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Mayor Bloomberg Announces NYC 311 Customer Satisfaction Survey Shows High Customer Satisfaction

November 28, 2013

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg today announced customer satisfaction with New York City 311 – the City’s non-emergency government information and services hotline – remains high and well above the Federal government and private sector averages for call centers. The 2013 total composite score of 83 is up four points from the baseline set in 2008, and satisfaction with NYC 311 is 11 points above the Federal government average for call centers and six points above the private sector average. In addition, NYC 311’s Customer Service Representatives achieved a composite score 91 for being highly professional, personable and excellent communicators, and their very high level of performance is directly correlated to overall satisfaction with NYC 311. Other key considerations driving these results include a higher-than-ever percentage of caller issues being resolved to caller satisfaction and a reduction in the need for customers to make follow-up calls. The NYC 311 Customer Satisfaction Survey was conducted to gauge customer response with the system, and survey data was collected through inbound and outbound phone contacts and online forms. Launched by Mayor Bloomberg in 2003, NYC 311 consolidated more than 40 separate City call centers and hotlines into a single, easy-to-remember number. Since its creation, NYC 311 has continued to expand the number of services provided to New Yorkers – from developing 311Online to allow users to report problems and check the status of their inquiries through the internet to becoming one of the first government call centers in the nation to accept picture and video submissions with customer requests. Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg visited with the NYC 311 staff at the 311 Customer Service Center on Maiden Lane to thank them for working on Thanksgiving Day and for their continued service to New Yorkers.

“On a day when we give thanks for all our blessings, let’s also remember all the city employees who are working today – and every day – to serve New Yorkers and keep our city running,” said Mayor Bloomberg. “We have the best workforce in the world, and the customer satisfaction survey of our 311 call takers is just the latest example of that. Today, I visited the 311 Call Center to thank the call takers and congratulate them on their impressive achievement.”

“Customer service is at the heart of the work New York City agencies do every day, and NYC 311 is the way that most New Yorkers access the many services that the City provides,” said Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway. “The data is clear: the men and women who field more than two million service requests every year do it better than anyone inside or outside of government – and that’s because of the tremendous dedication and skills they bring to the job every day. If you call 311, you’ll get what you need.”

“Today, with more than 170 million calls received, and millions more visitors online, texting and tweeting, NYC 311 has grown into a multi-access, multi-channel resource of City information, services, and assistance – and a model for customer service operations the world over,” said Saadia Chaudhry, 311 Director of Customer Management. “We are privileged every day to be in the service of New Yorkers, and committed to keeping this face of City government very highly-rated by the people who use it.”

The 2013 Customer Satisfaction Survey, conducted by CFI Group, Inc., explored how NYC 311 achieves its stated aim of quickly delivering non-emergency government information and services to New Yorkers in an accurate, clear and concise manner. The 2013 Customer Satisfaction Index for NYC 311 is a composite score of 83 – four points higher than the baseline score of 79, established in 2008. The Customer Satisfaction Index is a weighted average of three questions assessing overall satisfaction, satisfaction compared to expectations and satisfaction compared to an “ideal” organization.

Notably, NYC 311 has maintained the high level of customer service provided by its Customer Service Representatives, who answer calls on a 24x7 basis and can provide information on more than 4,000 discrete topics across hundreds of City, state, federal and non-profit entities. NYC 311 customer service representatives continue to be a high-impact, high performing area for being highly professional, personable and clear communicators. In addition, the survey found that while approximately 23 percent of respondents would use the Internet to find the information they were seeking if there were no 311, slightly more – approximately 24 percent – did not know what tool they would use if 311 did not exist.

The aggregate score for government call centers, which is comprised of state and local and federal government remains at 69. NYC 311’s satisfaction of 83 compares favorably to all government benchmarks shown below, which range from the high 60s to high 70s. NYC 311 also outperforms all private industry call center averages – with a score of 83, 311 grades in the top tier of best performers and six points above the private sector average.

Satisfaction Benchmarks – Government Call Centers
(NYC 311 = 83)

About NYC 311

Announced by Mayor Bloomberg in 2002 and launched in March 2003, NYC 311 has received more than 170 million calls since inception and now receives an average of 50,000 calls per day. 311Online, the web channel launched in 2009, receives an additional 12,000 site visits daily. NYC 311 is used to hold City agencies accountable for results and has been a catalyst for the development of new, more efficient delivery of City services, becoming a standard for cities and countries around the world. Domestically, the cities of Newark, Philadelphia and San Francisco have all developed 311 systems of their own based on New York City’s model.

Contact:

Marc La Vorgna / Kamran Mumtaz (212) 788-2958

Lara Torvi (311) (646) 769-2296