You’ve probably heard the saying, “No news is good news.” But when it comes to running a financial institution, that’s not exactly true.
Collecting and reviewing consumer feedback is key to running a compliant, customer-first bank or credit union. When you encourage people to share their thoughts, you open the door to insights that can help you grow, improve, and better serve your community.
If you aren’t actively collecting feedback, you’ll likely miss opportunities to wow your customers, fix hidden issues, and make meaningful improvements.
And feedback doesn’t just mean complaints. Compliments can help you understand what’s working and where to double down. Suggestions can spark innovation and help your institution improve. The more feedback you gather—and act on—the stronger your institution becomes.
But encouraging customers to submit feedback is a lot easier said than done. People are busy, and their financial institution probably isn’t top-of-mind when they want to share their thoughts. More often than not, feedback shows up only when something goes wrong.
So how do you change that? Here are some ways to encourage customers to submit feedback—the good and the bad.
Ask consumers for feedback
So you want to know what your institution does well and how you might improve. Now what?
Some feedback (probably complaints) will come through whether you ask for it or not. Maybe you have a general support email or even a basic form on your website for people to complete. Instead of waiting for your customers to find it (which will likely only happen when they have something to complain about), try asking for feedback.
This can be as simple as hanging signs around each branch with a QR code that allows people to submit feedback. Or adding a line to employee email signatures that says “Have a suggestion? Let us know here.” Instruct your tellers and customer-facing employees to ask for feedback. Make it easy for these employees to submit the comments they hear, even if it isn’t a formal compliment or complaint.
At first glance, you may not think that getting so much feedback—especially if much of it is negative—is very helpful. In fact, it can be kind of discouraging…
But guess what? Asking for feedback actually creates customer advocacy. Put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Which financial institution are you more likely to trust with your money? One that doesn’t communicate with customers or try to improve? Or one that asks for feedback and clearly makes changes based on what customers want? The more you ask for and implement feedback, the more loyal your consumers are likely to be.
Asking for feedback also gives you the chance to turn unhappy customers into happy customers. Rather than letting them suffer silently and leave for no visible reason, you can address their concerns head-on and make a change that will keep them happy and loyal.
Check out this article to learn more about why customer complaints are actually a good thing.
Provide feedback options
Now that consumers know you want their feedback, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to submit it.
This starts by offering various ways for someone to submit feedback. Some financial institutions make the mistake of having only one way to collect complaints, compliments, and suggestions, but this may alienate your consumers and make them less likely to submit their feedback.
For example, if the only way consumers can submit a complaint is by speaking to an employee at your branch, then this greatly limits anyone who wants to avoid an awkward conversation. They are more likely to just live with their grievances and not speak to anyone, eventually leaving your institution because their complaints were never received or resolved.
There are many ways someone might prefer to connect with their bank or credit union. Not everyone is comfortable calling you on the phone or reaching out via social media. And some people love doing that. That’s why it’s important to provide consumers with multiple ways to submit feedback.
Here are some ways you might allow consumers to submit feedback:
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Email
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Phone
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Online form (ever heard of Kadince software?)
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Social media
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Live website chat
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In person
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Mail
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Direct message to the Board
That last point might sound a little extreme, but Pentagon Federal Credit Union has found a great way to encourage members to submit feedback while getting its board involved. PenFed CU promises that the Board of Directors will review each member’s comment and respond appropriately. When members see how involved the credit union’s Chairman is and that the CU truly cares about its members and wants to hear from them, members are more likely to submit feedback and help the institution improve.
Offering multiple feedback channels helps ensure that all your customers—regardless of age, tech-savviness, or communication preferences—can share their voice.
Make it easy to submit feedback
No matter how someone is submitting feedback, the process needs to be clear and easy to complete.
This means consumers should not have to jump through hoops to tell you what they think. Don’t collect information that doesn’t matter in the long run. All you really need to collect is their contact information (if they want to provide it), their comment, and where the experience took place or who it involved (if applicable).
Lots of required fields and follow-up questions might be helpful for your institution, but it makes the submission process much more complicated for consumers. And the more complicated the process, the more likely someone is to ditch the form or chat and move on with their day.
Making it easy to submit feedback also goes for your employees. Whether employees are submitting feedback they come across from consumers or submitting ideas of their own, it should be just as simple as it is for consumers.
Start by making sure employees know how to submit feedback and why it’s important. An employee is much more likely to complete a form if they know that their comments are being reviewed and that something good might come from it. Your employees are the front-line in customer service and satisfaction, and it’s important that they understand the feedback process and what is expected of them.
Respond to all feedback
Collecting feedback isn’t the end. Now it’s time to review the complaint, compliment, or suggestion, implement necessary changes, and respond to the submitter.
Yes, responding to comments and complaints can take a long time, and you may be tempted to collect the complaint and call it a day. But there are so many benefits to answering complaints, including:
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Showing customers you care
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Turning unhappy customers into loyal advocates
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Uncovering areas for improvement
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Standing out from competitors
Simply put, responding to feedback shows the consumer that you truly care, plus it encourages them to submit more feedback in the future.
This is especially true if complaints were submitted via social media or in another public setting. This complaint isn’t just sitting in your inbox quietly. It’s out in the open for everyone to see, and you want to make a good impression. By responding kindly, empathetically, and quickly, you can show the person who made the complaint—plus all those viewing the negative feedback on their screens—that you’ve made a change and care about their experience.
Read this article to learn more about how to properly respond to complaints.
Advertise the improvements you’ve made
Once you’ve taken time to collect, review, and respond to complaints and other comments, you should consider letting others know about it.
It might sound a little strange to advertise your complaints, but it’s actually a great way to show others that you listen to your customers and want to improve your institution, especially if the change you’ve made will positively affect other consumers.
Obviously, not every issue belongs in a newsletter. Focus on customer-centric improvements that build trust and show your institution is listening.
Telling consumers how you’ve implemented someone’s feedback is a great way to encourage more feedback. For example, maybe a customer suggested that your branch stay open for an extra hour on weekends. If you implement this idea, then naturally you’re going to let all your customers know about the change. But you should also let them know that it happened because of a customer like them submitting an idea. This is a great way to show that you care about your customers’ needs. The more you advertise these changes, the more your customers will understand that you’re listening and care about what they have to say.
Use Kadince to collect, review, and report feedback
If you want to encourage consumers to submit feedback, you need to have a solid process in place for collecting, reviewing, responding to, and reporting on that feedback.
Many banks and credit unions rely on spreadsheets and outdated systems to manage complaints, compliments, and suggestions. But these methods are almost always difficult and time-consuming.
That’s where Kadince Complaint Management software comes in. Rather than relying on spreadsheets and hoping employees remember to submit the comments they’ve heard, all complaints are managed in one, easy-to-use system. No more missed complaints, and no more back-and-forth reminding someone to review.
Kadince software helps you:
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Collect and geocode complaints seamlessly from multiple sources
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Automatically route complaints to the appropriate stakeholders
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Identify trends and address root causes to improve processes
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Generate detailed reports for internal teams, auditors, and examiners
If your institution struggles to encourage consumers to submit feedback or needs a better system to manage that feedback, Kadince can help. Schedule a demo to learn more.
None of Kadince, Inc., its affiliates, or its respective employees, directors, officers, and agents (collectively, “Kadince”) are responsible or liable for any content or information incorporated herein. Read full disclosure.