So are you happy with your bank, or just not currently angry?

An interesting bit of research about bank customers was published in Marketing Daily this week. (Click here to read the story.) According to the Market Force Information survey, up to 40% of bank customers say they’d consider switching; that includes 9.4% of customers who claim to be satisfied or very satisfied with their current bank.

Implications: It seems you have to ask whether those satisfied customers are indeed really “happy” with their current bank, or simply were not currently angry at the moment the survey was taken.

How about your customers? Are they “happy” with you? And if so, are you happy with that? Or should the questions you ask your customers include…

• If current levels of service, quality and pricing continue, do you see yourself being our customer five years from now?
  
• Would you recommend us to your friends, if the opportunity arose?
  
• Among the services we offer, where do you see the greatest room for improvement?
  
• What’s the single most important thing we do (or don’t do) that keeps you coming back to us?

What other questions should you be asking, to make sure your customers are delighted, and not just tolerant?

Mike Anderson