Drive Research recently completed an online survey with a regional multi-state bank to understand the home equity and mortgage experiences of customers. Decision-making of homeowners around lending, including preferences and concerns, was a main focus in the study. Also addressed was the comfort level with emerging lending technology solutions available to customers.
Learn more about the objectives, market research approach, and outcomes were for this project in this case study overview.
This study with a regional bank got to the bottom of the mortgage/home equity loan experience. Drive Research uncovered insights around the technology banking customers are looking for and what makes a positive loan experience.
Objectives
A multi-state regional bank to hired Drive Research to conduct a market research project in November 2018. The objectives of the market research included understanding drivers to choice, perceptions of home equity and mortgage solutions, and comfort level with technology to assist with roll-out. These and other secondary objectives were addressed in this market research. The market research efforts ensured the client's lending teams could create strategic benchmarks and better understand customer and non-customer needs.
Approach
To address the objectives at-hand, Drive Research recommended the following market research approach. Drive Research recommended using online surveys to: (1) customers of the client's banking products and (2) homeowners in market areas of the client.
Online surveys are cost-effective, offer a quick turn-around, are measurable, and gather quality feedback. Drive Research followed an exclusive in-house approach our team has built for survey projects. Our method used a step-by-step and task-oriented approach to project management from kickoff through completion.
Fieldwork for the survey began on December 11, 2018 and lasted until January 11, 2019. The survey consisted of 27 questions and took respondents an average of 5 minutes to complete. A total of 1,641 responses were collected for this study. This included 1,077 responses from the customer sample and 564 responses from the market study. Both the customer and market sample produced highly reliable margins of error at the 95% confidence level.
Outcomes
Although the results remain confidential with the client, several key findings and themes emerged to help the research team at the bank guide decisions. Several objectives were answered in the market research including:
① Are respondents ready for new technology?
② What features are requested for an online portal?
③ What concerns are there with applying online?
④ How does the audience prefer to connect with representatives?
⑤ How do respondents rate their recent loan experience?
⑥ What did the recent loan process entail?
⑦ How do respondents select a financial institution?
The report included a background and methodology, executive summary with themes, a respondent persona, infographic, and recommendations. The recommendations tied the insights to next steps and action items for the bank. The recommendations pulled in findings from other secondary market research reports to support the insights and add further context. This was all in addition to a question by question breakdown of the data in the appendix.
Next steps for the bank were also included in the report. These are other market research project considerations for the bank as the team continues to roll out the concept.
Begin Ongoing Measurement Customer Surveys
The team at Drive Research recommended ongoing benchmark and tracking mechanisms for this bank customer audience. The survey was designed in a way where questions could be replicated and repeated for future outreach, particularly the tail-end of the survey which tackled the customer experience (CX) and customer satisfaction (CSAT) with the loan process.
We also suggested the client consider sending out monthly or quarterly email invitations to those who refinanced or opened a home equity loan or mortgage. The results could be tracked and reported on each quarter to understand fluctuations in the data and allow the client to case manage responses (i.e. customers who report issues/problems can receive immediate follow-up). This type of regular and longitudinal surveying offers many benefits.
User Experience (UX) Research for New Lending Tools
Once the bank's new lending tools are beta-launched, the client could benefit from UX market research with participants. This would include qualitative in-depth interviews (IDIs) with users of the digital tools to understand their experience, likes, dislikes, and user paths. It could also potentially include a quantitative survey sent directly to users after the tool is used (or a combination of both qualitative and quantitative). This UX market research is invaluable to help the client understand the perspective of the customer.
This is a service where our team at Drive Research takes the database of customers and creates a data append using our partners’ first and third-party data resources. By using home address as the identifier our team can add key demographic and behavioral data points such as location/geography, urban/suburban/rural distribution, individual age, household age, individual gender, household gender, household marital status, household income, wealth rating, household level of education, household type, presence of children, number of children, number of adults, presence of adult males, presence of adult females, length of residence, homeowner status, dwelling type, assessed median home value, donor behavior, top interests, and PersonicX® clusters.
Contact Our Market Research Company
Drive Research is a financial services market research company for banks and credit unions. We work with financial institutions across the United States to assist with market research projects. Our team consults with clients to manage survey design, implementation, fieldwork, reporting, and recommendations.
Questions? Don't hesitate to reach us by any method below.
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② Call us at 315-303-2040
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