You matter to our customers. That’s the takeaway from our most recent customer loyalty survey, deployed to 17,800 North Shore Bank patrons in November. The 1,130 people who responded made it clear that they choose and recommend our bank in large part because our employees differentiate us from the competition.

“Half of the responses mention our friendly, helpful attitudes, our smiles, and the fact that we know people by name and know their needs,” said Sue Doyle, SVP, retail banking. “Customers say they value proactive conversations about how they can save time and money and meet their financial goals. They appreciate working with knowledgeable people.”

Customers also appreciate North Shore Bank’s responsiveness — they expect a personal touch and are unhappy when we fail to get back to them. “So every employee needs to be diligent about returning calls the same day and providing accurate information on a timely basis,” Sue said.

After our people, the second thing customers say they like about North Shore Bank is our online banking. In fact, wi-fi is available or being installed at many branches to encourage enrollment in online and mobile banking. And reliable online and mobile experience scores are back to where they were before our online banking conversion.

“When someone becomes a promoter of the bank, the most common combination of service qualities mentioned by them are our people, online banking, and locations,” Sue said. “This trifecta of service qualities is what builds customer engagement and makes North Shore Bank ‘the Bank of You.'”

This survey saw our scores rising, continuing a trend over the past three surveys or 18 months. (Customer loyalty surveys are sent out every six months.) Our average Loyalty Score, gauging the strength of the relationship between the customer and the bank, increased. Our average Net Promoter Score, measuring the likelihood a customer will recommend the bank, increased as well.