Simple surveys provide valuable insights for satisfying customers

by Donna Busking

How does a bank define quality? The bank doesn't the customer does. That is a simple answer to a not-so-simple question; actually determining the customer's definition of quality can be complex.

Several methods can be used to identify customers' definition of quality. Simple surveys (and simple is the key word here) should be done periodically.

The results can be compared to ascertain concerns as well as identify areas of improvement. A survey which measures both the importance of a bank's service attributes and the customers' satisfaction with those attributes is an excellent survey method.

When a negative gap exists between the importance of a particular attribute and the customers' satisfaction, a bank can easily determine where improvement efforts should be focused. Similarly, if a survey indicates that the importance of an attribute is low and satisfaction is high, resources should be shifted to areas where importance is high and satisfaction is low.

Determining what to survey or measure doesn't have to be difficult. Just try thinking like a customer. The easiest way to do this is to list the reasons why you do business with a particular business. Typically, the same reasons will surface whether you are talking about your local grocery store, pharmacist, service station or bank.

The most common answers to why customers develop loyalty to a business are convenience, knowledge, friendliness, responsiveness, price, variety of products or services, problem resolution, accuracy and timeliness. Now take these same requirements and apply them to your entire bank or to a department or branch.

These quality requirements can be refined even further if you use a customer focus group to define quality for your financial institution. The focus group also can be used to develop a survey. Their recommendations will be invaluable to you and generally members of the group will help you clarify wording and simplify the survey format. A simple, easy?to?read survey will result in a larger percentage of responses and better information.

By using these simple techniques and comparing the results over a period of years you can know what quality is from the customers' perspective, measure satisfaction and determine strategies to meet or exceed your customers' quality standards.

Busking is a consultant and trainer with more than 20 years experience in the banking industry. Her professional background includes sales, service, strategic planning, quality management, operations, training and management experience. She previously served as Senior Vice President of two financial institutions and currently is a member of the Board of Directors of First American Bank. Her clients include banks as well as other businesses and organizations.

First published on BankersOnline.com 1/21/02