Customer Experience Survey Reveals Optimism for SME business in 2022

UBC’s Customer Experience Survey Reveals High Business Optimism for 2022

UBC’s annual Customer Experience Survey, which was distributed amongst office clients in March this year, revealed a considerable amount of business optimism for the year ahead.

Despite 58% of respondents saying their business performance has been affected by the pandemic, a whopping 85% of clients are anticipating growth in 2022, showing that business confidence is high despite the ongoing challenges related to Covid-19.

In terms of working patterns over the past two years, 36% said that the pandemic has affected the way they use their office, with many reporting increased work from home, the introduction of hybrid work, and continued flexible working patterns.

But far from reducing the need for office space, the impact of the pandemic appears to be strengthening demand for flexible workspace.

For example, one company said that pandemic restrictions meant they could no longer work out of clients’ offices, which prompted the need for their own private office.

Some companies using UBC office space have switched to a hybrid way of working. Initially this approach enabled social distancing, and now as restrictions have eased, they have continued this flexible way of working to support better work-life balance for their employees.

Customer Service Standards

Asked to rate the standard of customer service delivered by UBC’s centre teams, UBC is delighted to have received an average rate of 4.92 / 5.0 for customer service, with the overall UBC experience receiving an average of 4.85 / 5.0.

UBC Customer Service Rating

This comes just a few months after UBC won two regional awards for Customer Service Excellence at the annual FlexSA industry awards. Sentinel House in Fleet and Forward House in Henley-in-Arden scooped the prestigious industry awards, with a further three centres reaching the top three.

Given the high rate of client satisfaction at UBC’s centres, this goes some way towards explaining why clients are staying with UBC for the long-term. Indeed, the survey revealed that 18% of respondents have rented flexible office space with UBC for between 1 and 3 years, while 43% have been with UBC for more than 3 years.

What’s more, flexible office space is clearly appealing to a wide range of businesses, including many large corporates. UBC’s survey found that 16% of respondents are in a company that employs 51+ people. At the other end of the spectrum, 54% of UBC respondents have less than 5 employees, demonstrating that flexible office space is a truly universal workplace solution.

What’s Next?

While UBC is delighted with the positive outcome of the survey, there is still room for improvement and the team is focused on working to improve areas of the business that haven’t yet reached top marks.

UBC is also working to build greater awareness and use of existing services. For example, the survey revealed that a high percentage of clients are interested in (but not using) some additional, existing services. Of the services that are currently available, 63% said they would book meeting rooms online, 76% would book space at other UBC centres, and 83% would use a business address at another UBC location.

82% are also interested in onsite car charging facilities, which is currently available in some locations.

Carrying out the survey itself has proven a valuable way for UBC’s centre teams to gain a better understanding of their clients’ needs, and to work with clients on a one-to-one basis to identify improvements and solutions.

The survey was circulated amongst all UBC’s current flexible office clients in March 2022, with 32% of clients responding.

UBC operates 7 regional flexible office locations, ranging from Southampton on the South Coast to Warrington in the North West, and provides a variety of flexible workspace options including virtual offices, coworking and day passes, meeting room rental, serviced offices, and longer term managed workspace.

Visit www.ubcuk.com/office-space for more information.