So many questions, so little time. Little time both for your financial institution to craft a survey but also little time for your customers or members to answer too many questions. Narrowing the scope of your customer satisfaction or just general customer survey is essential.
No one wants to answer a 100-question survey. Respondents do not have the time for this. At our bank and credit union survey firm we find customers are willing to offer feedback as long as the process is quick and painless. This means 15 to 25 questions. Not 50.
Working with a market research firm who specializes in bank and credit union surveys for your customers and members will save you time and ensure your project runs successfully.
Question 1: Share of Wallet
Understanding share of wallet helps your financial institution how loyal your customers or members truly are. Assessing this measure is done by asking about the variety of different banks and credit unions a customer uses. Is it 2? Is it 4? How many institutions are they spreading their accounts across institutions.
If only 20% of the total customer share is with your bank, your share of wallet is 20%. If the customer spreads their assets equally across 4 different banks and credit unions, your share of wallet is 25%.
Financial institutions attempt to increase share of wallet because it increases loyalty and allows more profitability from current customers. This is easier (and less expensive) than trying to acquire a brand new customer.
Question 2: Primary Financial Institution (PFI)
Primary Financial Institution or PFI is defined as the bank or credit union used for the majority share of the core deposit accounts (checking and savings). It is also commonly referred to as the financial institution you use to pay your bills.
PFI is a crucial measure to understand because it lends insight as to what percent of your customers or members made your financial institution their go-to-bank.
Arguably more important, understanding why customers do not consider you their PFI and who they use instead can lend some competitive insight as to where you should improve operationally. Members may be using other banks or credit unions as their PFI for mobile check deposits, mobile app capabilities, locations, etc.
Question 3: Awareness of Sources
This is an incredibly helpful question to help financial institutions understand marketing and advertising sources. In the survey, you should list all of the different types of marketing efforts you perform. This could be: television, radio, newsletters, website, social media, etc.
The question asks where have you seen or heard information about our bank or credit union in the past 30 days or 3 months. Make sure the time period is shorter. Asking customers where they have seen or heard information over the past 12 months is too long of a time period and will be too difficult to remember. This leads to inaccurate data.
Question 4: Net Promoter Score (NPS)
The classic survey benchmark. NPS is a perfect question for your bank and credit union survey. It uses a 0 to 10 scale where "10" is very likely to recommend and "0" is not at all likely to recommend. Those who rate you a "9" or "10" are considered brand promoters. Those who rate you "0" through "6" are considered your brand detractors. Those who rate you "7" or "8" are considered passives.
NPS is calculated by taking the percentage of your promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Very simple math: 65% promoters and 20% detractors equals an NPS of +45. 25% promoters and 65% detractors equals an NPS of -40.
NPS ratings can be benchmarked across many industries to understand how you compare to other banks and credit unions. In the survey, you can also inquire about NPS for those who use key competitors. A final option is to track and measure benchmark NPS over time to understand how your own institution has changed.
Question 5: Word Association
This is always one of the more fun and engaging types of questions. It simply asks: "What is the first word or phrase that comes to mind when you think of Bank ABC or ABC Credit Union?" In your survey you offer an open-ended text box to allow respondents to freely type a response. The feedback can be coded into themes, displayed as raw open-ends, or be placed into a visually appealing word cloud to share.
Contact Our Market Research Firm
Drive Research is a bank and credit union survey firm in New York State. We work with a number of banks and credit unions across the country to help their teams build custom market research projects. This includes survey design, collecting data, analysis, and reporting.
Contact our team in 1 of 4 ways:
Message us on our website
Email us at [email protected]
Call us at 888-725-DATA
Text us at 315-303-2040