Be part of our customer group
Help us to help Kiwi businesses like yours. Join our customer group and we'll use your thoughts and experiences to shape content, tools and resources on our site.
Business.govt.nz takes a customer-centred design approach. We engage with small businesses through conversations, workshops and other methods. This helps us to understand what it is like to run a small business, and how we can help.
About the customer group
From time to time, we check in with people on a customer reference group — small business owners, managers, administrators and advisors. Their input helps us to understand what it's like to run a small business, and to shape the content, tools, and resources we offer.
The customer group is growing all the time. We want to talk to people in all regions of New Zealand, in all sectors, and in different roles within a small business. The people in the group are everyday business owners and managers. That’s who we want to help, so that’s who we need to know.
Who can be part of the group?
We’re looking for:
- owners, managers or advisors of small businesses — those with fewer than 20 employees
- companies, partnership and sole traders
- all sectors
- all regions of New Zealand
- businesses of all ages — from new start-ups to established businesses.
Sign up — it will be great to talk to you
How does the group work?
To make it easier for you to be really honest with us, we work with various trusted research and design companies. We manage the people in the customer group. Our trusted partners talk to people in the group who are happy to help, and design tools and information that will help small businesses.
The group is managed so that we respect people’s time, experience and privacy.
Here’s how it works:
- People sign up by providing us with a few details through an online form.
- When there's a project relevant to them, business.govt.nz or a trusted research or design partner gets in touch to see if they can help. They can always say no.
- The information gathered from them is used to shape business.govt.nz’s content, tools and resources for small businesses – details will remain confidential and will not be used for marketing purposes.
- business.govt.nz usually tells the people who were involved what we learned, and when the resulting tools and information are launched online.
How often are people contacted?
On average we'll probably only contact participants a few times a year, as we understand that small business owners and managers are busy. If they have not been contacted in a while, we may not have had any relevant projects for them. Our project flow goes up and down, but we'll get in touch at least once every six months.
What happens to people’s information and how is it shared?
The group is managed and accessed only by business.govt.nz and our trusted research and design partners. The information obtained from participants is used only by business.govt.nz’s project team and only to create content, tools and resources for business.govt.nz.
The customer group is used for design research purposes only. Personal information is not used or shared for marketing purposes.
- Participants’ names and details remain with business.govt.nz’s project team and will be kept confidential. In exceptional situations, we may need to disclose some information if required by law.
- Participants’ information is managed by business.govt.nz and kept confidential. If participants want to access the personal information held about them, it’s best if they request it from business.govt.nz directly.
- Views and opinions shared by participants are used for design research purposes for improving the offerings of business.govt.nz.
- Names of the participants are not attached to the views, opinions and experiences expressed when presented to business.govt.nz management or to the public.
