In 2009, the National Weather Service (NWS) Office of Climate, Water, and Weather Services (OCWWS) determined customer satisfaction surveys were necessary for a variety of reasons. These reasons include the following: establishing a customer satisfaction link with user expectations and desired outcomes; setting a baseline for customer satisfaction and measuring progress; benchmarking against the best organizations in business and government; validating existing services; prioritizing new requirements; discovering areas for improving quality of service provided; and raising trust in the NWS and the federal sector.

The NWS contracted with the Claes Fornell International (CFI) Group, experts in the science of customer satisfaction using the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) methodology, to assist in the development and implementation of a Web-based NWS survey for users of NWS products and services.

Two annual surveys have now been completed since the decision was made to pursue this effort. The first survey was conducted in June 2010 and received around 15,000 responses. The second survey conducted in July 2011 received over 32,000 responses. Questions covered nearly all primary NWS service areas including: Routine Forecasts and Hazards, Climate, Hydrology, Decision Support, Dissemination, Outreach and Weather Education, Aviation, Marine and Coastal (including Tsunamis), and Fire Weather.

This presentation will highlight key survey findings, compare survey results, display trends, share the NWS ACSI scores, and offer preliminary conclusions.