RECA Communications Survey: We asked, you answered, we listened
| February 07, 2017
Industry surveys are one of the ways RECA find out when we’re doing something right and when we can improve. This winter, we asked industry members for feedback on our communications, including our emails, newsletters, website, and social media presence.
As we begin a new Strategic Plan, we want to ensure we offer timely and useful information using the communication vehicles that Alberta industry members use and prefer.
RECA is constantly striving to improve the quality of the communications we share with industry professionals.
Demographics and responses
RECA uses Survey Monkey to conduct surveys, which allows industry members to respond anonymously.
RECA received responses from approximately 8% of industry members. This is a 2% increase in response rate from the 2013 Communications Survey.
Website and social media
We asked industry professionals how often they visit reca.ca, and 45% said they visit monthly. Approximately 60% rated the usefulness and ease of navigation as good or excellent.
The primary reason cited for visiting reca.ca, at 31%, is to access the myRECA system, and the second is to view RECA Case Summaries, at 17%.
RECA’s online presence also includes social media. The most popular platform for industry members to follow RECA on is Facebook (29%). Industry professionals who follow RECA on LinkedIn and Twitter is 18% and 16% respectively.
Newsletters
Over 80% of survey respondents say they read each quarterly Regulator newsletter cover to cover or scan each one, reading some articles and not reading others. Sixty-nine percent rate the usefulness as good or excellent, while 65% rated the design as good or excellent.
More than 90% of respondents say they read the monthly Case Summaries newsletter cover to cover or scan each one, making it RECA’s best-read newsletter. Industry professionals were given the opportunity to offer ideas for improvement, and many requested the inclusion of practice tips to accompany each summary.
RECA has incorporated this idea into the latest Case Summaries newsletter, distributed on February 6. The case summaries now provide additional information on what the industry member could have done to avoid the discipline; what RECA expects in those situations. We appreciate this suggestion from industry professionals, and hope it adds a valuable education element to the Case Summaries publication. It’s also become clear that industry members don’t realize the name in each case summary links to the full decision on the RECA website – we’ve updated the style of those links, so it’s clearer that they’re links and you can get more information by clicking on them.
Overall/Going forward
So what do all these numbers mean? What will RECA do to demonstrate that it takes these results seriously, and plans to work towards improved communication?
For starters, with so many industry professionals working on the go, we were not surprised to learn many respondents would like to see RECA’s communications and online presence in a mobile-friendly format. While we can’t change www.reca.ca overnight, we’re committed to ensuring the next iteration of RECA’s website is mobile friendly.
We are already taking steps to make more of our communications mobile friendly. We have transitioned to Mail Chimp for mass email communications. MailChimp allows us to send out messages that are mobile-friendly for reading on tablets and smart phones. We are also introducing the Regulator newsletter on a new mobile-friendly format using WordPress. We will continue our efforts to make more RECA communications mobile-friendly.
A number of respondents commented on the search function on reca.ca. We took immediate action to updatethe search, and it now provides better, more accurate, and more up-to-date results to better serve industry professionals.
Overwhelmingly at 87%, respondents to the survey indicated that the frequency of RECA communications is just right. Going forward we are committed to maintaining the right balance for our industry professionals.
In addition to providing important communications and resources for Alberta’s industry professionals, RECA offers many resources for consumers. We encourage you to share these consumer tips and resources with your clients to promote smooth and positive working relationships.
As always, we will continue to enhance our communication by incorporating your comments and suggestions. RECA appreciates the industry professionals who took time to provide their valuable feedback.
