Communication and Transparency Drive Higher Mortgage Origination Satisfaction

Overall customer satisfaction with mortgage lenders has reached its highest level in the past six years, according to our  J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction StudySM released today.

For a second consecutive year, overall customer satisfaction has increased to 761 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2012 from 747 in 2011 and 734 in 2010.  This increase in customer satisfaction is driven by steady improvements related to transparency and communication.  The study finds that during the past three years, lenders have improved in the following areas:
  • Clearly explaining loan options and ensuring customers understand them
  • Following up with customers in a timely manner after they complete their application
  • Proactively updating customers on the status of their application

Furthermore, the results of the study show that there is a strong relationship between satisfaction with the origination process and the rates of customer consideration and usage of the same lender for refinancing. Among loan customers who have refinanced in 2012, only 40 percent cite price as their main reason for selecting their lender. Other reasons commonly cited for selection include an existing relationship; previously being a customer; and referrals.

LEARN MORE

Register for the complementary 2012 Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study Webcast

Date:  Thursday, November 29

Time:  2:00 – 3:00 PM EST

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Small Business Banking Still the Red-Headed Stepchild

Our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction StudySM  suggests that banks should focus on small business customers because of the value they represent, when compared to retail customers. On average, small businesses hold deposits four times greater and loan balances 15 times greater than retail banking customers.1 Small business customers also carry higher levels of personal banking business than the average consumer. In addition, the profit margins on small business customers are typically larger than those on larger corporate banking customers.

Yet, based on the results of the study, just released today, it appears that small businesses, like Rodney Dangerfield, get no respect. Despite overall satisfaction increasing by 19 index points year over year to 736 (on a 1,000-point scale) in this year’s study, it still represents one of the lowest-scoring financial services businesses that J.D. Power and Associates examines. Only mortgage servicing is lower. Even its perennial low-scoring counterpart, credit card, has surpassed small business banking in satisfaction to levels enjoyed in the retail banking sector.

Now in its seventh year, the study measures small business customer satisfaction with the overall banking experience by examining eight factors: product offerings; account manager; facility; account information; problem resolution; credit services; fees; and account activities.

The Small Stuff Matters
The study finds that when small business banking customers are greeted by name, the positive impact on overall satisfaction is 106 points. However, this occurs only 47 percent of the time, compared to 64 percent of the time among retail banking customers, representing a 17-percentage-point gap. This disparity occurs even though small business customers bank in person at the branch more than twice as often as retail customers (36 times vs. 16, respectively, on an annual basis). Continue reading ›

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Will You Bank On Us?

Best Banking Blogs of 2012

The Financial Brand, the premier online publication for bank and credit union marketers is conducting the second most important election this week; Best Banking Blog “2012 Readers’ Choice” awards.

Our J.D. Power and Associates Banking Blog, as part of having received the prestigious “Editor’s Choice” award,  is now nominated for the “Reader’s Choice” award  for Best Banking Blog of 2012.   Your vote counts, and we would be grateful for your support!

VOTE HERE

To be recognized alongside our friends and distinguished bank bloggers Jim Marous, Ron Shevlin, Brett King, Bradley Leimer, Matt Wilcox, JJ Hornblass, Liz Lum, Chris Skinner, Serge Milman, Christophe Langois, Jim Bruene, Randy Smith and Jim Van Dyke is an honor in itself.

Congratulations to all of our fellow nominees for your continued dedication and delivery of superb insights to our banking community.

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A Few Post Halloween Banking Tips &Treats

In case you missed a few of our recent online events and complementary research reports, we’re including them for you here.  We promise, just like the day after 1/2 price Halloween candy, it’s not a trick. Just a heartfelt way for us to treat you, our loyal banking fiends and fans for your continued supportEnjoy!

What Do Small Business Owners Expect From Their Bank?

This exclusive webcast provides an inside look into the results of our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US and Canadian Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study that will be released next week.  Below are only some of the many issues discussed during the webcast:

  • How customers’ perceptions have changed since 2011
  • The latest trends emerging in the small business banking industry
  • Which factors are having the biggest impact on customer satisfaction

Download the full webcast

The Dividends of Improving Best Practices for Social Media Research

In this whitepaper, we’ll show you that without well-established and proven guidelines on query construction and data extraction, very different results and conclusions can be obtained by different analysts attempting the same social media data search.

In extreme cases, analysts can create such highly divergent queries that the associated data leads to different answers to even simple questions, such as:

  • Which brand is my main competitor?
  • Is Product1 more of my brand’s conversation this month centered around product?
  • Is the sentiment expressed toward my brand this month more or less positive than the sentiment expressed toward my brand last month?

Download the full whitepaper

Using Voice of the Customer Information to Improve Business Performance: 5 Keys to Success

This presentation explores how clients use J.D. Power and Associates and other Voice of the Customer data with ROI or other business metrics to analyze under-performance to drive improvement.

Download the full presentation Continue reading ›

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Are Bankers Ready For The Bank 3.0 Reality?

A Guest Post By:   Jim Marous, SVP of Corporate Development at New Control
In an exclusive interview about his newest book, Bank 3.0, Brett King discusses how change occurring in the banking industry is inevitable, speeding up and disruptive. From the mobile wallet wars to the impact of social media, tablets and the ‘de-banked’ and digital consumer, Bank 3.0 shows why banking is no longer a place you go to, but something you do.

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A great deal has happened since Brett King wrote Bank 2.0 in 2010. Two years ago, banks were under siege as the foundation of the banking system was close to collapse and the image of the industry as a safe and secure environment was being challenged. The impact of social media was just beginning to be understood by the financial services industry and mobile technology as we know it today was in its infancy. Heck, King even referenced his (now long gone) Blackberry in the first chapter of Bank 2.0.

With Bank 3.0, King discusses how consumers are less likely to view their retail banking provider in terms of capital adequacy, branch network, products and rates. Instead, customers are more likely to determine their banking partners by how easily they can access their accounts when they need to, and how much they trust their provider to execute business on their behalf. For those who read Bank 2.0, King’s new book retains some of the foundation and case studies, but updates several areas based on what has occurred (and will be occurring) relative to digital delivery, payments, social media, and the power of ‘big data’.

On the eve of the introduction of Bank 3.0 in the U.K. (introduction in the U.S. is scheduled for early November), I interviewed Brett King about his new book and about how he views the banking industry today. 

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What has occurred in the marketplace that warranted the publishing of Bank 3.0 just 2 years after your successful book, Bank 2.0?

Brett King: The marketplace has changed significantly around how consumers are engaging with their financial institutions. Compared to two years ago, traditional banks are challenged more than ever from a distribution perspective because of the movement to mobile and digital channels, and because they are not well positioned with their current bricks and mortar networks for a positive customer experience. The philosophy of banks, with their secure firewalls, operational structure and compliance mindset, is counter to how any other industry engages with customers in the digital space. Since Bank 2.0, the competitive environment has also changed a great deal, with partnerships being developed, alternative players and new bank start-ups being introduced, underbanked segments emerging, and social media merging with bank service engagement. People are beginning to take a functional and utility view of banking, which is why I say in the subtitle of the new book, ‘banking is no longer a place you go to, but something you do’

Continue reading ›

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Credit Card Website Best Practices – Viewing Account History

From our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Credit Card Website Evaulation Study, the following viewing account history best practices highlight some of the exceptional techniques utilized by credit card issuer websites.

1.  Recent Activity Link

Chase and Discover Card offer a link to recent activity from the website’s landing page

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2.  Offer Multiple Formats for Statements

Discover Card allows customers to download statements in multiple formats.  Citi Cards offers customers navigation links from the log in field on the home page

___________________________________________________ Continue reading ›

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What Do Small Business Owners Expect From Their Bank?

With the fluctuating economy and new banking regulations continuing to affect the expectations that small business owners have of their banking experiences, financial institutions need to be armed with the insights that can help them meet and exceed these expectations. They need to know:

  • How customers’ perceptions have changed since 2011
  • The latest trends emerging in the small business banking industry
  • Which factors are having the biggest impact on customer satisfaction

Our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US and Canadian Small Business Banking Satisfaction Studies will provide these insights and much more!

Join us for an exclusive webcast during which we will give you an insider’s look into the results of these studies!

Webcast Details:

DATE:  Tuesday, October 30

TIME:  2:00 – 3:00 PM ET

SPEAKER:  Jim Miller, Senior Director, Banking Practice at J.D. Power and Associates

 

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Top 10 Sources for Gathering Investment Information

Unlike the majority of full service investors, self-directed investors MUST seek out information to aid in their decision-making regarding investments.

Did you know that satisfaction is highest among self-directed investors who use investment magazines and their firm as primary sources of this information?

The majority of self-directed investors (68%) indicate using their firm as one source of information, which is 4 percentage points lower than in 2011 (68% vs. 72%, respectively), and 30% of investors indicate that their firm is their main source of information, which is virtually the same as in 2011.  Below are the top 10 main sources of information that self-directed investors indicate using to aid in their investment decision-maiking:

Not depicted above, but included in our J.D.Power 2012 US Self-Directed Investor Satsfaction Study,  Sharebuilder from ING Direct leads the industry in the proportion of investors indicating that they use their firm as the primary source of information (36%), followed closely by E*TRADE Financial (35%) and Fidelity Investments (33%).

 Data Source:  J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US Self-Directed InvestorSatisfaction Study SM
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Credit Card Website Best Practices – Account Log In

From our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Credit Card Website Evaulation Study, the following account log in best practices highlight some of the exceptional techniques utilized by credit card issuer websites.

1.  Offer Prominent Log-in Fields

Citi Cards and Chase use color and shading to draw attention to log-in fields

 

 

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2.  Streamline Navigation

Citi Cards offers customers navigation links from the log in field on the home page

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Continue reading ›

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Credit Card Customer Website Expectations

The proportion of credit card customers who use online channels to perform basic tasks continues to increase, with those who use a smartphone or tablet preferring different experiences from those who use a computer, according to our J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Credit Card Website Evaluation StudySM (CCWES) released today.

The inaugural study examines the usefulness of credit card company websites across six attributes (in order of importance) utilized in our  J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction StudySM:

  • Speed of completing desired activity
  • Appearance of website
  • Ease of navigating the website
  • Ranges of service that can be performed online
  • Usefulness of information provided via the website
  • Clarity of information provided

During the past three years, credit card customers’ usage rates for self-service interaction (online and mobile) with their card issuer have increased, while usage rates of all other channels, such as mail and live and automated phone calls, have decreased.

Most notably, 78 percent of credit card customers use their computer to go online and interact with their issuer in 2012, compared with 76 percent in 2011 and 75 percent in 2010. Mobile phone usage has increased to 7 percent in 2012, compared with 4 percent in both 2011 and 2010.

 

 

Questions? For more information about this study, please contact Holly Zagresky at 248-680-6319 or Holly_Zagresky@jdpa.com.

 

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