By Sue Doyle, SVP, Retail Banking

In May, we invited a portion of our customer base to participate in a survey administered by Informa Research Services. Informa uses a SEA score measurement system to rate “Service,” “Energized,” and “Attract” customer engagement elements and compares benchmark results nationally and among respondents using like-size institutions in the Midwest. The tool is designed to help retail financial institutions thrive and grow in a rapidly changing banking market. “Service” measures tell us if we are doing the job the customer hired us for. “Energized” scores tells us if the customer is prepared to give us their trust and advocate behavior accordingly. “Attract” measures gives an indicator of our power to attract customer relationships.

The same survey was conducted among North Shore Bank customers, except that customers were asked some questions about North Shore Bank that the benchmark study asks of the bank that people identify as their primary financial institutions. Customers scored North Shore Bank higher than US Bank, BMO Harris, Associated, Chase, Wells Fargo, and National Financial Institutions in categories like overall satisfaction, “easy to do business with,” “is one I trust,” “feels like a valued customer,” and “is growing more popular,” with the exception of BMO in overall satisfaction. We were on par with smaller Midwest banks.

What does this mean? Our service foundation is strong. We are positioned for growth and acquisition. High scores in these and other areas indicates the bank should be able to leverage goodwill among our existing customer base to both grow share of wallet and enjoy their assistance in creating buzz or interest in the bank and our products and services. Ease of doing business, trust, and feeling valued are all key elements of our SOAR Together principles. Continued committed execution of these principles — by every employee, every day, with every customer — positions us well for growth.

If you are interested in learning more, you can read a full report on the survey in PDF form.