The Communications Team at Curo look after the main website, social media channels, monthly Facebook Live events, e-newsletter Open and printed magazine Prime Time News. We also help teams with the letters and leaflets that we provide to customers.
We recently carried out an External Customer Communications Survey, so that we can better understand your preferences and needs. The survey, which ran from 16 September to 16 October last year, gave us insights into how we can improve our communications. Thank you to everyone who responded to the survey. Congratulations to Kelly and Alejandro who were each picked at random to win a £50 Love2shop voucher for completing it.
Open e-newsletter
We were pleased to learn that 72% of the survey’s 400 respondents read Open, with 65% rating its content as good or excellent. 85% of you find the frequency of Open ‘just right’.
Many of you expressed a strong interest in:
Repairs and maintenance - you want more information about DIY maintenance, property improvements and maintenance plans.
Competitions and events – you’re interested in hearing more about local community events and competitions.
Advice and information – content on topics such as support with money, housing opportunities and food banks is important to you.
Home ownership – some residents were looking for more information on selling shared ownership properties and accessing relevant websites.
Organisational information – several of you wanted to know more about senior colleagues’ pay and how Curo fund events.
Please watch this space for more content that incorporates your suggestions.
Prime Time News
Prime Time News is our printed publication aimed at older customers, who are sometimes less digitally engaged. Though fewer residents receive it than Open, 73% of the respondents who do rated the content as good or excellent. The most popular content was about Curo's services, customer stories, money advice, competitions and recipes.
You told us you would like to see more information on money matters, including disability benefits.
To ensure that more people can get hold of a copy of Prime Time News, as well as posting it directly to older customers we’ll also now place copies in the community rooms of our sheltered accommodation. We’ll also keep sharing money advice in the magazine.
Curo's website
The survey revealed that 75% of you find Curo’s website easy to navigate, endorsing its recent redesign. The most searched-for information includes reporting repairs, news and event updates, contact details, customer stories, money advice and job opportunities.
Your suggestions highlighted the importance of providing information on repairs and maintenance, advice and wellbeing.
Facebook Lives, podcasts and videos
13% of you watch our Facebook Lives every month; 8% at least six times a year; 20% less frequently; 43% never watch them. Only 15% of you didn’t know about Curo’s Facebook Lives, which is a good indication that our promotion of them is working well.
65% of you do not listen to podcasts. Only 15% listen to them every day or at least once a week, with the rest listening to them once a month or less frequently. This indicates that podcasts are not a preferred medium for many of our customers.
47% of you watch videos online every day or at least once a week. 27% don’t watch videos online, with the remaining respondents watching them once a month or less. This indicates that online videos are a good medium for our communications.
Publications
In terms of our annual publications, 67% of you had read the Annual Report; 42% had read the Resident Engagement Report; 25% had read the Complaints Annual Report; and 28% had read the ESG Report. Some of you said you weren’t aware of the reports and would like to read them so we’ll boost promotion of these.
Accessibility
Many respondents (87%) weren’t aware of ReachDeck, the tool on our website which can support with speech, reading and translation into other languages. We'll work on a campaign to boost awareness of this tool.
Social media
A significant 84% of respondents follow us on Facebook, with 78% of you happy with the frequency of our posts. Only 20% of you would be interested in following Curo on TikTok, so we will continue to focus on our existing channels for now.
You like content related to Curo, community events, competitions, performance information and customer stories, which we’ll continue to create.