Customer Research for the International Services of the City of Kajaani

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis was to study how people with an immigration background living in Kainuu search for information on the services provided by the City of Kajaani. The thesis was commissioned by the International Services of the City of Kajaani, the provider of guidance and counselling services for immigrants in Kainuu. International Services will open a new customer service point in early 2022 called International Info, and they wanted to find effective ways to develop and market it to their current and future customers. The theoretical background focuses on customer-oriented service development and service marketing, as these themes meet the client’s needs most accurately. Customer orientation is especially important as the goal is to keep their services as highly accessible as possible. The research part was conducted as quantitative research in the form of an online survey. The target group was the current customers of the International Services. The survey was published on the International Services’ social media accounts and distributed directly to the employees working with immigrant customers as well as stakeholders such as schools and organisations working in the field of immigration. The results of the survey gave clarifying answers to key questions regarding the information seeking process of International Services’ customers. The results are used to provide suggestions for areas of improvement and development.