What do they want from US?

• Position: Marketing News

Convenience, mostly. More branches, more ATMs, longer hours, drive-through services and, in a limited way, Internet services. But a sort of residual ambivalence about Internet banking continues to linger in consumer' minds.

These observations are the product of a new survey conducted by researchers at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, who surveyed 10,000 banking customers in a five-county area of "a southeastern U.S. state." The study, titled "Consumer Perceptions of Important Factors for Patronage Behavior in the Banking Industry," was prepared by Jason Matthew Carpenter and Rosalind Corieri Paige, both in the retail and consumer sciences division at the university.

Although only 3 percent of those surveyed responded, the research team points out that this still amounts to a respectable 336 completed questionnaires. Respondents were asked which banking services they use, which ones they would consider using and which services they would be willing to change providers for.

More than 60 percent of the respondents said they used drive-through facilities at...