Seven Quantitative Customer Satisfaction Surveys - Mail and Telephone Surveys

RATE SOCIAL SECURITY’S SERVICE
ABOUT OUR SURVEY
Social Security would like to know how well we served you when you wanted to create an online
account to do business on our website. This survey asks about the service we provided you in person
and on the telephone. It also asks about your experience completing the online account pages on our
website. The survey should take less than 10 minutes to complete.
•

Answer all questions as directed. The instructions may tell you to skip over some questions. When that
happens, you will see an arrow with a note telling you what question to answer next:
Example:

 Yes
 No  SKIP to Question 1.

•

Please use the space provided on the last page to explain any of your answers, especially any reasons for
dissatisfaction, or to offer any other comments you may have about creating an online account.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR MARKING YOUR ANSWERS
• Use a pen with blue or black ink.

• Make no stray marks.

• Do not use a pen with ink that soaks through the paper.

• Keep all entries within the appropriate boxes.

• Mark X to indicate your answer. If you want to change your answer, completely fill in the answer box for
the wrong answer and mark X in the box next to the correct answer.

CREATING AN ONLINE ACCOUNT WITH SOCIAL SECURITY
1. Social Security records show that you recently wanted to create an online account for doing business on our
website. Which of the following best describes your situation?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ I wanted to create an online account without extra security added.
□ I wanted to create an online account with extra security added.
□ I wanted to add extra security to an online account I had created earlier.

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2. How did you hear about creating an online account to do business on Social Security’s website?
Mark [X] ALL that apply.

□ From Social Security’s website
□ From an Internet search or website other than Social Security’s
□ From a Social Security employee
□ From informational material from Social Security (pamphlet, letter, etc.)
□ From an event in the community
□ From traditional media (newspaper, magazine, TV or radio, etc.)
□ From online social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)
□ From a family member or friend
□ Somewhere else
Please explain:____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
3. Why did you want to create an online account with Social Security? I wanted to:
Mark [X] ALL that apply.

□ View my Social Security Statement (record of my earnings and estimate of my future benefits)
□ Change my address/telephone number (I already receive benefits)
□ Add or change my direct deposit information (I already receive benefits)
□ Get a proof of income letter verifying the Social Security benefits I receive
□ Check information about the Social Security benefits I receive, e.g., see the date my payment is sent, the
bank it goes to, etc.

□ Just curious; wanted to see how it worked, see what I could do with an online account
□ Social Security recommended I create an account
□ Some other reason
Please explain:____________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
4.

To create an online account, did you visit a Social Security office or did you speak with someone at a
community event?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Visited an office

Continue with question 5.

□ Spoke with Social Security at an event

Skip to question 20.

□ Both

Continue with question 5.
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VISITING SOCIAL SECURITY

Excellent

Very
Good

Good

Fair

Poor

Very Poor

Please rate the service you received when you visited the Social
Security office about your online account.

Office hours

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□

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□
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□
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□
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7.

Signs/instructions explaining how to check in when you got to
the office

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8.

Office comfort (seating, temperature, etc.)

9.

Office appearance (clean, pleasant, etc.)

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Mark [X] ONE answer for every item.
5.

Office location

6.

11.

Courtesy of the staff

□
□
□
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12.

Helpfulness of the staff in resolving your online account
business

□

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13.

How knowledgeable the staff was about your online account
business

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14.

How clearly the staff explained what you needed to do for your
online account

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15.

Waiting time to be served in the office

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10. Office privacy

Mark [X] ONE answer.

Less than
10 minutes

Between
10 and
30 minutes

Between
31 and
60 minutes

More than
60 minutes

□

□

□

□

16.

How long did you wait to be served?

17.

Did you have to visit the office more than once about creating your online account?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Yes

 Continue with question 18.

□ No

 Skip to question 19.

18. During your previous visit, did the office staff explain that they were going to correct information on your
Social Security record so you could try to create your online account?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Yes
□ No
3

Very
Good

Good

Fair

Poor

Very Poor

19. Overall, how would you rate the service you received when
you visited the office?

Excellent

Mark [X] ONE answer.

□

□

□

□

□

□

CALLING SOCIAL SECURITY
20. In addition to speaking to an employee in person, did you ever speak to Social Security staff on the
telephone about creating your online account?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Yes

 Continue with question 21.

□ No

 Skip to question 29.

21. Did you call Social Security’s National 800 number (1-800-772-1213), a local office or both?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ National 800 number
□ Local office
□ Both
□ Not sure
Excellent

Very
Good

Good

Fair

Poor

Very Poor

Please rate the service you received when you called Social
Security about your online account.

23. Courtesy of the telephone staff

□
□

□
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24. How helpful the telephone staff was in responding to your
question

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25. How knowledgeable the telephone staff was about your online
account business

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26. How clearly the telephone staff explained what you needed to do
for your online account

□

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□

Mark [X] ONE answer for every item.
22. How long it took you to reach the telephone staff

4

27. Did you have to make more than one call to Social Security about creating your online account?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Yes

Fair

Poor

Very Poor

Overall, how would you rate the service you received when
you called Social Security?

Good

28.

Very
Good

Mark [X] ONE answer.

Excellent

□ No

□

□

□

□

□

□

LETTERS FROM SOCIAL SECURITY
29.

Social Security provided a letter that explained what you needed to do to finish creating your online
account. The letter contained special codes to enter on Social Security’s website. How did you receive
your letter from Social Security?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ I was handed a letter by a Social Security employee and
I received one in the mail.

□ I received a letter in the mail only.

 Continue with question 30.
 Continue with question 30.

□ I received a letter from a Social Security employee only.  Skip to question 32.
□ I did not receive a letter yet.

 Skip to question 33.

□

Please rate the letter(s) you received from Social Security with
instructions for creating your online account.
Mark [X] ONE answer for each item.
31.

How long it took to receive the letter(s) in the mail

32.

How clearly the letter(s) explained what steps you had to take

5

Very Poor

□

Poor

□

How soon did you receive the letter in the mail?

Fair

More than
2 weeks later

Good

Between 1 and
2 weeks later

Very
Good

30.

Less than
1 week later

Excellent

Mark [X] ONE answer.

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CREATING THE ONLINE ACCOUNT ON SOCIAL SECURITY’S WEBSITE
33. At this point, have you already finished creating your online account on Social Security’s website?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

Very Poor

Skip to question 52.

Poor



Fair

□ No

Good

Continue with question 34.

Very
Good



Excellent

□ Yes

34. Ease of finding the pages to create your online account

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35. Appearance of the online account pages (amount of information,
how the information is arranged, etc.)

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36. Ease of answering the questions on the online account pages

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37. Helpfulness of the explanations provided in the links, instructional
video, etc.

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38. Explanations of the security and privacy policies

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Please rate the online account service on Social Security’s website.
Mark [X] ONE answer for every item.

39. Length of time it took to complete the online account pages

□

□

□

Mark [X] ONE answer.

41. Overall, how would you rate Social Security’s website for
creating your online account?

Mark [X] ONE answer.
42.

After creating your online account, how confident
are you that your information is secure on Social
Security’s website?

6

Very Poor

□

40. How long did it take to complete the online
account pages?

Poor

More than
20 minutes

Fair

16 to
20 minutes

Good

10 to
15 minutes

Very
Good

Less than
10 minutes

Excellent

Mark [X] ONE answer.

□

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Very
Confident

Somewhat
Confident

Not Very
Confident

Not at all
Confident

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Mark [X] ONE answer.
44.

How likely are you to recommend that others
create an online account with Social Security?

Good

Fair

Poor

Very Poor

43. From start to finish, how would you rate your entire experience
creating an online account with Social Security?

Very
Good

Mark [X] ONE answer.

Excellent

YOUR OVERALL OPINION

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Very
Likely

Somewhat
Likely

Not Very
Likely

Not at all
Likely

□

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□

Listed below are various types of online services Social Security now offers or may offer in the future on our
website. You may have already used one of these services. In the future, how likely would you be to use
our online services for the following:
Mark [X] ONE answer for every item.

Very
Likely

Somewhat
Likely

Not Very
Likely

Not at all
Likely

45.

View a statement of my earnings

□

□

□

□

46.

View an estimate of my monthly Social Security
benefit

□

□

□

□

47.

Replace my Social Security card or change my
name on my card

□

□

□

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48.

Apply for Social Security benefits

□

□

□

□

49.

Ask a question and receive personal information
about my Social Security benefits

□

□

□

□

50.

Report a change to my Social Security benefit
record, such as new direct deposit information

□

□

□

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51.

Report the death of someone who receives
Social Security benefits

□

□

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□

7

IF YOU HAVEN’T FINISHED CREATING YOUR ONLINE ACCOUNT
Question 52 should only be answered by people who have not yet finished creating their online account.
All others should skip to question 53.
52. We’d like to know why you haven’t finished creating your online account on Social Security’s website yet.
Mark [X] ALL that apply.

□ Haven’t had a chance to do it
□ Didn’t receive the letter with the code I needed
□ Tried to do it but had problems (e.g., error message, computer or Internet access issues)
□ Decided I didn’t want an online account because of security/privacy concerns
□ Decided I didn’t want an online account for some other reason
Please explain : ___________________________________________________________________

□ Decided I didn’t want to add extra security
□ No longer need online account; took care of my business when I visited/called Social Security

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOU

Mark [X] ONE answer.

Very
Experienced

Somewhat
Experienced

Not Very
Experienced

Not at all
Experienced

□

□

□

□

53. Please rate your level of experience as an
Internet user.

Mark [X] ONE answer.
54. What is your age?

18 - 24

25 -34

35 - 44

45 - 54

55 - 64

65 and over

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55. What is the highest level of education you’ve completed?
Mark [X] ONE answer.

□ Not a high school graduate
□ High school graduate or GED
□ Trade/technical or vocational school
□ Some college
□ Undergraduate degree
□ Graduate degree or postgraduate training
56. Please use this space to explain any of your answers, especially any reasons for dissatisfaction, or to provide
any other comments you may have about creating your online account.

Thank you for your time and attention with this survey. Social Security will use your answers to improve
our services! Please return the completed questionnaire in the postage-paid envelope as soon as possible
to:
Social Security Survey
Westat
1600 Research Boulevard, Room RC B16
Rockville, Maryland 20850

PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT STATEMENT

The Social Security Administration is authorized to collect the
information for this survey under Executive Order 12862,
“Setting Customer Service Standards.” Your response to
these questions is strictly voluntary. The information you
provide will be used to help us improve the service that we
give you. Your response will not be disclosed to any other
government or private agency.

This information collection meets the requirements of
44 U.S.C. § 3507, as amended by Section 2 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. You do not need to answer these
questions unless we display a valid Office of Management
and Budget control number. We estimate that it will take
about 10 minutes to read the instructions, gather the facts and
answer the questions. You may send comments on our time
estimate above to: Social Security Administration,
6401 Security Blvd., Baltimore, MD 21235-6401.

OMB Control No: 0960-0526
Expiration Date: November 2015

Send only comments relating to our time estimate to this
address, not the completed form.

9

Online Authentication Survey - Prenotice Postcard

Dear Social Security Customer:
Social Security believes that conducting surveys is one of the best ways to find out how well we
are serving you. That’s why we will soon be asking you to give us your opinion of the service
we provided for your recent business.
In a few days, you will receive a short questionnaire in the mail from Westat, who is conducting
this survey for Social Security. When you receive their envelope, we hope that you will take the
time to answer our questions and tell us what you think of our service.
We look forward to hearing your opinions.
Peter D. Spencer
Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management
Social Security Administration

Online Authentication Survey – Initial Cover Letter

Dear Social Security Customer:
As noted in our recent postcard, Social Security is conducting a survey to find out how well we
served you when you wanted to create a my Social Security account on our website. We ask that
you take a few minutes to fill out the enclosed questionnaire and return the form as soon as
possible in the postage-paid envelope provided. (Please do not put any information related to
Social Security business in the envelope with your completed survey.)
Please be assured that Westat, who is conducting this survey for us, will only give your
responses to my staff here at Social Security and will not use them for any other purpose. Social
Security will report the survey results by summarizing the answers of everyone who takes the
survey; we will not report any individual responses.
If you have a question about Social Security benefits, please visit our web site
at www.socialsecurity.gov or call our toll-free information line at 1-800-772-1213.
We appreciate your taking time out of your busy schedule to answer our survey.
Sincerely,

Peter D. Spencer
Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management
Social Security Administration

Enclosures

Online Authentication Survey – Follow-up Postcard

Dear Social Security Customer:
About a week ago we sent you a survey form asking for your opinion of the service you received
for your recent business with Social Security.
•
•
•

If you have already mailed back your completed survey, thank you for your
quick response.
If not, please take 10 minutes now to complete and return the survey in the
postage-paid envelope provided.
If you no longer have the survey, you don’t need to do anything. Westat, who
is conducting the survey for us, will be mailing another form to you shortly.

Thank you for your help with this survey.
Peter D. Spencer
Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management
Social Security Administration

Online Authentication Survey – Follow-up Cover Letter

Dear Social Security Customer:
A few weeks ago we sent you a survey form to find out how well we served you when you
wanted to create a my Social Security account on our website. We haven’t yet heard from you
and it’s important that we gather opinions from as many people as possible. If you have already
mailed in your completed survey form, please discard this letter. We sincerely appreciate your
help and we look forward to receiving your response.
However, if you have not yet had time to fill out and return your survey, please take a few
minutes right now to do that. The form is short and takes less than 10 minutes to complete. In
case you misplaced the survey, we have enclosed another copy along with a postage-paid return
envelope. (Please do not put any information related to Social Security business in the envelope
with your completed survey.)
Please be assured that Westat, who is conducting this survey for us, will only give your
responses to my staff here at Social Security and will not use them for any other purpose. Social
Security will report the survey results by summarizing the answers of everyone who takes the
survey; we will not report any individual responses.
If you have a question about Social Security benefits, please visit our web site
at www.socialsecurity.gov or call our toll-free information line at 1-800-772-1213.
We would appreciate receiving your completed survey as soon as possible.
Sincerely,

Peter D. Spencer
Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, Quality, and Management
Social Security Administration

Enclosures