Here at LiveSurvey, we’ve seen it happen dozens of times:
We set a credit union up for member experience monitoring. They’ve got their survey platform up and running. They’ve got their email lists ready and waiting. They’ve got one burning question to ask.
But that one question is the worst survey question out there.
So, what is it? Why is it so bad? What can be done about it?
And the Worst Survey Question Is…
Whenever metrics are available, people want to know how they compare. People (and credit unions) want to see how they stack up against their competition. They want to do peer benchmarking.
Credit unions want to see their relationship NPS score. Then, the want to see if they score better or worse than their competition.
But measuring yourself against the competition is not a useful survey strategy! Not on its own, at least. In fact, on its own, measuring your credit union’s NPS is the worst survey question you can ask.
Don’t do it.
Why an NPS Survey Is the Worst Question to Ask First
Surveys are an integral part of member experience tracking. An NPS survey can certainly help to establish a baseline for member experience.
But NPS surveys and peer benchmarking don’t do anything on their own. A survey should help your credit union improve its member experience in some way. On completion, you should learn something from your NPS score. You should also get ideas for changes you can make to improve your services.
The problem with immediately asking a relationship NPS question for benchmarking is simple:
It gives no actionable insight.
It raises the question: “what now?” If your score is higher than your peers’, you won’t know why. If your score is lower than your peers’, you won’t know what to do to improve it. You’d need to send out additional questions before you made any progress.
And if you send out too many surveys, you risk the dreaded survey fatigue.
Better Alternatives for Survey Questions
Now, we’re not saying that you shouldn’t ask your relationship NPS survey question. You should. Your NPS score can help with strategic planning.
And by all means, do peer benchmarking. It can be valuable to see how you measure against others in your industry—especially if they’re in the same region.
Just remember that your primary goal is to tap into the voice of the member for actionable insight. So, your survey should ask specific questions that you want to know the answers to:
- How was your wait time during your branch visit today?
- Were the tellers able to help you with your needs?
- Is our new mobile banking app easy to use?
- Did we make it easy to apply for your auto loan?
Questions like these will help your credit union understand which specific transactions are going well for your members—and which aren’t.
You can find more credit union member survey ideas here to get an idea of the questions you should ask. Or see which survey questions you should avoid here so you don’t make any major survey errors.
Additional Reading
The point of this blog isn’t to throw shade at NPS surveys and peer benchmarking. They’re great tools when used strategically.
But too often, we’ve seen credit unions get stuck after their first NPS survey. The voice of the member gets lost due to poor survey strategy or lack of direction for follow-up.
This blog—like all of our blogs—should be used as a resource to help your credit union surveys succeed. We want your credit union and its members to thrive. With that in mind, here are two ways we can help you:
First, subscribe to our blog. We keep it updated regularly with useful tips and ideas.
Second, check out some of the links below to get an idea about what else we’ve written lately.
