Experience of the Statistical Office of Estonia on launching user satisfaction surveys Anne Nuka Head of the Information and Marketing Service

Principles of conducting user satisfaction surveys to conduct at least one survey each year to conduct only clearly targeted surveys (the target could be a segment of users or a product (a service)) to keep high response rates to survey both: active users and potential users to implement at least some of the results of the survey

The aim of user satisfaction surveys to learn about the reputation of the Statistical Office of Estonia among the users of statistics, to learn about the need for obtaining statistical information, to study the preferences of users while using different statistical products, to obtain the necessary information for product development.

User satisfaction surveys Enterprises’ and institutions’ relations with the media 2003 (media) Survey of the Users of Statistical Information (visitors of the Information Centre )

2004 Enterprises’ and institutions’ relations with the media. State agencies and institutions Target group: journalists (TV and radio stations, newspapers, information agencies) Aim: to find out the journalists’ expectations to press representatives, to evaluate the relations of state agencies and institutions with the media, to find out the journalists’ needs for different types of information. The survey was conducted by Turu-uuringu AS. Response rate: 38%.

2004 Enterprises’ and institutions’ relations with the media. State agencies and institutions Results: the consistency of the Statistical Office in informing the journalists was given a high rating, compared to 2002, the availablity of the press representative and the speed to answer the inquiries of journalists has improved, lower than average rating was given to communication skills of the personnel of the Statistical Office with the media, economic journalists gave the Statistical Office higher ratings than news or domestic policy journalists, on the 10-point scale, the rating of the Statistical Office with respect to communicating with the media was 6.17 (the average of state agencies was 6.06).

As a result of the survey: it was decided that the personnel of the Statistical Office should continue to receive training to improve their communication skills with the media, to improve the accessibility of the management to journalists, it was decided to continue informing the journalists about the availability and publication times of statistics, and to make the publication calendar of the public database available on the web site since Enterprises’ and institutions’ relations with the media. State agencies and institutions

2004 Survey of the Users of Statistical Information in the Information Centre Target group: visitors of the Information Centre of the Statistical Office Aim: to find out the possibilities how to use the statistical information and satisfaction with these possibilities, to evaluate the interest in statistics of other countries or international organisations, to find out the areas of statistics of greater interest. The survey was conducted by the employees of the Information and Marketing Service of the Statistical Office.

2004 Survey of the Users of Statistical Information in the Information Centre Contents: questionnaire survey where the respondent completed the questionnaire without receiving any instructions, the questionnaire was completed by 60 visitors to the Information Centre.

2004 Survey of the Users of Statistical Information in the Information Centre Results: 68% of respondents use the publications of the Statistical Office to find statistical information, 43% use the public database, statistical information is mainly used for studies (35% of respondents), self development (33%) and research (27%), 43% of respondents needed the assistance of the consultant, mainly for getting information about the existence and availablity of statistics, respondents were mainly interested in statistics of Estonia and European Union Member States.