The Results Are In – Key Findings & Actions From Our Community Survey 2018/19

All feedback from users of our community hub website Wimblecomm matters to us!

Your views help us to improve your user experience, and inform the future direction of our charitable services to the communities in Merton.

We recently conducted a community survey to find out your views on our Wimblecomm service and to learn if and how you use community space in Merton.

In addition to this annual community survey, we will also be introducing a ‘website exit survey’ – a convenient, short questionnaire which can be completed by anyone, at any time whilst visiting Wimblecomm.

Key Findings & Actions

Overall, feedback received suggests that Wimblecomm is making a valuable charitable contribution to Merton communities.  However, awareness of our free and easy-to-use community hub is still a little low amongst the general public…

We have identified a number of ways to further develop  awareness of Wimblecomm over the coming months, including an increase in our ongoing marketing and networking efforts. As always, your help in spreading the word about Wimblecomm is also greatly appreciated.

We are very pleased to see the strong support for Wimblecomm and its services, expressed by both, community venue providers and members of the Merton community.  Some of you had not actually seen or used the Wimblecomm website at the time of completing the survey yet expressed strong support for its service, which is promising and confirms that we are travelling in the right direction.

Most respondents who had seen the website gave positive feedback on the way it looks and functions – suggesting that the extensive site improvement work that took place since our previous survey in 2017/18 has paid off.

Never resting on our laurels, we are currently working on further features to be launched in the coming weeks: Watch out for the new, more user-friendly community space search & display function, space enquiry emails, and a new format for our events calendar.  We are also planning to trial an option to review community venues listed on our directory to allow users of community space to share their feedback.

More generally, there is a need for members of the public to book community space for one-off events (e.g. a birthday celebration) and regular activities (e.g. running of fitness classes).  Most of you stated that you do not tend to use specific community directory websites and often rely on Google to find a suitable venue.

Wimblecomm’s core service, the online publication of a comprehensive community space directory, is a great way of helping people in finding a suitable community space in Merton that meets their needs.

Through the additional content on Wimblecomm (events calendar, blog, e-newsletter & social media updates) we aim to celebrate the many wonderful and unique community venues in Merton and share information and reviews of the events and activities that they host.  The different channels are also a way of inviting valuable contributions from venue providers and users, e.g. through guest blogs, event reviews and social media connections.

In line with our mission to connect people with places and their passions, and based on feedback received, we are further developing these services so Wimblecomm can add value to everyone, not just those looking to hire a space.

Finally, some respondents felt that the name ‘Wimblecomm’ implies that we cover the Wimbledon area only.  The ‘brand’ was borne from our Charity’s rich heritage of providing a community service in and around the Wimbledon area, however today, our remit includes all Merton areas.  As awareness of the brand has grown, and to keep this momentum going, we will continue using the name Wimblecomm whilst looking into improving our key messaging to avoid any doubt about our reach.

Prize Winner

As a thank you for taking part in the survey we gave away a £25 voucher from much loved department store Elys in Wimbledon.  We were delighted to announce the winner as Diane Goodwin who was presented with the prize last month.

Finally, we greatly appreciate all the feedback received from this year’s survey and would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who took part.

Your Wimblecomm Team