Credit union member surveys allow you unparalleled insight into what your members need, as well as how they feel about your credit union’s performance overall. All the knowledge that credit unions can get from surveying their members empowers them to improve their services.
However, as we all know, with great power comes great responsibility. It’s important not to let that power—that rush of knowledge!—go to our heads. There’s a limit to how much power member insight to seek at a time.
This blog is about how often you should conduct credit union member surveys. If you haven’t started surveying your members yet, we highly recommend it. You can read more about credit union surveys here, and about a few of the top survey platforms here. Now, onto the topic at hand.
Survey Sent! Now What?
If you’ve just sent out a survey, congratulations! You’re one step closer to getting valuable member insight.
Your survey strategy is just beginning, though. Each member has a whole well of opinions, and if they’re willing to share one opinion, they’re probably willing to share two. That means you can send them another survey.
If you want a successful survey strategy, you’ll have to survey your members more than once. To truly see the effect that surveys have, you’ll need to survey your members periodically. It’s like eating healthy or exercising: once is not enough! Make it a regular thing, and you’re on the right track.
But wait! You can’t just go sending out survey after survey to the same member. Repeated surveys will get old, and fast. Remember, you’re asking for them to take time out of their day to provide you with feedback. Respect the time they take, and don’t ask too much of them. You wouldn’t want them to get survey fatigue!
What Is Survey Fatigue?
Survey fatigue is what happens when you send out too many surveys to your members. If your members start seeing too many surveys from you, they’ll get tired of them. In fact, a sample of responses we can imagine might go something like this:
- LOL are you serious?
- Look, hon: another credit union survey. Who saw that coming?
- WHAT MORE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?
- Oh no! Not again!
- Hey, wait. Didn’t I just do this?
- How do they even have time to help me manage my money if they’re spending all this time sending out surveys?
- Nope! Fool me once, shame on you…
Sure, we made up all those responses, but you can imagine, right? Essentially, if you survey your members too often, they’ll be less likely to give you their time. They may feel that you’re taking advantage of them by repeatedly asking about their experiences.
Plus, nobody likes the person who’s so insecure that they have to continually ask, “hey, do you like me? Do you like what I do?” There’s a fine line between curiosity and obsession.
Oh! Almost forgot one:
- Give them an inch…
Not Too Often, Not Too Sporadic, but Juuuuust Right
In our experience, most credit unions send member surveys every 90 days or so. That works out roughly to one survey per quarter. Less than that and you risk losing touch with your members. More than that and you risk irritating them.
It doesn’t matter what kind of survey you send, either. A survey is a survey. If you send a member a relationship survey in Q1, that doesn’t mean you can also send them a transaction survey in the same quarter. Wait until Q2 to send them a transaction survey. Ditto a Member Effort Score survey.
(Want to read more about survey types? Check out relationship, transaction, and member effort surveys here!)
Further Reading
If you’d like to read more about credit union member surveys or survey strategies, follow the links below! We keep our blog updated weekly with useful tips, tricks, and advice designed to keep your credit union in touch with your members.
How You Can Give Your Credit Union Members a Voice (Hint: It’s a Survey)
