NMMA Participant FAQs

What types of surveys are included? 

There are two types of surveys we send for the NMMA awards program: Initial Survey and Follow-Up Survey. Only the initial survey is included in the NMMA CSI Award calculations.  

The Initial Survey is typically sent at 30 days from purchase date and the Follow-Up Survey is sent at 300 days from purchase date.

Each type of survey is sent to the customer 3 times, twice via email and once via mail. A notification is sent to the dealer contact before anything is sent to the customer to alert them of the upcoming survey invitations.

What does the survey cadence process look like?

Initial Upcoming Survey (sent to the dealer)

  • Dealers receive a notification 25 days from the purchase date OR immediately if registration is received more than 25 days after the purchase date.
  • The email notification is sent to the dealers assigned to the contact, alerting them that a survey is being sent to the customer soon.

Initial Survey Invitation (sent to the customer)

  • 5 days after the Upcoming Survey notification sent date, the survey invitation is emailed to the customer.

Initial Survey Reminder (sent to the customer)

  • 10 days after the Upcoming Survey notification is sent, the Survey Reminder is emailed to the customer IF the customer does not submit a survey response from the first invitation.

Initial Survey Final Invitation (sent to the customer via mail)

  • 17 days after the Upcoming Survey notification is sent, the Final Invitation is mailed a hard copy of the survey IF the customer has not submitted a response from the initial or reminder survey invites.
  • This survey invitation is the last notification the customer will receive for the Initial Survey.
  • This invitation is sent via mail. In order to send mail, a full valid address must be provided. For US & Canada mail: Address 1, City, State, Postal Code, and Country are required. For International mail: Address 1 & Country are required.
  • If the purchase date is greater than 150 days at the time the registration information is received by Aimbase, there will not be any initial surveys sent to the customer. Only follow-up surveys will be sent.

Follow-up Upcoming Survey (sent to the dealer)

  • 295 days from the purchase date OR immediately if the registration received is greater than 295 days after the purchase date, a notification is emailed to the dealer.
  • If a registration is received more than 390 days after the purchase date, then no surveys will be sent to the customer.

Follow-up Survey Invitation (sent to the customer)

  • Same as the initial survey invitation timeline.

Follow-up Survey Reminder (sent to the customer)

  • Same as the initial survey reminder timeline.

Follow-up Survey Final Invitation (sent to the customer via mail)

  • Same as the initial survey final invitation timeline.


What are the criteria for winning an NMMA award?

  • All manufacturers must be conducting a census survey CSI program and total new boat purchases attempted to be surveyed must be at least 80% of total units sold in program award period per market share data from Statistical Surveys Inc. Failure to attempt to survey at least 80% of all boat purchases will forfeit any award earning in the program
  • Response criteria for Large manufacturer
    • A score of 90 or more, 25 responses or more for each product category/segment in which you participate for an award
  • Response criteria Small sample
    • A score of 90 or more, less than than 100 units sold, and at least 15 responses for each product category/segment

Where do I find my NMMA CSI Award scores?

You can access your award scores at any point in time to view your current qualification status.  This can be found under Reports/NMMA Boat Satisfaction Award.

You will need to select the 'Award Period' you wish to view.  The 'Survey Type' will default to the Initial Quality Survey as this is the only survey used for award calculations.

What is the deadline date for the Award Program?

  • December 15th review process will end, all changes/updates must be made by then.
  • December 31st is the cut-off for the program year.  All Initial Survey Responses received within the current calendar year will be used for award qualification.
  • January 15th final numbers will be sent out to all manufacturers and NMMA will be notified of the winners
  • February 14th or close to it, NMMA CSI Award winners will be announced at the Miami Boat Show

**Please note, if your annual fee has not been paid, you will be considered ineligible for the award.

What is the Marine Industry Dealer CSI award? 

In addition to the NMMA CX Award that is for the manufacturers, we also have an award for exceptional dealers. No additional steps are necessary for dealers to qualify for this award except ensure your dealer information/detail within the Aimbase platform is accurate and up-to-date. There are two (2) different dealer awards that can be given: Sales and Service.  Awards are earned at the dealer location level.

Below are the criteria the industry has set for qualification of the Dealer CSI Award:

Sales Award - Based on initial survey, 'overall satisfaction with dealer' question.

  • Aggregate Brand Winner:  A dealer location  has 10+ responses, received a 90% or greater dealer score, all dealer brands that had 90% or greater brand score (regardless of response count) are considered an aggregate brand winner.
  • Brand Winner: (A dealer location either didn’t have 10+ responses or had less than 90% score so they didn’t meet the criteria/win on the aggregate level so we look to the brand level).
    • If a dealer brand had 5+ responses and a 90% or greater brand score they are considered a brand winner.

Service Award - Based on follow up survey, 'overall satisfaction with dealer's service' question.

  • Aggregate Brand Winner:  A dealer location has 10+ responses, received a 90% or greater dealer score, all dealer brands that had 90% or greater brand score (regardless of response count) are considered an aggregate brand winner.
  • Brand Winner: (A dealer location either didn’t have 10+ responses or had less than 90% score so they didn’t meet the criteria/win on the aggregate level so we look to the brand level).  
    • If a dealer brand had 3+ responses and a 90% or greater brand score, they are considered a brand winner.

Can a survey be resent?

Yes, a survey that has not been responded to and/or a survey that has been responded to, but for one reason or another, the customer would like to retake, can be resent.  You have the option to select the specific date of the resend and the method used:  email, mail or both.  You can find all the details about this process here and here. Please note, there is a per registration fee associated with any type of survey resend request.

Can registration data be edited?

Yes, registration information can be edited.  If you notice the name is spelled incorrectly, the address is incorrect or even the email address has an error, you can edit the consumer information.  A Corporate account holder can edit the registration information for you or an Admin account holder within Rollick. Further details about the Registration Grid and the various functionality you have within this grid can be found here.

Can a registration be deleted?

Yes.  If a consumer has sold their boat or the sales transaction did not go through, you can contact your account manager and they can delete the registration for you.  This will stop all future communications and will remove the registration from view within the Aimbase platform.

Can a survey be excluded from reporting?

Yes, for extenuating circumstances and as not to purposefully manipulate your overall satisfaction scores to qualify for the award.  Reasons for exclusions are below:

  • Customer completed the survey incorrectly by inadvertently selecting a score of 0 when they truly meant to select a score of 5 (or highest possible score for that question)
  • If a survey response on  the Initial Survey is for a model that is older than 2 years, and the score is low, this may be excluded as it is more than likely changes and improvements have been made to these models and there is no need to include older models within the current award year.  For instance, if we are in the 2021 Award Year, you may exclude survey responses for a 2019 or older model.
  • If a customer's concerns or issues  have been resolved and they wish to retake the survey, you may resend the survey, which would automatically exclude their original response from reporting and use the most current response for award calculations.

Can my dealers receive alerts when a customer has responded to a survey, whether a positive response or a more negative response?

Yes.  Not only can a dealer but a manufacturer level team member can receive alerts about survey completions.  We have various alerts that can be sent and these contacts can be managed within the Aimbase platform, easily setting up dealers to receive these alerts.  You can find all the details and more within this article.

Notification Types:

  • Hot Alert - When a customer is less than satisfied
  • Completed Survey - When a customer's response is more 'middle of the road', not 100% satisfied with everything, but not dissatisfied either
  • Perfect Score - When a customer is 100% satisfied with every aspect of their boat and dealer

What if a customer no longer wishes to receive surveys or communications from us, can they be stopped?

Yes, communications can be stopped.  You will need to contact your account manager and they can stop any further communications from being sent.

How can I see how my dealers are performing or what our satisfaction scores look like?

The Aimbase platform has a robust reporting system.  You have a plethora of data at your fingertips. Reports display dealer performance, satisfaction scores, industry comparisons, rankings of dealers, models and plants.  Here is an excellent article that will cover many of the commonly used reports along with documentation and videos on how to navigate through the report and interpret the data.

We may not have covered all your questions within this section but you may visit our Help Site where you can find answers to almost all of your questions.