So, what makes feedback worth giving?

Last night nine shared owners joined members of our Customer Scrutiny Panel for the second in our series of customer focus groups. Also in the room were our new Director of Operations, David Hunter, and Oliver from our customer service team - a voice many owners will recognise at the other end of the phone.

The session wasn’t about asking for more feedback. It was about what makes people want to share their views, what gets in the way, and what they need to see before they feel it’s made a difference.

Three themes stood out.

Trust is built in the follow-up, not the feedback

The strongest message of the evening wasn’t “fix everything.” It was “don’t leave us hanging.”

Owners want a response, a clear idea of when it’s coming, and an honest explanation of what’s happening, even if the answer isn’t what they hoped for.

“Knowing how long it will take to hear back, rather than an open-ended not knowing if or when you will hear, is important.”

People don’t expect perfection. They do expect to be kept in the loop. As another owner put it:

“If you can build that culture of trust… then people think, ‘Actually, they listened to me on that.’”

People don’t want a process. They want a person.

When we explained that we’re a team of 25 people sharing homes with around 3,000 households, there was genuine surprise.

Owners want named contacts, clear ownership, and confidence that someone is taking responsibility for their issue. That’s the kind of service a small team should be able to give.

Personal service can’t rely on individual conversations alone, though. So our challenge is to use better systems to make information easier to find, updates quicker to give and conversations easier to track, without losing the human connection that builds trust.

Meeting people where they are

Most shared owners don’t need to contact us often. When they do, it’s usually around work, family life and everything else competing for their attention.

WhatsApp, online chat and social media came up again and again. As one owner said:

"WhatsApp would be amazing.”

The conversation wasn’t really about technology though. It was about convenience: being able to reach us in the places people already spend their time.

So we’re reviewing the channels we use and looking at what we can learn from organisations outside housing. But a new channel only adds value if it works. A WhatsApp service that goes unanswered would be worse than not having one at all.

What happens next

Nine people can’t speak for every owner. So what we heard will sit alongside surveys, complaints, day-to-day feedback and Customer Scrutiny Panel recommendations.

Over the next year, we’re investing in our systems and our team. We want to make it easier to reach us, quicker to hear back, and simpler to manage your home and your shared ownership yourself. We’ll share progress here, including anything we decide not to do, and why.

Thank you to everyone who gave up their evening. The real test isn’t hearing feedback. It’s what we do next.