Listening to Our Customers: Strong Satisfaction, Highly Trustworthy, Room for Improvement

With almost a thousand responses, the MEDC’s annual customer relationship survey showed strong satisfaction with customer service, with responses describing communicative, supportive staff and positive feelings about working with the MEDC. It also highlighted areas for improvement, such as transparently sharing decision-making criteria. 

Every fall since 2016, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) surveys our customers about their experience working with us, including businesses, site consultants, small businesses, entrepreneurs, community representatives, developers and partners. In this year’s survey, we received a total of 989 responses that provided insights into what we’re doing well and where we have opportunities to improve.  

“Our customers provide us with exceptionally valuable information, and I sincerely appreciate everyone who took the time to share their perspective,” said MEDC CEO Quentin L. Messer, Jr. “My MEDC teammates and I take our responsibility to earn our customers' trust quite seriously. While work always remains to improve our customers’ experiences, it's deeply encouraging and gratifying to know that so many of them found us to be trustworthy, communicative and supportive. Kudos to my teammates and collectively, Team Michigan continues progress toward providing a consistently exemplary consumer experience to all that encourages more to Make It in Michigan.” 

Improved Customer Satisfaction 

Customer satisfaction is strong: 81% were very or somewhat satisfied with our customer service. This was above our targets for most customer groups, and compares favorably to an overall 55% satisfaction rate with State of Michigan customer service found in a 2024 Qualtrics study. Overall satisfaction is 7% higher since 2016, when we started the annual survey. 

“MEDC has played a vital role in driving our company’s growth by providing access to educational platforms and increasing our visibility in the market… we’ve been able to elevate our capabilities, strengthen our compliance standards, and expand our customer base. These opportunities have been instrumental in accelerating our development and positioning us for long-term success.” – Business response 

88% of responses said that our staff are communicative and supportive, and 85% said that working with the MEDC makes them feel very or somewhat positive. Those positive feelings carry over to our state: 83% of our business and small business customers recommend Michigan as a place to start a business, up from 73% in 2016. 

“The MEDC uses evidence-based decision-making that allows the organization to be effective and competitive in its mission to attract and retain industry in the state. Without the support of the MEDC’s research, engagement, and flexible incentives, most regions and communities would be greatly impaired in their ability to attract new jobs and investments.” – Partner response 

Respondents are very likely to recommend us, with a favorable net promoter score (NPS) of 47. For comparison, the National Park Service has a 43.3 NPS, Ford and Chevrolet are 24.4 and the federal Small Business Administration is -0.7. The net promoter score is on a scale of –100 to 100, calculated by asking people, “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend working with the MEDC?” and subtracting the percentage of people who give an answer from 0 to 6 from the percentage who answer 9 or 10. 

“What I like best about working with MEDC is their consistent engagement—their representatives attend meetings promptly, show genuine interest in our business, and offer practical solutions that support our growth.” – Business response 

A Trusted Partner 

The MEDC has earned goodwill: 90% of respondents consider the MEDC trustworthy. 78% said that the MEDC cares about them and their unique needs, and 79% said they can rely on the MEDC to act in their best interest. 82% said they can rely on the MEDC to keep them informed about available programs. 

“I appreciate MEDC’s focus and intentions on community needs and meeting community demands in an efficient and direct manner. They cut out unnecessary barriers to accessing resources and provide a wealth of information and support at the individual level.” – Community response

“They are always initiating contact to see what they can assist with, which is very appreciative as busy gets in the way of keeping in touch at times.” – Business response 

Opportunities for Improvement 

The survey also revealed areas where service could be improved. It showed that current program and service offerings don’t always match customer expectations. Some customers felt that the MEDC could be more responsive to their needs and to changes in the economic environment, or that the MEDC needed additional tools or funding programs to address specific opportunities.