Corporations Canada Transactional Survey, April – June 2006

Branch and directorate:

Corporations Canada (CC) is the branch of Industry Canada responsible for administering the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Canada Corporations Act (Part II), the statutes under which businesses and not-for-profit corporations are incorporated at the federal level. There are currently over 140,000 federal business corporations and over 19,000 not-for-profit corporations included in the records of Corporations Canada. Each month approximately 1,600 new business corporations are incorporated at the federal level, along with some 200 not-for-profit entities. Clients of Corporations Canada include existing corporations or their professional representatives; entrepreneurs seeking incorporation or their professional representatives; representatives of not-for-profit organizations; and researchers and other general information seekers.

Rationale:

Responding to their 2005-06 Business Plan's objective of offering clients responsive and innovative products and services, Corporations Canada (CC) launched an online Transactional Survey in 2006.

The Transactional Survey's principal goals are:

  • measure the level of client satisfaction with online transactional services;
  • measure client satisfaction on an ongoing basis;
  • offer clients an opportunity to provide feedback on areas requiring improvement; and
  • evaluate findings and where appropriate, respond to clients' suggestions in a timely manner on online transactional issues.

CC established a rudimentary on-line transactional survey a few years ago. While results proved to be mixed because of technological challenges, the underlying value of relevant data and feedback eventually led to this baseline survey, which was developed and implemented by CC staff.

Anticipated outcomes / benefits:

CC's online transactional services survey provides current data that can be analysed from client segment, geographic area and volume perspectives. As outlined in the 2006-07 Business Plan, CC staff will use captured feedback to increase market intelligence thus contributing to client relationship management initiatives.

Research Information:

During the quarter of April 5th to June 30th, the on-line survey was offered to 23,556 clients. Of these 13,270 clients replied. The response rate was 56%, yielding a margin of error of +/- 0.56%.

Contracting:

This project was designed and analysed by Corporations Canada staff.


Corporations Canada — Corporations Canada Transactional Survey—April-June 2006 Report


Corporations Canada
Corporations Canada Transactional Survey — April-June 2006 Report

Contents


Executive Summary

In April 2006, Corporations Canada (CC) launched an online Transactional Survey to:

  • measure the level of client satisfaction with online transactional services,
  • take the pulse of client satisfaction on an ongoing basis,
  • offer clients an opportunity to provide feedback on areas requiring improvement, and
  • respond to clients in a timely manner on online transactional issues.

This report presents the analysis of the survey results April 5th to June 30th 2006.

The survey measured six elements: 1) overall satisfaction level 2) satisfaction by number of transactions 3) satisfaction by filer type 4) satisfaction by geographic area 5) satisfaction by forms 6) comments and suggestions.

During the period of April to June 2006, 56 percent of clients using the online services responded to the survey. Overall level of satisfaction with CC online service was 82 percent. In addition, 77 percent of respondents were satisfied with timeliness of service, and 81 percent or respondents agreed that it was easy to access the service and to follow the steps to obtain the service. It is worth noting the high participation rate of CC clients and their interest in further improved CC services as reflected by the over 1800 comments and suggestions received during this three-month period.

Overall level of satisfaction increased when more than one transaction was completed by the respondent in the last 30 days. That is, the level of satisfaction was lower for the one-transaction segment compared to the two-to-ten transaction segment. The higher level of satisfaction experienced by clients who did two or more transactions compared to the one-transaction clients might be explained in part by service expectations and experience using the online service.

In addition, third party clients (or intermediaries) filing on behalf of a corporation indicated they were the most satisfied with the overall quality of service with 86 percent indicating they were either satisfied or very satisfied. This rating was followed closely by employees of a corporation (85 percent) and directors of a corporation (80 percent).

When comparing geographic areas, the highest level of satisfaction by clients was registered in Northwest Territories (88 percent), while the lowest level was in Nova Scotia (73 percent). Clients with registered offices in Ontario and Quebec both had high satisfaction levels at 80 percent.

The highest level of satisfaction for forms was expressed by respondents filing Changes Regarding Directors (88 percent), while the lowest level of satisfaction was expressed by those filing a Certificate of Existence (73 percent).

The two areas of service receiving the lowest level of satisfaction by all segments of clients were the help features and the cost. Help features were rated the least useful for Certificate of Existence (60 percent), Statement of Intent to Dissolve (64 percent) and Corporate Name Proposal (67 percent). The majority of the complaints related to the $20 Annual Return fee and for the cost for filing Articles of Amendment.

The majority of comments received were positive. However, CC has developed recommendations in response to areas requiring improvement for the short-term, mid-term and long-term. In the short-term, technical issues identified by clients have already been corrected. In the mid-term, CC will act on comments related to website access and features when redesigning the website. In the long-term, CC is developing a client satisfaction strategy by implementing a client relationship management (CRM) system that will capture information to improve client services via the website, over the counter, phone, letters, etc.

Introduction

In April 2006, Corporations Canada (CC) launched a new online Transaction Survey designed to measure client satisfaction with its online service (See Appendix B). The survey was offered on an ongoing basis and gave clients the opportunity to provide feedback on areas requiring improvement.

The web-based survey was offered once a month to all CC clients filing an online transaction with CC. Repeat or returning clients on a specific month were not offered the survey if they had already participated.

During April 5th to June 30th, the survey was offered to 23 556 clients of whom 13 270 clients replied. The response rate was 56 percent, yielding a margin of error of +/- 0.56 percent.

Client Satisfaction

CC clients indicated the following overall satisfaction levels:

  • 82 percent of respondents were satisfied with the overall service with an average rating of 4.2 on a five-point scale;
  • 77 percent of respondents were satisfied with timeliness of service;
  • 81 percent of respondents agree that it is easy to access the service and to follow the steps to obtain the service;
  • 10 percent of respondents found it difficult to find the information they were looking for once they were on the CC website;
  • 82 percent of respondents were satisfied with the forms' visual appeal and comprehension;
  • 73 percent of respondents found the help features useful; and
  • 71 percent of respondents found the cost reasonable.

Analysis by Segment, Geographic Area, Transaction Volume

Client Satisfaction by Segment

1. Segment is defined by number of transactions over the last 30 days as shown below

Segment I: Clients who did one transaction in the last 30 days
Segment II: Clients who did 2-10 transactions in the last 30 days (low volume)
Segment III: Clients who did more than 10 transactions in the last 30 days (high volume)

Overall Satisfaction with Quality of Online Service
Level of Satisfaction Dissatisfied/Very Dissatisfied (1-2) Neutral (3) Satisfied/Very Satisfied (4-5) Average
Segment I 6.7% 13.1% 80.2% 4.1
Segment II 4.5% 8.2% 87.4% 4.3
Segment III 4.3% 4.3% 91.4% 4.5

The overall level of satisfaction with the quality of online service increased with the number of transactions made by the client. Eighty percent of clients who did one transaction in the last 30 days indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of online service compared to 87 percent for those who did 2-10 transactions, and 91 percent for high volume clients (i.e. those who made more than 10 transactions in the last 30 days).

At the same time the percentage of those who indicated that they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied decreased as the number of transactions increased (i.e. overall dissatisfaction was 6.7 percent for those who did one transaction compared to 4.3 percent for the high volume clients).

Summary Conclusions by the "Number of Transactions in the Last 30 Days"

  • The satisfaction level — whether in terms of overall quality of online service, timeliness, access to service, communication or cost among the three segments of clients — increased with the number of transactions made by the respondent in the last 30 days.
  • Eighty percent of clients who did one transaction in the last 30 days indicated that they were satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of online service compared to 87 percent for those who did 2-10 transactions and 91 percent for those who made more than 10 transactions in the last 30 days.
  • The one-transaction segment indicated a lower level of satisfaction compared to the 2-10 transactions segment. The 10 or more transaction segment indicated the highest level of satisfaction.
  • The satisfaction level for the 2-10 transactions segment is closer to the 10 plus transactions segment.
  • The higher levels of satisfaction experienced by clients who did two and more transactions compared to the one-transaction clients might be explained in part by the differences in service expectations and experience using the online service.
  • Issues with the help features and the cost remain similar for all segments of clients.

2. Segment is defined by type of filer

Segment I: Sole owner
Segment II: Director of the corporation
Segment III: Employee of the corporation
Segment IV: Third party filing on behalf of the corporation (law firm, accountant, search house)

Who is filing and when?
Segment Percentage of Respondents Once Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly
Segment I 47.33 26.81% 1.98% 4.45% 11.65% 55.11%
Segment II 15.20 22.57% 1.74% 4.42% 12.26% 59.02%
Segment III 15.53 13.94% 2.47% 6.48% 22.27% 54.84%
Segment IV 21.92 10.29% 6.96% 18.78% 40.50% 23.47%

Close to 50 percent of the respondents indicated that they are the sole owner of their corporation. Other filers include: the director of the corporation (15 percent); an employee of the corporation (16 percent) and a third party filing on behalf of the corporation (about 22 percent). However, one has to be cautious in interpreting these numbers. While there is no doubt that online filing is attractive to sole owners as indicated by the numbers, one has to remember that the survey is offered once a month even to returning clients, therefore in reality the percentage of third party clients is most likely higher than reflected in the above table.

The following data from the survey represents information collected for filing patterns:

  • Sole owners, directors or employees of a corporation are most likely to file online with CC on a yearly basis (55 percent), whereas third party clients file on a monthly basis (40 percent).
  • Sole owners are either: first-time filers who are most likely to create their corporation (28 percent), or yearly filers (55 percent). They are also most likely to comply with the annual return-filing requirement.
  • Directors of a corporation follow a similar filing pattern as sole owners (i.e. filing either for the first time or annually).
  • Employees of a corporation are filing mostly on a monthly basis (22 percent) or annually (55 percent).
  • Third party clients have a more diversified filing pattern with 40 percent of their transactions filed on a monthly basis, close to 30 percent weekly and over 23 percent yearly. Third party clients are those most likely to file on regular basis as indicated by the 7 percent of daily filers.

Summary Conclusions by Filer Type

  • Close to 50 percent of the respondents indicated that they were the sole owner of their corporation; 15 percent the director of the corporation, 15 percent an employee of the corporation; and 22 percent a third party filing on behalf of the corporation.
  • Sole owners, directors or employees of a corporation are most likely to file online with CC on a yearly basis (over 55 percent), whereas third party clients file online on a monthly basis (40 percent).
  • Sole owners comprise of either being first-time filers (28 percent) to most likely create their corporation; or they are yearly filers (55 percent) to most likely comply with the annual return filing requirement.
  • Directors of a corporation follow a similar filing pattern as sole owners (i.e. filing either for the first time or annually).
  • Employees of a corporation are filing on a monthly basis (22 percent) or annually (55 percent).
  • Third party clients have a more diversified filing pattern with 40 percent of their transactions filed on a monthly basis, close to 30 percent weekly and over 23 percent yearly. Third-party clients were most likely to file on regular basis as indicated by the 7 percent of daily filers.
  • Third party clients were the most satisfied with the overall quality of service (86 percent) indicating they were either satisfied or very satisfied. They are closely followed by employees of a corporation (85 percent) and directors of a corporation (80 percent).
  • Sole owners were the least satisfied (78 percent) indicating they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of service.
  • For most aspects of the service, whether it is access to the website, communications, help features, visual appeal of forms, timeliness or overall quality of the online service, third party clients were the most satisfied segment, followed by employees of a corporation and directors. The least satisfied segment of clients was the sole owners.
  • It is worth noting that the two areas of service receiving the lowest level of satisfaction by all segments of clients were the help features and the issue of cost. The cost issue was the highest among sole owners and directors of a corporation.

3. Segment Defined by Location of Registered Office

More than 80 percent of the respondents to the survey had their office registered in either Quebec (41 percent) or in Ontario (43 percent). Close to 11 percent of respondents had their offices registered in western provinces and territories, mostly in British Columbia (5 percent) and Alberta (4 percent) compared to the Atlantic provinces (2 percent).

The highest response rate by province and territory (P/T) was registered for Nunavut (83.3 percent) while offices registered in Alberta had the lowest response rate (47.1 percent).

P/T NF PE NS NB QC ON MB SK AB BC YT NT NU NR1 Total
No. of Respondents 31 31 130 56 5425 5760 143 92 465 728 5 17 7 380 13 270
% of Respondents .23 .23 .97 .42 40.88 43.4 1.07 .69 3.5 5.48 .03 .12 .05 2.86 99.93%*
Response rate by P/T 72.1 47.7 58.3 51.4 49.8 64.8 55.4 57.1 47.1 54.8 83.3 51.5 77.8 68.8 -

1National Capital Region
* Does not sum up to 100 percent due to rounding

Summary Conclusions by Geographic Area

  • The highest level of satisfaction is seen in offices registered in Northwest Territories (88 percent) while the lowest level of satisfaction is in Nova Scotia with only 73 percent of respondents indicating that they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the overall quality of service.
  • Close to 10 percent of Nova Scotia respondents were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the service.
  • Quebec and Ontario registered offices have an over 80 percent level of satisfaction with CC online services.
  • Those respondents with their registered office in Yukon or the Northwest Territories were experiencing the highest level of satisfaction with the timeliness of service.
  • The lowest level of satisfaction was experienced by those registered offices in Prince Edward Island (19 percent) and Nova Scotia (12 percent).
  • Respondents with registered offices in Quebec (78 percent) and Ontario (75 percent) were fairly satisfied with the timeliness of service, indicating that they were either satisfied or very satisfied.
  • In most provinces more than 75 percent of respondents indicated that they either agreed or strongly agreed that the access to CC online services was easy.
  • Some offices registered in Yukon, Nunavut and Prince Edward Island seemed to experience some difficulty accessing and navigating on CC website.
  • Visual appeal of the form does not seem to be an issue for any province or territory as the lowest level of satisfaction was 71 percent.
  • Nunavut and Yukon were the least satisfied with the ease of understanding and filling out the forms. In Nunavut, only 57 percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with the forms comprehension statement compared to 94 percent in the Northwest Territories or 90 percent in New Brunswick.
  • The help features seem to bear the highest level of dissatisfaction in a large number of provinces and territories. While over 90 percent of registered offices in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories agreed or strongly agreed that the help features were helpful, this number decreased to less than 70 percent for respondents from Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Newfoundland, Saskatchewan and Yukon. The lowest level of satisfaction with the help features was found in Yukon where only 60 percent of respondents indicated that they agreed or strongly agreed with the usefulness of the help features.
  • New Brunswick (79 percent) has the highest number of respondents that agree or strongly agree that the cost was reasonable compared to 50 percent in Ontario. Twenty-five percent of respondents in Yukon disagree or strongly disagree with this statement.

4. Segment Defined by Forms Filled by Clients

AI: Articles of Incorporation
CoC: Certificate of Compliance
CNP: Corporate Name Proposal
CE: Certificate of Existence
AC: Articles of Continuance
AD: Articles of Dissolution
SID: Statement of Intent to Dissolve
AR: Annual Return
CROA: Change of Registered Office Address
AA: Articles of Amendment
CRD: Changes Regarding Directors

Form AI CoC CNP CE AC AD SID AR CROA AA CRD Total
Percentage of Respondents 1952 250 422 22 13 138 23 8843 682 206 719 13 270
Number of Respondents 14.7 1.88 3.18 .16 .09 1.03 .17 66.64 5.14 1.55 5.41 99.95%*
Response Rate by Form 66.7 25.2 68.4 39.3 41.9 55.2 76.7 59.2 44.7 45.6 41.1 -

* Does not sum up to 100 percent due to rounding

Summary Conclusions by Forms

  • Two thirds of transactions during the April-June 2006 period relate to Annual Return filings, followed by 14 percent for the Articles of Incorporation, 5 percent for Changes Regarding Directors and 5 percent for Change of Registered Office Address.
  • The highest level of satisfaction with CC services was expressed by those respondents filing Changes Regarding Directors (88 percent), while the lowest level of satisfaction was expressed by those filing a Certificate of Existence (72 percent).
  • Seventy-nine percent of those filing an annual return indicated they were either satisfied or very satisfied with the CC overall services compared to 83 percent for those filing Articles of Incorporation or respectively 88 percent and 86 percent for those filing a Change Regarding Directors or Change of Registered Office.
  • The least satisfied with the timeliness are those filing a Statement of Intent of Dissolution (18 percent) and Articles of Continuance (15 percent).
  • Over 13 percent of respondents found that it was difficult to understand the Statement of Intent to Dissolve form. As well, Articles of Dissolution and Corporate Name Proposal forms received the least level of satisfaction for their ease of understanding.
  • Help features were rated the least useful for the Certificate of Existence (60 percent), Statement of Intent to Dissolve (64 percent) and Corporate Name Proposal (66 percent).
  • The level of satisfaction regarding the cost was the lowest for the Articles of Amendment form with 25 percent of respondents indicating that the cost was not reasonable compared to 49 percent indicating it was reasonable.

Analysis of Comments/Suggestions

Comments Category Complaints Suggestions for Improvements Thank You/ Compliments No Comments Difficult to Categorize Total
Number of comments 394 901 344 204 26 1869
Percent 21.08 48.2 18.4 10.9 1.4 99.98%*

* Does not sum up to 100 percent due to rounding

Over 1800 comments and suggestions were received during the April-June 2006 period. Comments were divided in four main categories: complaints, suggestions for improvement, thank you/positive compliments and no comments.

For the purpose of this analysis, the first two categories are of the most interest to CC in its search to improve online services to its clients. Complaints and suggestions for improvement represent respectively 21 percent and 48 percent of all comments received during this period.

The most common complaints and comments included:

  • the $20 annual fee for the annual return;
  • "Why file an annual return?:"
  • "If there is no change from the previous year, why should we reenter the information?" (It was suggested that the system should ask if there are any changes from the previous year, if there were no changes, proceed to payment.);
  • the name search in "NUANS confusing and time consuming;" and
  • "Too much information to give CC."

The most common suggestions for improvement included:

  • add more text to the help buttons;
  • when there is an input error, the system should indicate which line error is in. (This suggestion was verified, the system does indicate the error but clients do not see it);
  • clearer instructions;
  • have a direct link to the CC website;
  • provide a reminder for the password from Strategis website (especially for low volume clients who tend to forget it);
  • ensure format of Corporation number sent in paper format is the same as the one asked on CC website. (Paper letters from CC include dash and letter (e.g. 122222-m) after the corporation number, which is not required online and is confusing to clients.);
  • improve printing capacity; and
  • allow saving documents.

Recommendations/Suggestions

CC has developed recommendations in response to areas requiring improvement for the short-term, mid-term and long-term. In the short-term, technical issues identified by clients have already been corrected. In the mid-term, CC will act on comments related to website access and features when redesigning the website. In the long-term, CC is developing a client satisfaction strategy by implementing a client relationship management (CRM) system that will capture information to improve client services via the website, over the counter, phone, letters, etc.

Appendix A: Objectives, Expected Outcomes and Methodology

Objectives

  • To measure the level of client satisfaction with the online transactional services (excludes information services)
  • To take the pulse of client satisfaction on an ongoing basis
  • To offer clients an opportunity to provide feedback on areas requiring improvement
  • To respond to clients in a timely manner on online transactional issues

Expected Outcomes

  • Improved online transactional products and services
  • Increased client-centric approach to service
  • Access to data for internal and external online services benchmarking purposes

Methodology

  • Ongoing web survey of clients filing online
  • Returning clients will be offered survey no more than once a month
  • Survey will be displayed at the end of the transaction
  • Very short and easy-to-complete one-page survey
  • Questions will measure client satisfaction with access to service, communications, help features, cost, timeliness and overall satisfaction
  • Survey is flexible and will have the ability to vary the questions

Appendix B: Questionnaire

Image of Questionnaire