Update: Member Survey 2019

The Member Survey 2019 was a major initiative for the team at HQ this spring and thank you to all who took the time to complete the questionnaire. We received a total of 3,715 responses overall – that’s a 23% participation rate – which surpassed our expectations. A strong mix of riders, officials and owners, with a good cross section of members from Full to Club and Youth to Para, across the various different levels and sections, has given us a huge amount of data and feedback to digest.

We focused on two main areas; membership and competitions. A huge majority of 97% of members say that access to affiliated competitions is their primary motivator with 68% saying it’s extremely important. So this highlights why it’s absolutely vital that we get things right in this key area.

Access to competitions scored a satisfaction rating of 4.2 out of 5, which shows that members are largely happy with what’s currently on offer. But there’s no room for complacency and you gave us plenty of valuable feedback on areas that you feel could be improved, which we have fed into the strategic planning process, so rest assured that we have taken all of your comments on board.

In particular, there is still some concern that our rules, eligibility and qualification processes are difficult to understand, with 70% saying that the competition structure is too complex and 51% wanting more straightforward rules. So the clear message is to simplify, streamline and consolidate the existing system, so that our sport is easier to navigate, while still providing a good choice and range of competition opportunities for riders at all levels.

Measuring the development of your horse, progressing up the competition ladder, qualifying for championships, and having fun while competing were the prime motivations for all member groups, so we need to ensure the structure facilitates these priorities. Other headline results revealed that:

• 97% enjoy competing with us, with 83% indicating that they have good access to competitions within reach of where they live and 82% happy that there was a clear distinction between the grass roots and professionals.
• 84% agreed that qualifying was an achievable goal and 71% stated that the championship offer currently suits their needs
• However, 60% want to see the calendar more evenly spread over the course of the year, while 60% also think that there are currently too many different championship options.

While many of you felt that the competition structure and rules were too complex, 58% still said that eligibility and qualification was easy to understand. There is some disparity in the results, perhaps reflecting the polarised views among members, so this is something we clearly still need to address in order to ensure that the sport is seen as accessible to all.

Above all else, we’re a membership organisation so we wanted to gauge just how satisfied you are with us and the results are very encouraging:
• 81% of you say that we are a professional and successful organisation, with over 70% also agreeing that we are passionate about our sport and respectful to members.
• Overall, you gave us a satisfaction rating of 7.0 out of 10, with 43% awarding an 8 or more.
• Those who’ve had contact with the team at BDHQ rated us as 7.8 out of 10, with 62% going 8 or higher.
• The regional teams, staff and volunteers, also got a big thumbs up, with an average of 8.0 and 68% scoring between 8 and 10.

A massive 96% of respondents said they’re likely, highly likely or will definitely renew their membership, which is another big positive – and we are extremely grateful for your ongoing support.

We’ve put together an infographic of the survey findings which highlights some of the key findings and outlines some of the plans in the pipeline to address them.

Click for the full infographics