Success Story - The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE): Southwestern Ontario chapter

This customer uses surveys to make her organization's events even more successful

by The Marketing Team, Constant Contact Customer Success Stories

The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE): Southwestern Ontario chapter
List Size: 619
Response Rate: 39.6%
Website: http://www.cafecanada.ca

The Canadian Association of Family Enterprise (CAFE) is Canada's only national not-for-profit organization that celebrates and supports family-run businesses. Founded in 1983, it now includes 14 chapters spread east to west, from Nova Scotia to Vancouver Island. The organization facilitates peer interaction, allowing family business members to share experiences and learn from each other. CAFE also creates a community of families and professionals who can provide technical solutions and expertise to help other families in business succeed.

CAFE's Southwestern Ontario chapter is using Online Survey from Constant Contact to help plan for events and gather feedback from attendees after the event is completed. Previously, the group used a paper-based feedback system, but after encouragement from the national CAFE office, the Southwestern Ontario chapter began using Constant Contact. "The time-consuming nature of summarizing end-of-event paper-based feedback was a challenge," says Executive Director Tamelynda Lux. "I prefer Constant Contact's survey product because it collects and summarizes all the data for me."

Before key chapter events or meetings, Tamelynda sends out a pre-event/meeting survey so she and her team can prepare content that will meet the needs of the participants. Post-event surveys are sent to each attendee to gauge satisfaction with the event and to gather feedback on the content. The results are then shared with speakers and presenters. Feedback surveys also provide an opportunity for Tamelynda to reach out personally to attendees. "I make follow-up telephone calls to those who have provided particularly interesting feedback, or if there are concerns expressed in their response, to add a personal touch," she explains.

Tamelynda's group hasn't yet offered incentives to increase survey participations. Instead, she and her team at the Southwestern Ontario CAFE chapter reach out personally to those attendees that were sent a survey but have not yet answered.  "What helps to increase our response rates is to specifically ask people -- verbally, either in person or on the telephone -- to complete the survey," Tamelynda says.

An added benefit of adding Constant Contact's Online Survey tool to her arsenal? Those that respond to the survey get added to a list of potential invitees for future events, growing the group's contact list and making marketing for upcoming events a little easier.  But, of most importance to Tamelynda, Online Survey has been "a time-saver" for her chapter.

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