We Are Listening

The Women In Trucking Association Board of Directors has a goal to be a resource to the industry. Whether that means trucking companies, drivers, the government or our members, we want to provide you with the best information (tools) to reach your objectives in creating a more gender diverse workforce.

In 2017 we teamed with Sawgrass Logistics to learn about best practices in hiring female drivers. We learned a lot and have changed our programs to reflect these challenges. However, we continue to survey our members to find out what they want from us and from their association.

Last year, we created our own survey. We called it our communication audit survey as we were focusing on the best way to get our messages to you, but more importantly, we wanted to know how we can get your feedback.

We sent out a link through social media, our website as well as our e-newsletter. We had 216 respondents who completed the survey. We asked for job titles, gender and generational information as well as whether the respondent was a member of Women In Trucking.

When you join any association, their primary focus will be on informing and educating their members. WIT is no exception. We have a weekly e-newsletter sent to both members and non-members. We have a publication called: Redefining the Road which currently is sent to our members three times annually.

Our social media presence is immense. Our Facebook group has nearly 11,000 members, our LinkedIn group reaches 8,000 members and our Twitter feed has 22,100 followers. We are reaching both members and potential members. But we still want to connect with more of you.

So, what did we learn from our survey? The weekly e-newsletter is our most popular method of communication (57%). However, social media is right behind (47%) and the publication is a close third.

Since this information you are reading is through my blog (which is then used as an article), it means that only 10 percent of you are seeing this right now (Sigh)! However, for those of you who read my blogs/articles, the rating was 4.41 out of 5 for overall effectiveness. Thank you!

In an effort to provide an online communication tool for our members, we created the Engage platform for members only. Only eight percent of the respondents used this communication tool.

Personally, I was surprised to learn that over a third of our respondents visit our website at least once a week. The most popular feature is our “Member of the Month” article.

One of the complaints was that the e-mails are too frequent, especially those concerning the Accelerate! Conference and Expo. The issue was that too many emails were sent AFTER the respondent had already registered for the event. We are listening and will take this into consideration in the future.

We asked you what you want to learn more about, and the overwhelming response was “industry news”. This also surprised me, as there are hundreds, if not thousands of daily and weekly e-mails about industry issues (believe me, I get all of them)!

Interestingly enough, “gender issues” was ranked as eleven out of twenty for topics of interest. Considering that we are focused on gender diversity, this surprised me as well. I would have thought our members had a higher interest in this issue “Leadership issues” came in second in the information you are looking for from Women In Trucking. “Safety” came in as the third highest area of information.

Some of the most surprising responses came in response to the question: “what are your greatest challenges?” These included gender issues, a changing environment, sales challenges, industry issues, driver issues and interpersonal communication.

At the conclusion of the survey, we reviewed the recommendations and have determined that our website needs revamping and we need to be better focused in advancing our social media campaigns.

We appreciate the feedback we received from both our members and potential members. Please know that we are listening and responding. Thanks for your input and please continue to let us know how we can better serve (and communicate to) you.

Ellen Voie

President/CEO/Founder of
Women In Trucking, Inc.
ellen@womenintrucking.org
www.womenintrucking.org

Women In Trucking Association, Inc. is a nonprofit association established to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the trucking industry. Membership is not limited to women, as 17 percent of its members are men who support the mission. Women In Trucking is supported by its members and the generosity of Gold Level Partners: Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems, Daimler Trucks North America, BMO Transportation Finance, Great Dane, J.B. Hunt Transport, Ryder System, Inc., U.S. Xpress, and Walmart. Follow WIT on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. For more information, visit http://www.womenintrucking.org