How Orbit Group cut advisors on performance plans by 70%
Orbit Group provides around 40,000 homes and services to 100,000 customers in the Midlands, the South East, and the East of England. It was one of the first housing associations to use real-time feedback, and it rebuilt its repairs service and its contact center culture around it.
01The challenge
The challenge: cherry-picked telephone surveys at a housing association
Advisors chose which callers got the survey.
Orbit measured satisfaction with telephone surveys, but advisors often chose who to put through to the survey depending on how the call had gone. Volumes were low, and staff were left out of the feedback loop and disengaged.
Response rate after moving to text, email, and voice requests.
02What changed
The fix: real-time repairs and contact center feedback with Frontline Engagement
Every job and call asks the customer, not the advisor.
After a contractor finishes work, customers are invited to score it and comment by text message or email, whichever they prefer. After a contact center call, they are asked to leave a voice recording. Comments are analyzed in real time and shown on a shared dashboard.
Frontline Engagement shows each advisor their own feedback and how they compare with colleagues in a live league table, so they learn from every call and coach themselves.
Reduction in the number of advisors on performance plans.
03Acting on it
Acting on feedback: the Orbit pledge and fewer repeat repairs
From a repairs pledge to the boilers Orbit buys.
The Orbit pledge coaches repairs staff on each step of a visit, including explaining what has been done and what happens next. Satisfaction with repairs rose by 10%.
Feedback about heating and incomplete work revealed that Orbit could not stock spare parts for every boiler type, and each repeat visit cost £50. It now limits the boiler types it installs. A first-impressions survey showed some new tenants arrived to a cold house, so contractors now make sure the heating is on before move-in day.
Increase in the share of repairs rated 4 or 5 out of 5.
04The result
The result: 70% fewer advisors on performance plans
Better service, lower cost, and a healthier workplace.
Customer satisfaction rose to 4.2 out of 5, and Orbit saved 20% on its feedback budget compared with its previous method. A dedicated resolution team now handles complaints.
The share of advisors on performance plans fell by 70%, staff retention improved, and sickness levels dropped below 5%.
Reported by Orbit Group after moving to real-time feedback.
Orbit Group results at a glance
Orbit Group is a housing association with around 40,000 homes across the Midlands and the South and East of England. Repairs satisfaction and complaint handling are central to how social landlords in England are measured by the Regulator of Social Housing.
| Measure | Before | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Advisors on performance plans | Baseline | 70% fewer |
| Feedback budget | Baseline | 20% saved |
| Response rate | Low | Up to 28% |
| Customer satisfaction | Not reported | 4.2 out of 5 |
| Repairs satisfaction after the Orbit pledge | Baseline | +10% |
How to run a program like Orbit Group’s
- Take the survey out of the advisor's handsSend every customer a survey automatically, so no one chooses who gets asked.
- Survey after repairs and callsText or email after a contractor job, and a voice survey after a call.
- Show advisors their league tableGive each advisor their own feedback and how they compare with colleagues.
- Fix the root causeLook for repeat topics, such as heating, and change the process, not only the reply.
Voice of Customers runs every step on one platform, from the survey to the follow-up.
Rant & Rave has allowed Orbit to bring the voice of the customer front and center within the business, change the way we think about service improvement and ensure that staff at all levels start to engage and own customer feedback.
What they use
The parts of Voice of Customers behind Orbit Group’s results.
Every module runs on one platform, with surveys by text message, email, voice, and web form, a sentiment engine that reads every comment, and follow-up that gives each unhappy customer an owner.
- Text, email, and voice surveys
- Frontline Engagement
- Feedback dashboard
- First-impressions surveys
Take it with you
Get the Orbit Group case study as a two-page PDF.
The results, the charts, and how they did it, in a format you can forward to your team or bring to a budget meeting.
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Social housing · Wales92%customer satisfaction, up from 85%Tai Calon Community Housing
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Bring one journey you want to hear more about, such as a repair, an appointment, or a support call. We will show you the survey, the dashboard, and the follow-up built around it.