Show customers that their opinions matter.

• Author: Triplett, Ted
• Position: CUSTOMER RETENTION

LIKE A LOT OF BANKS, YOUR INSTITUTION MAY ROUTINELY SURVEY CUSTOMERS. After all, soliciting feedback via surveys, assessments or questionnaires is an excellent way to discover how your customers feel about their relationship with your bank

But are you really using the information to help your customers? Asking for feedback without taking prompt action on it can do more harm than good when it comes to building lasting relationships.

According to a Gartner report, although 95 percent of companies collect feedback, only 10 percent actually act on it. Even fewer businesses (less than 5 percent) tell their customers what they have done with that feedback.

Too many banks waste money and weaken customer relationships by failing to follow up on customer input. When your bank asks for customer comments, you create an expectation that your bank will act on the feedback, either immediately or in the future. For this reason, it's important that the organization has a process in place to acknowledge the responses.

It's absolutely vital for banks to acknowledge those customers--people who took time out of their busy lives to fill out a survey--and to thank them for their responses, requests and suggestions. If you simply collect information, you run the risk of irritating your customers.

And, these days, many customers hesitate to provide feedback because they don't believe it will lead to actual improvements. For too many banks, that's true. While it may not be necessary to personally follow up with every customer, you do owe everyone some kind of response indicating the steps you're taking as a direct result of their feedback.

Provide some level of feedback

Following up with customers lets them know you're serious about your intent to listen, learn and improve their experience. Customers are also much more likely to take time to complete a survey the next time you ask if they know you'll actually do something with the data they provide.

Even if you don't follow up immediately or in-depth with all respondents...