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Improved Cook Stove Customer Satisfaction Survey 2014
Written by: Phoutthasinh Phimmachanh, CLICK Foundation
Commissioned by: Association for Rural Mobilization and Improvement (ARMI) and SNV
Contact information: www.icslao.info
This programme is funded by the European Union
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Contents
Summary ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3
2. Methodology ........................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Limitation ................................................................................................................................................. 5
4. Findings .................................................................................................................................................... 5
4.1 Understanding the target group ........................................................................................................ 5
4.2 Use of stoves ...................................................................................................................................... 8
4.3 How do people know about the ICS? And why did they buy it? ........................................................ 9
4.4 Satisfaction of ICS ............................................................................................................................ 10
4.4 Awareness of ICS’ competitive advantage ....................................................................................... 12
4.5 Problems and suggestions about ICS ............................................................................................... 12
4.6 Interest in smokeless stove and smokeless fuel .............................................................................. 14
4.7 Cooking fuel trends .......................................................................................................................... 14
4.8 ICS database ..................................................................................................................................... 15
5. Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 15
6. Recommendations ................................................................................................................................. 16
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Summary
This study aims to provide evidence of consumer perceptions of cook stoves in general and the ICS specifically, especially in terms of consumers’ satisfaction and awareness of the design factors influencing stove performance. In order to achieve this, 613 people were phoned, in which 303 interviews were completed. Key findings of the survey are as follows:
Ø Men also use the ICS. The survey shows that about 30% of interviewed people are men who are also in charge of cooking. However, women still are the key consumer of the ICS. Government officers are the major group, followed by traders, staff in private sectors and housewives.
Ø ICS users are very satisfied with the performance of the stove indicating 100% of the samples rated satisfaction level over 4 (5 is the highest). This is the same result of 2013 survey, durability and fuel savings are the still the most valued characteristics of ICS satisfaction.
Ø The overall performance of ICS compared to other biomass stoves is better, especially regarding durability and fuel consumption. The ICS can last longer while consuming less charcoal; it produces higher heat, which saves time for cooking and produces less smoke compared to other stoves. However, the ICS still can be improved by allowing users to add more charcoal during cooking more easily, to be able to use firewood and able to grill food.
Ø The ICS database is not very accurate due to the nature of mobile phone usage in Lao PDR. Individuals often change their phone number. In addition, improved data collection and entry process also are the keys to improve the quality of the database. It is important to find a better way to collect data and update the database.
The ICS program should consider regularly updating the database in order to improve accuracy of the information, and improve the questionnaire as recommended in the last section of this report.
While the ICS is popular among biomass stove users at the present time, it is important to continue ensuring the quality of the product and consistent supply to the market. It is also important to expand the target area to reach more remote parts of the country such as upland communities who use large amounts of firewood.
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1. Introduction
The Improved Cook Stoves Programme (ICS) Lao PDR is a program that is jointly implemented by Association for Rural Mobilization and Improvement (ARMI), SNV and Oxfam with funding from the European Union and Blue Moon Fund. The current phase of the ICS Programme commenced in 2013 and will end in 2016 with the aim to produce and distribute 100,000 stoves. Between 2010 and 2012, 1,127 ICS were produced; between February 2013 and July 2014 the production rate jumped to 14,546.
The programme aims to contribute towards poverty alleviation in Lao PDR through the development of a sustainable consumption and production chain of cleaner and more fuel efficient ICS, which is designed to promote the efficient use of wood and charcoal and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
This study is intended to provide evidence of consumer perceptions of cook stoves in general and the ICS specifically, especially in terms of consumers’ satisfaction with different stoves and awareness of the design factors influencing stove performance. In achieving this objective, the study is expected to reveal the following:
Ø Levels of satisfaction with the ICS and awareness of its benefits (environmental, economic and social);
Ø How ICS owners perceive the performance of the ICS in comparison with other stoves; and Ø How accurate the information held in the ICS database is, which will be used as the population
frame to identify respondents.
2. Methodology
Telephone interviews were the main methodology for this survey using a questionnaire developed by the ICS team. The questionnaire was tested with 10 people and by using Survey Monkey, which led to some improvement of the questionnaire. The survey team consisted of 5 people who were briefed about the ICS programme and the ICS in particular. The team was trained on using the questionnaire as well as protocol of doing interviews by phone. Out of 1,193 people that have been registered in the ICS database since 2011, 613 people were phoned.
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Following annual production figures, most of the people interviewed bought one ICS in the years 2013 and 2014 which accounted for more than 97% of the total samples (303 completed samples).
The average time taken per interview was about 20 minutes (10-‐30 minutes) and out of 303 completed interviews, 68% were women.
After completion of interviews, data was entered to an online survey tool-‐ Survey Monkey. The data is automatically analysed. All responses and results can be accessed here:
https://www.surveymonkey.net/results/SM-‐VRKG838L/
Hard copies of individual responses are also available at the ICS project.
303 people were interviewed successfully while about another half were not successful. About 20% of called numbers are not working, 22% were busy to pick up the phone and about 6% refused to give information.
Completed interviewed samples by year
Incomplete interviewed samples by year
Chart 1: Total interviews
Chart 2: Complete and incomplete interviews
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3. Limitation
Ø Even though 303 people out of 1,000 people in the database were interviewed, the results still were a limited representation because the samples are those who registered for the lucky draw, which covers about 1,000 people in Vientiane Capital, Vientiane Province, Savannakhet, Saravane and Champassack Province, while there are many customers that have not registered their contact details with the programme.
Ø The questionnaire is complicated and lengthy, consisting of 40 questions divided into 7 parts. The interviewees were exhausted approximately 5 minutes into the interview which may affect quality of the data at later stages of the interview.
Ø Due to time constraints, the surveyors tended to speed up their work which also may have affected the quality of the data during the interview.
Ø It is difficult to verify data because phone interview is limited in terms of observation and face to face interaction between the samples and the surveyors.
4. Findings
4.1 Understanding the target group
Ø Some people may think that cooking is the work of women, and men are not interested in this activity. The survey shows that actually about 30% of the total number of interviewed people were men who are also in charge of cooking.
Ø However, women are still the key users of the ICS.
Chart 3: Men and Women that were interviewed
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Ø 57% of customers are aged between 35 and 54 years old, followed by user of younger ages between 35-‐44 years old (28.5%) and ages between 26-‐34 years old (20.5%) while youth under 25 years old represented a smaller proportion (7%).
Ø This finding does not mean that young people and elderly don’t use the stove, but it tells us that the main cooks of the household are between the ages of 35 and 54 years old.
7%
21%
28%
29%
13%
2%
<25
26-‐34
35-‐44
45-‐54
55-‐64
>65
Chart 5: Ages of samples
Chart 6: Jobs of samples
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Ø Government officers are the major group of ICS users, follow by traders (shop owners), staff in the private sector and housewives.
Ø Other jobs include unemployed people, teachers, project officers, doctors, construction workers, etc.
Ø It is hard to isolate use of stove to a single person because the stove is used by all members in the family, and each family member has a different job.
Ø Most of the people (98%) use charcoal for cooking, this is largely explained by the fact that the ICS was designed to be used with charcoal. This response also reflects the fuel use of the urban population in lowland areas, which is also the programme’s target group. Only a small amount of respondents use firewood either purchased or collected from the forest. One family reported that they obtain biomass from more than one source.
Ø 81% of the people sampled are aware that smoke from charcoal and wood can affect their health. 20% attributed health problems from smoke from cooking, of these responses only 17%
Chart 7: Use of biomass fuel
Chart 8: Location of cooking stoves
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sought medical attention. 94% of respondents cook in separate rooms, outside their house or use a fan to blow away the smoke.
4.2 Use of stoves Ø 92% of the people sampled own 1 or 2 ICS units. More than half (58%) of the samples lost the
stickers, or can’t read the number on the blue label.
Ø 48% use only ICS Ø 70% of respondents who own ICS reported using the stove regularly. Ø 52% of respondents own another type of stove besides the ICS. Ø For those who own other types of stoves, 50% have Tao Dam/Tao Lo Clay, 24% Tao Payat Clay
without Blue label, 19% for Tao Dam/ Tao Lo made of cement, followed by Tao Payat cement, tripod and other use other types of stoves such as gas, electricity and microwave devices.
Ø Tao Dam/Tao Lo Clay and Tao Payat Clay were reported regularly used (47% and 28%), while only 3% reported regular use of tripod, 4% for Tao Payat cement and 6% for Tao Lo cement.
69%
23%
7% 1% 1
2
3
4
5
More than 5
Chart 9: Number of ICS owned
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4.3 How do people know about the ICS? And why did they buy it?
Ø Promotion events at markets or festivals such as boat racing festival and That Luang festival are very effective to inform and convince people to purchase the ICS (93/303).
Ø Retailers are also one of the best sales and marketing tools-‐ 85 out of 303 samples reported that they know about the stove from retailers.
Ø Word of mouth, awareness of the ICS from relatives and friends ( 29/303) Ø The ICS project staff are also key to disseminating information Ø However, traditional tools such as newspapers, TV and radio don’t not appear to work
effectively, as only 6 people know the stove from seeing it in a newspaper advertisement.
Ø Almost every sample purchased the ICS by themselves without consulting their family because this is a small investment.
Chart 10: Effectiveness of communication tools
Chart 11: Influential factors for purchasing ICS
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Who purchased your ICS Number of responses
Self-‐purchase 277 Husband 10 Wife 4 Father 0 Mother 3 Sister 2 Daughter 1 Son 3 Friend 0 Others 5
Ø 140 out of 272 respondents decided to purchase the stove because it looked more durable, and they believed it would save fuel. In addition, 36 out of 272 respondents want to try out new products.
4.4 Satisfaction of ICS
Ø The above chart shows that durability and low fuel consumption are the most valued characters in a biomass stove.
Ø The below chart shows that durability and low fuel consumption are the highest score of ICS satisfaction. This reflects high effectiveness of the stove in responding to the needs of the consumers.
Chart 12: The most valued characteristic of biomass stoves
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Ø Customers’ overall satisfaction of users who bought the stove in 2013 was rated slightly higher
compared to respondents that bought the ICS in 2014 (4.6 versus 4.2) Ø When asked if you would recommend the ICS to other people, 91% would do so. This shows that
most of the people sampled are very satisfied with the ICS and are confident to recommend it to others.
Chart 13: Level of satisfaction
Chart 14: Comparison level of satisfaction purchases by year
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4.4 Awareness of ICS’ competitive advantage When asked to state the difference between the ICS and other biomass stoves, as showed in the pie chart below, users stated that the ICS can last longer while consuming less charcoal, it creates a higher heat which saves time for cooking and produces less smoke compared to other stoves. The figure was analysed from open-‐ended questions.
4.5 Problems and suggestions about the ICS
45%
31%
13%
6%
3% 1% 1% 0%
Save fuel
Durable
Higher heat
Useable
Less smoke
Higher quality
Look nice
Have prizes
33%
15% 15%
16%
7%
6% 5%
3% Grate break easily
Grate hole is too small
It is too heavy
Cracks on stove body
Hander and Metal hander line break easily
Ash hole is too small
Chart 15: What are different characteristics of ISC compared to other biomass stoves
Chart 16: Technical problems found by the samples
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Ø The common problem reported is the durability of the grate. Despite its thicker design, still 15%
of customers reported that the grate lasted only 2-‐3 months. The people sampled also reported that the grate holes are also too small, which makes it difficult for ash to drop down.
Ø This is followed by the cracks on the stove body. Some people reported that insulation materials in the stove came out from the cracks.
Ø Weight is also a key concern; many people reported that the stove is too heavy, especially for women.
Ø The handles and its line are too small and break easily. Ø Lighting the charcoalnwas also reported difficult. Ø The top of the stove is too narrow to grill on. Grilling requires more space to spread the heat
while the ICS is designed to operate efficiently.
Ø The respondents want to have a bigger and higher ash hole in order to use firewood more easily as well as lighting charcoal faster. A bigger ash hole also allows them to grill chili and garlic in the hole.
Ø Bigger grate holes would allow ash to fall down to the bottom more easily as well as help to light charcoal quicker.
Ø The samples are calling for more sizes such as a jumbo size for bigger pots such as 60 Kg pots, and smaller size that weighs less and is more portable. Small families also want smaller stoves in order to save charcoal. For a bigger sized stove, there should be a hole to add charcoal because it is heavy to lift the pot every time.
Ø It is suggested to use metal for the grate in order to improve durability. Ø The samples also asked if there is a way to reduce weight of the stove.
25%
25% 18%
13%
9%
7% 3%
More sizes
Higher ash hole
Bigger grate holes
Thicker rim
Stronger grate
Fire wood stove
Lighter
Chart 17: Technical suggestions by the samples
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4.6 Interest in smokeless stove and smokeless fuel
Ø The above chart shows that most of the samples (93-‐96%) are interested to buy smokeless stoves and fuels.
Ø Based on 202 out of 303 respondents, the willingness to pay varies between 20,000 -‐ 60,000 Kip, while for smokeless charcoal (15 Kg bag) price is varied between 10,000 -‐ 50,000 Kip.
4.7 Cooking fuel trends Customers were asked how they access their cooking fuels.
Ø 98% purchase charcoal Ø 2% purchase wood Ø 10% collect wood
Users typically use more than one kind of cooking fuel
When asked about trends in sourcing cooking fuels, customers answered the following:
Whether they travelled further or closer to collect fuels in the last year
Ø Further 15.63% Ø Closer 21.88% Ø Same 62.50%
Whether the price of wood has increased or decreased over the last year
Ø 28% reported an Increase Ø 4% decrease Ø 68% same price
Whether the price of charcoal has increased or decreased over the last year
Chart 18: Interest for smokeless stove and fuel
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Ø 68.20% reported an increase Ø 7.07% reported a decrease Ø 24.73% same as last year
From the responses obtained from the survey, the travel distance and cost of wood has not changed over the last year. However the price of charcoal has increased year by year.
4.8 ICS database Ø Out of 613 numbers that were phoned, 126 numbers were not working, equivalent to 21%. Not
working numbers meant that the number had wrong digits, wrong owners or no signal.
ICS database Total number Telephone numbers attempted
Successful Interviews
Numbers that did not work
2011 20 20 3 2 2012 14 12 1 3 2013 516 226 128 32 2014 626 344 166 85 NA 17 11 5 4 Total 1,193 613 303 126
Ø Some users have their name more than one time in the system, sometimes from the same year
of purchase, some from different years. This is also an indication of satisfaction when users are repeated customers.
Ø A few times the names and the phone numbers were correct, but interestingly the interviewees reported they never bought an ICS.
Ø Some numbers in the database were missing the name of the owner. Ø Spelling of many Lao names are not correct as there is no existing conformity in spelling.
5. Conclusion The survey was able to generate findings that help to achieve all objectives as described in terms of reference:
Ø ICS users are very satisfied with the performance of the stove indicating 100% of the samples rated above level 4 of satisfaction (5 is the highest). This is the same as the result of the 2013 survey, and durability and low fuel consumption are the still the most valued characteristics of ICS satisfaction.
Ø The overall performance of ICS compared to other biomass stoves is better, especially in terms of durability and fuel consumption. The ICS can last longer while consuming less charcoal; it gives off higher heat, which saves cooking time and produces less smoke compared to other stoves. However, the ICS can be improved by allowing users to add more charcoal during cooking more easily, to be able to use firewood and able to grill food with a wider stove top.
Ø The ICS database is not accurate due to the changes in phone numbers. In addition, the data collection and entry processes must be improved to improve quality of the database.
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6. Recommendations About the survey
Ø Phone surveys are an effective and efficient method of data collection; however, this methodology might not be appropriate if it takes too long. The survey teams observed that the sampled respondents got tired after 5 minutes of phone conversation. They tended to give inaccurate information to finish up the survey. We recommend the questionnaire be revised in order to shorten it to less than 15 questions with specific focus on:
ü Name, age, occupation ü Number of ICS stoves they have ü How they get to know ICS? ü Why they decide to buy it? ü How long have they been using the stove? ü Are they happy with the stove? ü Rate overall satisfaction (3 levels-‐ a lot, medium, little) ü What they like the most about the stove compared to other biomass stoves? ü What they don’t like about the stove and ways to improve it?
Questions that should be removed: Ð ICS serial numbers and date of purchase Ð All of part one on identifying the respondent
Ø Before rating level of satisfaction, it is important to ask if the customer is satisfied or not Ø Use of stove and frequency of use is not so clear. It is better to clarify it, such as regular use
means using the stove every day or every time people want to cook. Ø Database of phone numbers should be checked before the survey in order to increase accuracy.
Basic things that can be checked are repetition of names and digits of phone numbers. Ø Using a landline phone is better than a mobile or portable phone (like WinPhone) because the
fixed phone is clearer and doesn’t need to recharge its battery. Ø The cost of WinPhone is the same with a fixed line phone which is 250K/minute which is cost
efficient. The team spent about 1,780,000 Kip, or 5,800 Kip per complete sample. Ø The team should be spread to different locations to avoid noise that disturbs one another during
the interviews.
Improvement of data collection for the database
The survey team understands that the information from the database is from registration for lucky draw coupons. We recommend the project to try establishing a guarantee system. The producer of the ICS could guarantee it for 1-‐3 months, which requires the buyers to fill in appropriate information in order to access the policy. The guarantee system will also help to improve marketing of the stove.
Marketing
The ICS is popular among users at the present time, so it is important to ensure of supply and quality of the products. Some ICS traders complained that their orders (via the call center) were cancelled up to three times after waiting for more than a week.
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Promotional tools/campaigns
Conventional mass media especially advertisements in newspaper, news articles, radio and TV spots seems to not be working. It is important to consider investing more in these channels. Promotional events at well-‐known festivals worked very well, so it is worthwhile to invest more in this. In addition, assessing the effectiveness of the website and Facebook should be considered in the next survey.
Reaching the poor
It is important to consider rural communities in upland areas where large amounts of firewood are being used. It seems that the current ICS users are those who buy charcoal from the markets, which mainly represents the better-‐off population living in urban or lowland areas.
