the surveys which feed into this measure are taken very seriously by all of the water companies, not least because those companies which perform above average are rewarded financially while those performing below par are penalised.

During the last year we’ve been delighted to be working with Anglian Water to help them to tackle the issues of low customer engagement with the sector and to identify the best ways for them to boost levels of customer satisfaction.Recognising how many people take the water that comes through their tap for granted, Anglian Water have an ambition to change how people think and feel about their brand, moving from a position where people have little or no interest to one where the organisation and its work feels more relevant to them and their communities. The advertisement below is an example of how they are seeking to do this with the key message that “Water is our business, but there is so much more we do for the people, communities and environment we look after.”

During the last year we’ve helped Anglian Water to gain valuable insights from a range of data sources available to them including their quarterly brand and communications tracking and the data available from the Ofwat surveys which drive the all-important C-MeX score.

Our work is supporting Anglian Water by making the most of the data collected from these existing surveys, helping them to move from a position of simply tracking satisfaction and communication metrics to one where they have a clearer understanding of the actions needed to become more meaningful to and appreciated by customers.

If you’d like to find out more about our work in utilities, brand and communications or customer experience research please get in touch.