A satisfaction programme for printers and converters

What is shaping pulp & paper

Paper and packaging demand is shifting from writing and printing grades towards packaging, hygiene and recycled products. Buyers are printers, converters, brand owners and schools, each with different priorities.

• E-commerce is driving packaging demand
• Recycled and sustainable grades are gaining preference
• Price and delivery reliability dominate B2B buying

A paper and board mill, working in Pan-India. Client identity is withheld to protect confidentiality.

Organisation

A paper and board mill

Sector

Pulp & paper

Team engaged

Market Research

Services

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

The mill’s customers included small printing presses, carton converters and paper distributors with very different needs. Complaints about shade variation and delivery delays reached management only through escalations, too late to retain some customers.

• Deliver on the brief: a satisfaction programme for printers and converters.
• Understand the views, needs and behaviour of printers.
• 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 500 printers.

• printers500

Audiences we typically reach in pulp & paper

Printers and convertersPackaging buyers at brandsPaper tradersSchools and stationery retailersRecycling businesses

Coverage: Pan-India. Market: India.

• India

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

1. 1Brief
2. 2Half-yearly telephone survey
3. 3Customer dashboard
4. 4Insight

We designed a half-yearly telephone survey in Hindi, English and regional languages covering product consistency, runnability on machines, delivery, claims and sales support, with open questions about recent problems. Results were shown by customer segment, region and product grade on a dashboard.

Business panelOffline data collection (CATI)Data analytics & dashboards

printers

500

• 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

• Shade consistency in coloured grades and slow handling of quality claims were the main frustrations.

Segmenting feedback revealed problems that averages concealed.

• The mill tightened shade tolerances, set a claims response target and shared dashboard results with production and sales teams every six months.
• Share the findings with the teams closest to customers so they can act quickly.

What we recommended, and the client put into practice

• Later waves showed claims satisfaction improving, and sales teams began using dashboard insights in customer meetings.

• Cleaned data file and data tables
• Interactive dashboard

• Continue the routine and review results every period.
• A natural follow-on question: how strong is demand for recycled grades?