With 63% of Americans reporting their finances have altered by the pandemic, there is perhaps no better time to measure the financial health and wellness of consumers.
As a bank or credit union, understanding your customer or member’s financial perceptions can lead you to provide the services, rates, and resources that are most impactful.
One way financial institutions (FIs) can measure their community’s financial wellness is through an online survey. Financial health surveys are effective because they can target specific audiences of interest and measure unique objectives.
For instance, our bank and credit union market research company recently partnered with a FI on this exact type of project.
Key financial health survey topics include:
- Target audience screening
- How respondents define financial well-being
- How respondents would rate their financial well-being
- Importance of different aspects of financial well-being
- Agreement with several statements related to financial well-being
- Demographic information
Keep reading to learn more about the objectives, approach, and results of the survey.
Objectives of the Financial Well-Being Survey
Up to 64% of adults state that finances are a major life stressor, according to new studies.
Therefore, running a financial survey allows a bank or credit union to gain valuable insight into all areas of consumer finance, resulting in better customer care.
For this reason, a credit union partnered with Drive Research on market research to understand financial well-being in target areas. The research assisted the client with operations, marketing, and strategy.
The primary objectives of the study were to:
- Obtain a common understanding and definition of the prospect’s financial well-being
- Understand receptivity to well-being experiences being delivered from credit unions
- Define consumer understanding/drivers of their own financial well-being within potential markets
- Understand financial concerns, stressors, needs, as well as emotional states (happiness, well-being, security, etc.)
- Find common factors that correlate with overall high levels of well-being outside of income
- Sources of trust/seeking guidance
- Identify segments by traits/behaviors, happiness, and stress levels
- Questions to ask in an interactive experience to 1) gather some 1st party data on prospective/current members and 2) provide tailored content and product recommendations to guide the path to well-being.
Approach to Measuring Financial Health Among Consumers
Our market research company utilizes a streamlined, yet unique approach to conducting online surveys. Here are a few of the essential components that were included in the project.
- Kickoff meeting to understand the credit union's objectives, target audience, and timeline.
- Writing the survey based on the goals and objectives of the credit union
- Fielding the survey through third-party panels based on the target markets of interest
- Cleaning the survey data to assure all responses are 100% legitimate
- Creating a comprehensive market research report to detail intimidate findings from the survey
- Host a debrief meeting to consult the credit union on how they can use the results to better serve their customers
Financial Wellness Survey Questions
A survey of consumer finances was custom-designed to measure financial well-being.
The survey included a list of questions to be used for market research segmentation, which created three segments in the market with below average, average, and above-average financial well-being.
Below are example questions that could be used in one of these surveys.
- Based on your knowledge, when you think of a person with good financial well-being, what characteristics/traits do they have? Enter your response below.
- Based on your knowledge, how would you rate your financial well-being? Select a rating.
- Which of the following are most important to a good/strong financial well-being? Select a rating for each.
- Which of the following age groups best describes you? Select one.
- In what county do you primarily reside? Select one.
- What is the highest level of education you have completed? Select one.
- Which of the following best describes your employment? Select one.
- [If employed] Which of the following best describes the industry you work in? Select one.
- [If employed] Do you think you are currently underemployed? Select one.
- Which of the following best describes your marital status? Select one.
- Which of the following do you most identify with? Select one. [Gender]
- Which of the following best applies to you? Select all that apply. [Race and ethinicty]
- Which of the following best describes the ages of your children in your household? Select all that apply.
- Which of the following best describes your total annual household income? Select one.
This is not all of the survey questions from this financial project, but an overview of example questions that could be used in a financial well-being survey. In a typical project, each survey is customized based on the goals and objectives of the client.
Results of the Credit Union Market Research
The survey of consumer finances took an average of 13 minutes to complete, included 80 questions, and received 3,000 responses.
Fieldwork for the survey began on January 5 and lasted until January 22, 2022.
With a probabilistic sample, a total of 3,000 responses at the 95% confidence level offers a 2% margin of error. If the online financial survey was conducted with another random pool of 3,000 respondents, the results would yield within +2% or -2% of the stated totals in the reports.
The results of this financial well-being survey were detailed in a comprehensive report to answer each of the outlined objectives.
Furthermore, the results included an in-depth analysis of segments of the audience with significantly higher or lower financial well-being, drivers to financial well-being, market research segmentation, and questions that can be used to calculate financial well-being.
Interested in learning more about bank and credit union market research options? Watch this short video.
Contact Our Bank and Credit Union Market Research Firm
If you’d like to run a finance survey, we’ve got you covered. Drive Research is a national market research company that partners with banks and credit unions from across the country.
Want to learn more about our market research services? Reach out through any of the ways below.
- Message us on our website
- Email us at [email protected]
- Call us at 888-725-DATA
- Text us at 315-303-2040
Emily Taylor
As a Senior Research Analyst, Emily is approaching a decade of experience in the market research industry and loves to challenge the status quo. She is a certified VoC professional with a passion for storytelling.
Learn more about Emily, here.
