Background Information

Attachment A: Background CDC-INFO Customer Satisfaction Survey

The CDC National Contact Center (CDC-INFO) is an integrated approach to the delivery of CDC health information designed to contribute to improving the public’s health. Information is provided in English and Spanish, to general public and health care professionals via phone (800-CDC-INFO) and email ([email protected]).

For the past 5 years, the evaluation of CDC-INFO provided data on the performance of CDC-INFO and measured customer satisfaction with CDC-INFO.

CDC-INFO has responded to more than 2 million phone and email inquiries. All CDC-INFO phone inquirers have the opportunity to complete a customer satisfaction survey. Data has been collected from more than 379,109 survey participants. The customer satisfaction data show that CDC-INFO has consistently maintained high overall customer satisfaction scores; in FY10, 75% of survey respondents indicated the highest levels of satisfaction with the service and information they received through CDC-INFO.

At the end of each CDC-INFO call, the caller is presented with the option of completing the Interactive Voice Response Survey. If the caller chooses to participate, the caller is connected to the Interactive Voice Response Survey, a 7-item, automated survey that allows the caller to respond to the questions by entering selections on their touchtone phone.

It is important for CDC-INFO to ensure that health information and the service provided by CDC-INFO are of the highest quality and are based on sound science, objectivity, and continuous customer input. CDC-INFO must be designed to be an effective provider of health information and resources to CDC’s priority audiences. Surveying CDC-INFO users on a regular, ongoing basis will help ensure that users have an effective, efficient, and satisfying experience with CDC-INFO, thus maximizing the health impact of the information and resulting in optimum benefit for public health. The surveys will ensure that CDC-INFO meets customer and partner health information needs, builds CDC’s brand, and contributes to CDC public health goals.

The CDC-INFO customer satisfaction survey approach is based on the procedures and principles outlined in the U.S.A. General Services Administration’s Citizen Service Levels Interagency Committee (CSLIC) report released in 2005.) Current demographic data support this focus on customer service—the latest trends from the contact center industry indicate that “citizen expectations are that government should be able to provide the same quality of service over multiple channels…as the private sector” (Noblis presentation, 2010).

Executive Order 12862, authorized in 1993, directs Federal agencies that provide significant services directly to the public to survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they need and their level of satisfaction with existing services. More recently, the Obama Administration has called for a transformation of customer service as part of the White House’s focus on modernizing government, saying, “The Federal Executive Order 12862 directs Federal agencies that provide significant services directly to the public to survey customers to determine the kind and quality of services they need and their level of satisfaction with existing services. Government must transform its customer services in ways similar to what has been done in the private sector, both in terms of improving customer satisfaction measuring and monitoring, and in terms of better delivery of citizen-facing services” (whitehouse.gov).