Independent research carried out online by YouGov on behalf of the Building Societies Association in January shows that customers of building societies continued to receive market leading customer service throughout the pandemic. The results are more or less unchanged compared to the previous results in July 2020, which demonstrates that building societies have been able to maintain this high level of service despite the challenging conditions imposed on them due to the pandemic.

Across all seven areas, building societies outperformed banks and other financial service providers. The results show some significant differences between how building society customers view their provider compared to how bank customers do.

84% of building society customers said they would recommend their provider to friends and family, compared to just 71% of customers of banks or other providers. This is a 13 percentage point difference.

More than 4 in 5 (81%) of building society customers said they can trust their provider to act in their best interest, compared to just 69% of customers of banks and other providers – a 12 percentage point difference.

Customers were also asked if they agreed that their provider is an important part of the community in which it operates. Nearly three quarters (72%) of building society customers agreed, compared to just over half (51%) of bank customers.

Notes

Results are calculated by the BSA and excludes those who said ‘don’t know.’ Based on 400 building society customers and 1,300 customers of other financial service providers.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2059 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 8th - 11th January 2021. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).