Madison, WI - NRS Corporation has been selected by K. Hovnanian, the tenth-largest homebuilder in the U.S., to handle the homebuyer satisfaction research operations for all twenty-one of the homebuilding giant's nationwide corporate divisions. K. Hovnanian is a prominent builder the northeast, south, southwest and western regions of the U.S., specializing in entry-level, move-up, luxury, and active adult housing markets. Recent acquisitions in California and North Carolina have repositioned K. Hovnanian from the thirteenth to the tenth largest builder in the U.S. In 2001 alone K. Hovnanian's revenues increased fifty-three percent while their new home closings jumped fifty-five percent. In 2002, NRS estimates it will survey over 9,000 homebuyers who purchase their homes from the New Jersey-based homebuilder. "We are very pleased to be a partner with K. Hovnanian," enthuses Paul Cardis, President/CEO of NRS Corp. "K. Hov's recent growth places increased emphasis on a need for an independent, high-quality customer satisfaction research program. They look to NRS to provide them with the best customer satisfaction measurement program available." "NRS has databases to benchmark their performance in all of the markets they're in. Although K. Hovnanian is already regarded in all of its markets as a reputable builder, we expect that our research data will help them to grow even more." Mr. Cardis explains, "Customer satisfaction research is a powerful tool for both an organization and its customers. A customer provided with an opportunity to be heard, and a company with the intelligence to listen and act accordingly, is a formula for improving customer satisfaction and increasing business. Research has shown that when satisfaction improves referral rates grow." According to Mr. Cardis, one of K. Hovnanian's research goals is to take a satisfaction inventory of as many of its customers as possible. Specifically for K. Hovnanian, NRS developed a homebuyer satisfaction survey program that will achieve response rates of seventy percent or higher. For research programs that perform comprehensive surveying, this is remarkable. Response rates at forty percent for larger populations are already considered to be statistically strong representative samples. By establishing top-of-mind awareness and evoking urgency with regard to the upcoming survey, NRS says the response optimization strategy strategy will increase response rates ten to fifteen percent. No surveys are actually administered over the telephone, but agents can answer basic questions and provide customers with an NRS telephone number and email address for more specific questions or concerns. "Although response rates are an important consideration in survey research, as research providers we need to be careful not to over-emphasize the necessity of higher response rates. Many of our clients, at one point or another, have assumed that higher response rates mean better information. This is not necessarily true. " Mr. Cardis continues, "Unfortunately, many companies pay for response rates they don't need. In K. Hovnanian's case, an objective tantamount to measuring customer satisfaction is to maintain contact with their customers. For them, meeting these particular needs requires NRS to employ specialized survey methodology." Founded in 1993 by President/CEO Paul Cardis, NRS is a leading provider of market research services to companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. NRS corporate offices are at 5930 Seminole Centre Ct., Madison, WI 53711. For more information about NRS, please contact Sean Boyce at 608.273.4665, or at sboyce@nrscorp.com. You may also visit NRS online at www.nrscorp.com. Copyright © 1997-2002 NRS Corporation All Rights Reserved.
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