Are US Banks Under-Leveraging Customer Loyalty?

We recently wrapped up a comprehensive survey of retail bank customers in the US. The results were fascinating and not necessarily what we expected. After talking with nearly 1,000 consumers, it seems US banks may be under-leveraging their biggest assets—loyal customers. Banks are missing out on vast opportunities to drive revenue from cross-selling consumers who are more than willing to pull the trigger.

Consumers, on average, are using 6.05 banking services, but only about half (3.37 on average) are provided by their primary banks—that is, the bank where they keep their checking account. Moreover, only 30% of consumers surveyed have relationships with their primary banks that extend beyond checking, debit and savings.

Some 78% of consumers surveyed say they are satisfied with their primary banks, and half have done business with them for more than a decade. Still, consumers are going elsewhere for credit cards (42%), mortgages (24%), car loans (24%) and IRAs (27%).

Clearly, in order for banks to remain competitive in a saturated market like the US, they’ll have to invest more in refining strategies to deepen relationships with their happy existing customers.

Overall, millennials (ages 25 to 34) use the fewest banking services (5.78). Two out of three millennials use a large national bank for their primary banking services. Members of Generation X (ages 35 to 49) have the most banking services (6.27), with 55% of those services coming from their primary bank.

For more information, download the survey report on millennial banking habits (login required).