Treasury Retail Program Review Customer Experience Qualitative Research

Customer Experience Qualitative Bulletin Board

Discussion Guide

October 27, 2015

Internal name for boards: Customer Experience Qualitative Research

Participant Name: Customer Experience Discussion

Study Participants for Four Boards (Recruit 20 for 15 participants per group):

1. TreasuryDirect Customers with a mix of those who have purchased and own savings bonds and Treasury securities. Any age group.

2. Savings bond current owners who have never used TreasuryDirect. Any age group.

3. People who do not currently own any savings bonds or other Treasury securities – age 21 to 40.

4. People who do not currently own any savings bonds or other Treasury securities –age 41 to 70.

Dates of Boards: December 1 and 2 (anticipated); boards will run for 2 days with two sessions per day (4 to 6 questions per session)

Study Objective: Explore customer needs and wants around the customer experience, including how customers prefer to initiate and receive support services. This will include exploring a range of experiences from providing complete customer service, to customer self-sufficiency, or a range of customer service interactions tailored to particular products.

Discussion Guide Outline:

1. Getting to know you and background on savings and online usage/habits

2. Purchasing Treasury products for participants who own them, or on savings accounts products for those that do not own Treasury securities

3. Current and ideal customer experience scenarios

4. Product Redemption

Introduction and Expectations

[POST TIME: DAY ONE @ 5AM EDT]

1. INTRODUCTION & EXPECTATIONS: PLEASE READ IN FULL FOR IMPORTANT DETAILS!

Hello, and welcome to our online discussion. My name is Julie, and I am the moderator for our session. My colleague Karolyn will also be moderating. Thank you for joining us.

Each morning, we will post the discussion questions for the day. You are expected to log on at least twice per day, although you are welcome to log on more frequently. I will post the day’s set of questions at approximately 5 AM.

Sign in at least 2 times a day – morning and then late afternoon or early evening, at your convenience. There is no limit on the number of times you can visit the board each day.

As you move through the questions, please keep in mind that we will be posting replies and follow-up questions for you, and that other participants may also do so. In addition to interacting with me, the moderator, it would be great to have as much discussion as possible between participants. Please feel free to comment on your fellow participants’ posts or ask them any questions that come to mind.

Because of the on-going interaction of this online discussion, it is important to keep an eye out for new posts and also to remember that you can go back and revisit earlier questions at any time if you would like to add more detail to your answer.

Day 1, Section 1: GETTING TO KNOW YOU AND BACKGROUD ON SAVINGS AND ONLINE USAGE

GOAL: Introductions and background on savings and online usage/habits

[POST TIME: DAY 1 @ 5:01AM EDT]

We’re going to start off with some general questions, and then we’ll get more specific as we go along. I’d like you to tell me about yourself. You can share anything you think is important to help me to get know you better.

Please tell me a bit about …

1. Your occupation and/or interests

2. Who lives in your household with you?

3. Let’s talk about savings – what are you saving for now, if anything? Are these for short or long-term needs or both?

4. How often do you search the Internet for information online about saving and investing, if at all?

5. If you were looking online for financial information, which of the following websites would you use? SELECT ALL THAT APPLY

1. Your own banking and investing financial institutions

2. News sites such as Bloomberg, CNN, etc.

3. Other financial institutions (banks, credit unions, investment firms, etc.)

4. U.S. government websites such as Treasury.gov, TreasuryDirect.gov, or MyMoney.gov

5. Other ___________________________________________________

6. I don’t look online for financial information [EXCLUSIVE]

6. What kinds of tools or methods do you currently use, if any, to manage your own finances? These could be Excel spreadsheets, websites, other software and so on. Please describe.

Thanks for your participation this morning. You may continue to the next series of questions now or this afternoon. In either case, please log in again in the afternoon/evening.

Day 1, Section 2: PURCHASING TREASURY PRODUCTS

GOAL: Gather information on purchasing Treasury products for participants who own them, or on savings accounts products for those that do not own Treasury securities.

[POST TIME: DAY 1 @ 5:01 AM EDT]

ASK EVERYONE QUESTIONS 7 TO 14

7. What are the key things that are important to you when you’re opening an account for saving money?

8. Describe how a new saving account opening would take place in your ideal world. Please describe the process thoroughly as you envision it.

9. If you opened a savings account online, how would you transfer funds to it initially?

10. How would you like to add money to the account in the future?

11. How do you prefer to interact for customer service for financial services?

12. How important it is to you to be able to speak to someone via online chat or on the telephone?

13. How important is it to you to be able to speak with someone in person?

14. How important is it to you to be able to complete your transactions without speaking to a person?

15. What are the instances where you prefer to speak with someone versus preferring to conduct transactions on your own?

16. Can you think of anything else that would add to the service experience?

TREASURYDIRECT CUSTOMERS (GROUP 1) QUESTIONS 15 TO 17

17. How often do you visit the TreasuryDirect website for any reason?

18. When was the last time you purchased savings bonds or Treasury securities through TreasuryDirect?

19. How would you most like to purchase savings bonds or Treasury securities?

ASK SAVINGS BONDS (GROUP 2) QUESTIONS 18 TO 21

20. When was the last time you purchased savings bonds?

21. Have you ever heard of TreasuryDirect?

22. IF YES, ASK: Why haven’t you used TreasuryDirect?

23. How would you most like to purchase savings bonds or Treasury securities?

ASK GROUPS 3 AND 4 QUESTIONS 22 TO 23

24. Thinking about accounts you would use to save money, how do you prefer to open an account?

25. Have you ever opened a savings or investing type of account online?

IF YES ASK:

1. Please describe the type of account and the account opening.

2. What did you like about this process?

3. What could be improved about the process

Thanks so much for your participation today! We’ve really enjoyed reading your responses and getting to know you. Please log in tomorrow morning (after 5am EDT) and finish the next section of questions by noon at the latest. Thank you very much!

Day 2, Section 3: CUSTOMER SERVICE

GOAL: Gather reactions current and ideal customer service scenarios.

[POST TIME: DAY 2 @ 5:00 AM EDT]

Welcome back! Today we’re going to discuss customer service.

ASK EVERYONE QUESTIONS 24 TO 30

26. Describe the elements of the best customer service scenario in your mind.

27. How do you prefer to interact with a financial institution? Please select all that apply.

1. Text messages

2. Email

3. Online chat

4. Telephone

5. Face-to-face

6. Via Apps (applications on your smart phone)

28. Please elaborate on your previous response about interacting with a financial institution for a savings type account.

29. Thinking about a savings account that you’re using for medium to long-term savings, how often would you want to receive information from the financial institution? Why did you give this response?

30. Some people said they want frequent communications such as weekly or more, while others only want to receive quarterly statements for medium or long-term savings, because they want to leave that money growing in a savings account and don’t need to think about it too often. Where do you put yourself?

31. Some people prefer to be self-sufficient and be able to do everything themselves online while others prefer to have more contact and assistance. Where would you put yourself on a scale of 1 to 5?

1 2 3 4 5

Self-sufficient / Prefer contact &

Do everything myself Assistance

32. Why did you pick that answer?

TREASURYDIRECT CUSTOMERS (GROUP 1) QUESTIONS 31 TO 33

33. What are the main things you do on the TreasuryDirect website?

34. What do you wish you could do more easily on TreasuryDirect?

35. Have you ever had a problem with the TreasuryDirect website?

1. IF YES: Please describe how you resolved it.

2. IF NO: What are the first steps you would take if you had a problem with TreasuryDirect and how would you prefer to handle it?

ASK SAVINGS BONDS (GROUP 2) QUESTION 34

36. Have you ever had a problem with your savings bonds?

1. IF YES: Please describe how you resolved it.

2. IF NO: What are the first steps you would take if you had a problem with your savings bonds? How would you prefer to handle it?

ASK GROUPS 3 AND 4 QUESTION 35

37. Have you ever had a problem with any of your current savings accounts?

1. IF YES: Please describe how you resolved it.

2. IF NO: What are the first steps you would take if you had a problem with your account? How would you prefer to handle it?

Thanks so much for your participation so far today! You may continue to the next series of questions now or this afternoon. In either case, please log in again in the afternoon/evening.

Day 2, Section 4: PRODUCT REDEMPTION

GOAL: To evaluate product redemption customer service.

[POST TIME: DAY 2 @ 5:01 AM EDT]

This is the final series of questions. Thank you so much for your thoughtful responses so far.

ASK EVERYONE QUESTION 36

38. Describe the process that would work best for you in terms of redeeming a savings type of account that has a maturity date.

TREASURYDIRECT CUSTOMERS (GROUP 1) QUESTIONS 37 TO 39

39. Have you redeemed any savings bonds or securities on the TreasuryDirect website? Please describe?

40. How would you like to redeem savings bonds or securities on TreasuryDirect ideally?

41. Have you ever encountered any difficulties with redeeming savings bonds or securities? If you have, please describe.

ASK SAVINGS BONDS (GROUP 2) QUESTION 40

42. Have you ever had a problem redeeming your savings bonds?

1. IF YES: Please describe how you resolved it.

2. IF NO: What are the first steps you would take if you had a problem with your savings bonds? How would you prefer to handle it?

ASK GROUPS 3 AND 4 QUESTION 41

43. Have you ever had a problem with redeeming any of your current savings accounts such as CD’s (certificates of deposits)? Please describe.

ASK EVERYONE QUESTIONS 42 TO END

44. Have you heard of myRA (my Retirement Account)?

1. Yes

2. No

45. IF YES: Where did you hear about it?

46. IF YES: What have you heard about myRA?

47. One of the responsibilities of the U.S. Department of the Treasury is to offer ways for Americans to save money. What is your reaction to this?

48. Please write any final comments you have about the topics we’ve been discussing.

Thank you so much for your time these last few days. You input has been extremely valuable.

You will receive an email from XXX with a $75 incentive within the next week or two. If you have any questions you may contact ______________________.

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