Ask the following questions before you switch banks to ensure you are putting your money in the best place possible.
How much balance is needed to avoid fees? What is the minimum deposit required to open an account? Is it something that is feasible for you? Does it make sense for your current financial
condition? Also, look at the minimum balance required to waive monthly account fees. Make sure that the minimum balance is something you can maintain each month. Additionally, some banks require a direct deposit or a recurring payment through their website to avoid monthly service fees. Investigate their requirements and make sure you are willing and able to meet them.
How much interest is paid on deposit accounts? Does the account pay interest? If so, how much? And again, do you need to maintain a minimum balance to earn interest?
What fees do they charge? In addition to the monthly service fees, you should check other current account fees like insufficient funds fees, the ATM fees, stop-payment fees and account closing fees. Add it up and make sure this potential new bank makes sense for you.
ATM network? Most banks and credit unions participate in a network of ATMs and machines are readily available and convenient as well as free to use. Yet it makes sense to make sure there are no ATM fees for using of network machines, and that the network fits your ATM needs.
Is there overdraft protection and if so what are the options and the costs? Hopefully, you don’t have a need for overdraft protection. However, at some banks, the protection is free and it can be a nice convenience. If you do need it, investigate the fees and make sure you understand your options before you change banks.
Finally, with regard to incentives and applications, bank reward programmes and mobile banking are growing trends. If these incentives are important to you, make sure your new bank offers them and doesn’t charge a fee.
What customers want from banks
How well do you know your customers? It is certainly a tough thing to evaluate.
A report from blog.kissmetrics.com gives some things customers want from their banks.
Customers care more about service quality and attitude than about service speed
When it comes to customer service, everyone wants to ‘get out’ quickly and get back to our lives. Generally speaking, just about the only time customers are going to contact you is when they need help, so speed counts in getting them where they will like to be.
A recent Gallup study reveals that when it comes to memorable service people tell their friends about, it is important that the service provided feels “thorough” and friendly, rather than quick.
Not only that, in a customer experience report by RightNow, researchers found that the number one reason customers would abandon a brand was due to poor quality and rude customer service, which were cited 18 per cent more often than “slow or untimely service.”
The results seem clear: Good service trumps fast service every time, in both customer retention and satisfaction.
It is important that your business (and those you hire) focus on providing memorable, competent, and knowledgeable service with a smile.
Timely service is important, but customers are much more likely to remember brands that went above and beyond to solve their problems over brands that got them out the door quickly.
Customers know what they want
There are certain things that customers are just flat out better at than you, and one of the things they can be quite good at is understanding their peers’ needs.
A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.
This is certainly true in some instances, as it can be rewarding for brands to give their customers things they did not know they needed before they even ask.
Customers like loyalty programmes
For years, companies have been striving to create customer loyalty programmes that stick; and recently, an interesting research by two social psychologists finally reveals a way to make it happen.
Consumer researchers, Joseph Nunes and Xavier Dreze, have made some startling findings on customer reward programmes.
The critical findings of their research can be summed up as follows: Customers like reward programmes but are much more likely to participate if the business in question utilises “artificial advancement.”
In a truly interesting look into human nature, people like being part of “gold” and “premium” reward group, but only if there is a group of people below them.
0 comments: