Safer Buildings Coalition Surveys: We Asked the Important Questions; You Provided the Answers

Posted on June 17, 2020

As part of our efforts to keep in touch with you, our members, and better understand how best to serve you, the Safer Buildings Coalition in March hired Matthew Champagne, Ph.D. to help us establish a targeted survey program. Dr. Champagne has gathered more than 93 million survey responses from 550 organizations worldwide and will leverage this database and his 30 years of research to ensure the accuracy of member feedback.

Many of you have received and answered these surveys -- thanks for that. This has provided us with valuable insight into how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted your business and the industry as a whole; how you see the strength of your companies a year from now; and your thoughts on technologies that may be part of the post-pandemic "new normal." And much more.

These are some of the important takeaways from our member surveys this year so far.

-  OPTIMISM IS HIGH: When asked over multiple months to predict the strength of their organization post-pandemic, member optimism has remained consistently high since March 2020. (See Figures 1 and 2 below.)

The following question was asked in March, again in early May, and at the end of May. 

Based on all you know, which statement will most likely be true about the future STRENGTH of your organization one year from now - by May 2021 (strength in terms of the metrics that are most important to you - profit, reach, sales, etc.):

Figure 1

Figure 2

- TOUGH QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED: Prior to the March 31st Town Hall, the leadership gathered the most urgent and relevant questions from the membership.  After the Town Hall, leadership continued to ask insightful questions of members and, most importantly, shared the results with members to show that their voices were heard and how they compared with other organizations. The Town Hall was a key part of our efforts to "Unite to Thrive" through these difficult times. It helped us understand your needs and concerns and allowed us find and present answers to some of your most burning questions.

-  ENGAGEMENT INCREASING: While administering multiple surveys over time, members did not develop “survey fatigue.”  Rather, engagement and participation increased over time (e.g., email click rate was 19.4% for the 1st survey, yet 26.3% for the 4th survey). This is encouraging. We’ll keep the communication going!

-  RESPONDENTS RELATIVELY COMFORTABLE WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES: Members were asked about the importance and comfort level of new building safety technologies and solutions. Overall, most respondents considered the technologies important, although the survey showed less enthusiasm for Tracking Systems than other solutions. The majority of respondents stated that they were either comfortable or somewhat comfortable with the new technologies. (See Figures 3, 4, 5, and 6 below.)

IMPORTANCE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND SAFETY SOLUTIONS

Figure 3

Figure 4

LEVEL OF COMFORT WITH NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Figure 5

Figure 6

-  INVASIVE TECHNOLOGIES MAY BE NECESSARY, BUT NOT FOREVER: When asked about smartphone-enabled apps that could track movements & facilitate contact tracing, 40.9% said those apps have value now, but should be phased out when the pandemic subsides. (See Figure 7 below.)

Figure 7

We will continue our survey-based communication with you throughout the year and beyond. Stay tuned.