Aite Group has introduced a new metric to help banks and credit unions uncover drivers of customer loyalty and referrals.

The new metric, Referral Performance Score, more accurately captures customer loyalty compared to Net Promoter Score, the Boston-based research and advisory firm said in a statement outlining the report released Tuesday.

NPS, a metric used for decades by many industries including financial services, measures the intentions of customers to refer a company. However, a Harvard Business Review study found that among consumers who intended to refer their bank to friends and families, two-thirds didn't follow through, Aite Group said.

What's more, the Boston-based think firm reports only one in 10 consumers grew their relationship with their bank by increasing account balances or adding new accounts.

The report's author, Aite Senior Analyst Ron Shevlin, said RPS is a superior metric because it tracks consumer behavior instead of their intentions.

“By combining relationship growth and behavior, banks and credit unions can calculate a metric that more accurately captures customer loyalty and, more importantly, helps make actionable management decisions,” Shevlin said.

Additionally, Aite said its new metric reveals four factors that drive customer relationship and referral growth: Engagement with one's financial life, satisfaction with debit card rewards program, mobile channel affinity and social media connections.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.