By Kevin Klipstein
More than 500 of you took the time to answer our Membership Satisfaction Survey earlier this summer. This is up from only about 100 who did so the first time we surveyed the membership in 2007.
When asked to evaluate how you felt about the following statement, “I think U.S. SQUASH is going in the right direction in supporting squash in the US,” 85% were” neutral to strongly agreed,” however only 59% of you felt the same about the statement, “I am satisfied with U.S. SQUASH as an organization in delivering value to members and the squash community.” This is up from December (55%), but far below our 3-year goal of 80% that we set two years ago.
When evaluating our services, 90% of you are neutral to very satisfied with this magazine. This is our highest rated “service” or benefit, perhaps because it is so tangible, but also for a small sport, we are fortunate to have the dedication Jay Prince shows to the magazine as publisher. 89% were neutral to very satisfied with our communications overall, which is an area we feel still needs considerable improvement.
Regarding specific programs such as tournament and league support, ratings and rankings, national team or junior programs, the level of satisfaction seemed to correlate with accessibility of the programs themselves. We will need to conduct targeted surveys among participants of specific programs to get more meaningful feedback. At the end of last season we surveyed the nearly 200 middle and high school coaches about our events, rankings system and other areas that directly impact them. We also recently surveyed our national coaches and elite players to help us focus our efforts in this important area.
A slight majority of you felt you know the vision and mission of the Association (52%), up marginally from past surveys which we hope is a positive sign. Of those who responded to the demographic information, exactly half have played squash more than 20 years and 94% play more than twice a month. Incredibly, nearly half of all respondents took us up on our offer to “let us know if there are services you would you like U.S. SQUASH to offer in the future or if you have any additional comments to share which may be helpful in improving U.S. SQUASH’s services.”
An analysis of this very detailed input (most likely from the 41% who are not satisfied with the value we’re providing) yields interesting and valuable information, some contradictions, and many examples of a continued need for us to communicate often and repeatedly.
Members also expressed a desire to connect with each other, and seemed frustrated we don’t do more, yet we do have a “Find a Match” feature which allows members to search for, find, and email each other and create lists of players who match the criteria you set such as gender, ability, location and even availability. Members also have the ability to simply email each other, making the website a networking tool, which is something many still don’t know.
Other issues that arose repeatedly include deficiencies in the rating and ranking system, some mixed feedback on the primary scoring shift from HiHo to PAR, a general desire for the Association to take more of a lead role to increase access to the sport and making more of an effort to bring new people to squash.
To the person who responded, “any deficiencies in my connection to U.S. SQUASH are my fault,” my response is “No sir (about 80% of respondents were male), this is a two-way relationship!” Now and then, someone used the space for some positive feedback, like the person who wrote, “Every year I see incremental improvements. Keep it up!” We will—we appreciate your input, and are committed to responding as best we can to the needs expressed by our members.
