Most new customers select a banking institution based on access to a convenient branch location than any other benefit, says a new report by CFI Group, an Ann Arbor firm that provides customer feedback insights through analytics. However, once customers join a bank, they’re more likely to use the institution’s website more often than visit a branch.
The study found that 37 percent of new customers pick a bank based on the convenience of a branch location. This was followed by a recommendation from friends (21 percent), attractiveness of rates and fees (10 percent), and web and mobile banking capabilities (2 percent).
Despite these results, bank customers seem to turn to the web more often than they do the physical location. In the past 30 days, 82 percent of customers interacted with their institution through a website while 77 percent visited their local branch. Only 35 percent used a mobile banking app within the past 30 days.
“Banks are driven to pay closer attention to the experiences their customers enjoy when engaging in business with them,” says Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. “By better understanding the importance of the branch network and the complementary role of their ‘electronic face’ via websites and apps, banks can improve the customer’s experience and drive financial performance.”
Other report findings include:
- Mobile financial apps are used more for general information than transactional use. The number one use of apps is to check account balances, reported by 84 percent of respondents, followed by general information inquiries at 57 percent.
- Checking accounts are the most popular banking product: 96 percent of survey respondents use their financial institution for this purpose.
- Least popular bank products include most any kind of loan and savings instrument outside of traditional savings accounts.
- Effective problem resolution is critical: customers who were satisfied with the way their bank handled a problem had almost double the satisfaction score.
In other financial news, Troy-based North American Bancard has teamed up with Discover Financial Services to offer brick-and-mortar merchants the ability to accept PayPal at the point of sale.
“Our ongoing goal is to simplify the payment processing universe for our merchants and their customers,” says Marc Gardner, founder, president, and CEO of North American Bancard. “We’re empowering merchants to expand their revenue opportunity by accepting a new form of currency in a frictionless fashion right on their POS devices. We’re also giving PayPal customers a seamless transaction experience by offering them yet another convenient way to pay.”
