Does anyone have any good insight or contacts for doing our first customer survey? We have the ability to create our own survey and place on our statments, but we would need to create a way to encourage the account holders to return the survey, such as a drawing or give away. The problem then becomes the no lottery rule. Any suggestions would be great. THANKS!

My limited experience with consumer surveys indicates one realistically may expect a return of 10% to 30% of total quantity distributed, without any inducement to the audience. A well-written, pertinent, interesting survey intro letter to the audience may be the one "motivator" worthy of the surveyor's prep cost and time. (I.e., Feedback to help us improve our client service, adjust service fees to realisic level...)

I have had GREAT success over the last 5 years by offering to donate $3 per survey to a local non-profit organization. The past two years I named the local animal shelter as the beneficiary. Some people returned their surveys with notes saying “I normally don’t answer surveys but am doing it this time for the animals.”
I gave this idea to a fellow marketing person in another state and she had the same success I do: 40 to 50% return the survey. Honestly!! And I have had these same results five times.

I've had a great deal of experience with customer surveys. There is one thing I have learned time and time again. The great majority of survey responses will be generally positive in nature. But this is not good. Virtually all people are very hesitant to tell a bank what they really don't like about the bank. (They fear the bank will call them to discuss and they don't want to do that.) Therefore bank surveys that are all positive don't really give a good return on investment. What works best is to have an independent researcher make telephone calls and ask questions. In this case people are not hesitant to say what's wrong they are in fact motivated to "impress" the researcher with their in-depth knowledge of the bank's weaknesses. Ergo, a wonderful return on the survey investment. A vendor to call: Howard Clark in Atlanta, 770-956-0412.