DJS Research has been conducting the 'Testing the Waters' survey on behalf of CCW since 2016. These biennial surveys gather insights from a representative sample of businesses in England and Wales. The objectives for the 2020/21 survey remain consistent with those of previous surveys.
They include assessing business customers' satisfaction with the services they receive, measuring and tracking significant differences in perceptions across customer groups, understanding their awareness and experiences of the retail market, identifying water-saving actions taken, and evaluating customer contact experiences.
The 2020/21 survey coincided with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which resulted in temporary business closures or reduced operations due to social distancing measures. As a result, CCW and DJS Research decided to treat this survey as a snapshot of customer opinions during an ‘exceptional time’ rather than a standard tracking survey. Furthermore, the pandemic necessitated a shift in the project's approach, leading to the inclusion of a qualitative element.
Overview of methodology:
- To be eligible, businesses had to be directly billed for a commercial water supply, which meant that businesses operating from residential premises or those that worked in serviced offices where a commercial landlord pays for their utilities were excluded.
- Originally, the plan was to conduct 2,300 business customer interviews – using a Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) approach – between April – August 2020, but Covid-19 made this unfeasible. A total, 1,000 interviews were conducted with a representative sample of business customers based in England and Wales, between July 2020 and January 2021.
- Qualitative research: twenty 30-40 minute in-depth telephone interviews with a cross-section of eligible businesses in England and Wales were conducted after the telephone survey had closed. These interviews focused on customer experience during Covid-19.
The CATI questionnaire was reviewed, and minor changes to the 2018 survey were made. Two questions about Covid-19 were included and asked of all respondents.
