Customers want public services to be relevant and responsive.

When asked, customers generally DON’T say they want a government service; they want a solution to a problem or an issue that is relevant to them.

Customers’ wants and needs can be expressed succinctly as:

• “Give me…” (Access to good health, a good education, a positive experience, etc.).
• “Help me…” (Get to a destination on time, improve my life, get a better job, etc.).
• “Save me…” (Time, money, hassle, etc.).

They also want services to be provided in ways that are satisfying to the customer. 

There are five major drivers of customer satisfaction.  They are summarised in Figure 1, below.

Drivers of Customer Satisfaction

1. Process and outcomes – such as fairness of the service, reliability of the service provided, privacy, accuracy of the service delivered, how problems are handled, efficiency of the service, user-friendliness.
2. Access and timing – such as ease of access, waiting times, completion time, the number of dealings with different employees before the customer receives the finalised services, availability of the service.
3. Location and presentation – such as cleanliness, comfort, employee appearance.
4. Professionalism – such as employee understanding of customer needs, employee responsiveness to customer needs, competence, politeness, friendliness.
5. Communication and information – such as how easy the information was to understand, the extent to which all relevant information was provided.

Source: Customer Satisfaction Pilot Survey by IPSOS-Eureka, June 2008