Digital Banking Survey | Market Research for Banks

As the number of in-branch experiences continues to decline at banks and credit unions, digital banking experiences continue to grow.

Digital banking services include:

  • Customers accessing accounts through their mobile app
  • Mobile deposits
  • Applying for mortgages online
  • Internet banking

With banking services literally at your fingertips, if you own a smartphone, it makes sense why these service offerings are growing among customers.

digital banking survey

As consumers shift to rely more heavily on online banking as their "digital branch", banks can benefit from online surveys to keep customers long-term and incentivize new customers. 


How COVID-19 Has Impacted the Banking Industry

Banks can often see a surge in digital banking customers in times like these when a pandemic like COVID-19 hits the U.S. With branch doors closing and drive-thrus being limited, customers are forced to turn to digital banking products to help serve their day-to-day needs.

Social distancing policies and stay-at-home guidelines leave consumers with no other choice but to utilize digital banking more often.

For many banks, this has likely created a significant influx of new digital banking users to their apps and website. Many of which are likely in older age groups who previously heavily relied on in-person channels to do their banking.

In many cases, these customers may not go back to tellers or drive-thrus to conduct their business if they feel confident and comfortable with digital banking tools.

This is why it is more important than ever to monitor your digital banking products and services at your bank.

  • How is the user experience (UX)?
  • Was the app easy to download and use?
  • Are the instructions and menus clear for new users?
  • Can customers navigate the banking website to access the information and answers they need?
  • Are there any questions about digital banking that users cannot find the answers to?

All of these are vital questions to help strengthen this transition to digital banking among your customers.


Benefits of a Digital Banking Survey

When it comes to assessing the needs of consumers, there are two audiences to analyze:

  1. Your customers
  2. Non-customers in your target market areas

Banking Customer Survey

There are many benefits to pursuing a digital banking survey with customers. Since these are contact lists you already have in-house, the survey can be conducted more swiftly and cost-effectively.

These are customers that already have a banking relationship with you. With all of the statistical guidelines out there about acquiring new customers costing ten times more than keeping a customer, this is an audience you want to understand fully.

The benefits of learning from customers help you address pain points in digital banking and make improvements to keep customers long-term.

Banking Non-Customer Survey

Reaching out and collecting feedback from non-customers can also be valuable. It can help you assess how your digital banking customer ratings compare to competitive digital banking products.

This audience can also help you understand any gaps in your digital banking suite of offerings. What if you found out 90% of regional competitors offer mobile deposits up to $5,000, but your limit is $2,000? Expectations from this audience can be very enlightening when compared to your customer data.

Should you survey customers, non-customers, or both? Find out here.


How Does a Digital Banking Survey Work?

The process for a study with our digital banking survey company follows a systematic process. It includes a step-by-step process that our digital banking market research firm guides your team through. We offer end-to-end project management, from kickoff through consulting with recommendations.

Here is the breakdown of the steps in a digital banking survey, including a proposal, kickoff, workplan, survey design, programming, testing, fieldwork, analysis, reporting, and a debrief.

Each of these components is outlined in more detail below.

Step 1: Proposal

The first step is to discuss with your team to understand your core objectives of the study.

  • What do you want to learn?
  • How do you want to use the results?
  • What actions do you plan on taking with the findings?

These answers help our team recommend a methodology and a best-approach to tackle your objectives. The proposal is comprehensive and outlines the timeline and fixed cost for the digital banking survey.

This fee is all-inclusive and will not change. Often, our team proposes a few levels of responses to meet your budget needs (i.e., 400 survey responses, 1000 survey responses, etc.).

Step 2: Kickoff

After the agreement page is signed and returned, the next step in the process for a digital banking survey is to set up a 30 to 60-minute kickoff call. This can be done in-person or via Google Hangouts.

Our team sends over an agenda before the meeting to guide the discussion. We’ll recap the objectives, answer any questions, and spend the majority of the time discussing the survey questions.

Drive Research will make plenty of recommendations but also listen to your unique needs so questions can be created to answer those.

Step 3: Workplan

Within 24 hours of the end of the kickoff meeting, our team will prepare a workplan. This workplan lays out all tasks, responsible parties, and dates. It ensures both sides remain up-to-date and aware of all upcoming deadlines and when the project is tracking for completion. It is updated frequently throughout the project.

Step 4: Survey Design

Survey design is a crucial step in the digital banking survey. It is the most critical component. The right questions result in useful insights and appropriate next steps in operations and strategy.

Our team will draft the survey in a Word document for your review. It is exchanged with your entire team to allow for edits, comments, and additions. The next steps are not taken until the draft is finalized, and everyone is happy with the script.

Step 5: Programming

Once the survey is finalized, our team programs the survey into our online survey software. It is highly likely the survey will be conducted through email or online (with customers and/or non-customers).

Online surveys are quick and inexpensive. The survey is designed to be mobile, tablet, and laptop friendly.

Step 6: Testing

After the survey is programmed, Drive Research shares a link with our internal testing team. Following the internal tests, a link is shared with your institution for testing. It allows your team to take the survey as a real participant to try out the experience on any device. Any edits can be made before launch.

Step 7: Fieldwork

Our fieldwork launch starts with a test drive or soft-launch. It is a small sample of customers to test the survey for any kind, comprehension issues, or other problems. Our digital banking survey company reviews this initial data carefully before the full launch.

Once deemed ready, our team opens up fieldwork to all customers from our sample. It may include an initial invite with several reminders to boost response rates.

Step 8: Analysis

When fieldwork is live, our team shares a passcode-protected portal to your organization, which tabulates the data in real-time. These include charts and graphs of the responses and offer a sneak peek to the final report.

Our team reviews these responses carefully, including auditing for data quality, speeders, and duplicate IP addresses. Often, our team recommends a red herring question to flag poor respondents. It is more of an issue for non-customer surveys than customer surveys.

Step 9: Reporting

Once fieldwork is complete, our real work begins. The interpretation of the data is the true differentiator for our banking market research company.

We create a comprehensive PowerPoint report in PDF with an executive summary, recommendations and action items, persona(s), infographic, and an appendix of all the charts and graphs.

It includes categorical breakdowns of responses by items such as age, household income, region, etc.

Step 10: Debrief

As a final step, our team schedules an in-person meeting or Google Hangout with your team to review the report. Drive Research will walk you through all of the results, recommendations, and the next steps to help your organization take immediate action with the findings.

We answer any questions you have and can even go back after the call to make additional changes or additions to the report.


Contact Our Digital Banking Survey Company

Drive Research is a full-service market research firm located in Upstate New York. Our experienced team works with financial institutions across the country from California to New York and everywhere in-between. Let our team guide you to the insights and measurements you need from a digital banking survey.

Contact us for your custom digital banking survey proposal below.

  1. Message us on our website
  2. Email us at [email protected] (we'll respond quickly)
  3. Call us at 888-725-DATA
  4. Text us at 315-303-2040

Online Surveys