Building a satisfaction programme for steel fabricators

What is shaping steel

Steel reaches users through producers, distributors and retailers, serving fabricators, builders and OEMs. Brand trust, price and availability decide which bar or sheet is bought.

• Fabricators and builders influence retail steel brands
• Distributor networks decide availability
• Branded steel competes with unbranded on trust

A flat steel producer, working in India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A flat steel producer

Sector

Steel

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

Business panel, Offline data collection (CATI), Data analytics & dashboards

Fabricators and steel service centres were a large and growing customer group, but the producer only heard from them when something went wrong. The commercial team suspected that delivery reliability and coil quality issues were costing business, but had no structured evidence to prioritise improvements.

• Deliver on the brief: building a satisfaction programme for steel fabricators.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of fabricators.
• Produce results that can be compared across groups and locations.
• Set up a repeatable measure the client can track over time.

The work focused on 700 fabricators.

• fabricators700

Audiences we typically reach in steel

FabricatorsBuilders and contractorsOEM buyersSteel dealers and stockistsRetail home builders

Coverage: India. Market: India.

• India

A structured quantitative design, so results could be compared across groups, locations and time.

1. 1Brief
2. 2Telephone survey of fabricators and processors
3. 3Half-yearly dashboard
4. 4Insight

We designed a half-yearly telephone survey covering ordering, delivery lead times, dimensional accuracy, surface quality, claims handling and technical support, with open questions about recent experiences. Interviews were scheduled around fabricators’ working hours, in Hindi, English and regional languages. Results were shown on a dashboard by region, product and distributor, with comparison over time.

Business panelOffline data collection (CATI)Data analytics & dashboards

fabricators

700

• Business respondents were screened on role, company size and involvement in the decision before being invited.
• Online respondents were drawn from verified panel members who matched the screening criteria, with quotas on key profile attributes.
• Telephone contacts were dialled from verified lists, with quotas tracked live by the field team.

• Telephone interviews were run from our CATI centre, with calls monitored for quality.
• The online survey was mobile-friendly and offered in respondents' languages.

• Live call monitoring and recording review
• Call-back verification
• Digital fingerprinting and duplicate checks
• Attention, speed and straight-lining checks
• Review of open-ended answers
• Logic and range checks on the final data
• Work carried out under our ISO 20252 quality procedures

• Cross-tabulation by key groups and locations
• Significance testing on the differences that mattered
• Interactive dashboard for ongoing tracking

• Fabricators rated product quality well but were frustrated by inconsistent delivery dates and slow claim settlements.
• Regional teams now review their dashboard results every six months.

A regular, consistent survey turned scattered complaints into a short list of fixable priorities.

• Build on the core insight: a regular, consistent survey turned scattered complaints into a short list of fixable priorities.
• Focus effort where the evidence was strongest: fabricators rated product quality well but were frustrated by inconsistent delivery dates and slow claim settlements.
• Re-measure after the changes to confirm the effect.

• The producer introduced delivery date commitments with SMS updates and a 15-day target for claim resolution, then tracked both measures in later waves.

What changed in the business as a result of the work. Impact is described qualitatively.

• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interactive dashboard

• Continue the routine and review results every period.
• A natural follow-on question: how is the brand perceived against rivals?