How Futures Housing Group Elevated Customer Engagement with CMNTY
The challenge: increasing engagement across a dispersed customer base
Futures Housing Group is a not-for-profit housing association that’s been providing affordable homes and supporting people across the East Midlands, England for over 15 years. Futures has over 10,500 homes and supports its many customers through a range of services designed to help them live well and independently. To succeed in this mission, it is crucial to actively incorporate the voice of tenants into the services offered.
The organisation faced a significant challenge: structurally engaging tenants in improving its services. In-person meetings were not a viable option due to the geographical spread of the customer base—they were both logistically complex and costly. A scalable and efficient solution for gathering and using customer feedback was needed.
The solution: an online community platform
To involve tenants in a low-threshold and structured way, Futures launched “MyVoice”—an online community powered by the CMNTY Platform. This digital space allows residents to share their views, contribute ideas and actively participate in discussions on topics that matter to them. The community now counts over 350 members, with around 70 participating monthly.
The platform’s strength lies in the combination of structured and spontaneous input: customers can start their own forum discussions, while the organisation collects targeted insights through modules like Focus for live video discussions and Questionnaire for surveys. “MyVoice” has become a valuable source of both engagement and actionable insights.
Impact: turning feedback into policy
A clear example of impact came during the launch of a sustainability initiative. Five customer letters were first tested in the community. Feedback showed that residents wanted practical information much earlier in the process—on things like scaffolding, home access, and preparation. Based on this input, the letters were rewritten, and a detailed FAQ-page was added to the website. The result: a communication approach that truly resonated with the everyday concerns of tenants.
Ease of use and adoption
Although the platform is not yet fully embedded in all departments, internal awareness and appreciation are growing steadily. Tenants find the platform easy to use and especially value the flexibility to participate at their own pace and in their preferred way.
Karen Price, Digital Customer Engagement Officer: “The support from the CMNTY-team is highly appreciated—personal, responsive, and knowledgeable.”
Looking ahead
Futures continues to invest in the growth of the MyVoice community and sees CMNTY as the key platform for long-term customer engagement. Internally, efforts are underway to further integrate the platform into daily operations, while externally, tenant participation continues to increase. Karen’s advice to other organisations: take the time to understand the platform, align the modules with your own objectives, and stay in regular contact with your community to keep gathering valuable insights.