Opportunity is knocking for credit unions as a recent J.D. Powerand Associates study reveals that brand image matters most toconsumers when selecting a retail bank.

The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Retail Bank Shopping Studyfound that 36% of a shopper's selection decision is driven by thebank's brand image, while branch proximity (21%) and products andservices (14%) round out the major influences in consumers' finalbank selection.

“Some crucial aspects of a bank's brand image-such as perceivedfinancial stability and reliability-can be difficult for a bank toimprove, which negatively affect the bank's likelihood of beingselected,” said Michael Beird, director of the banking practice atJ.D. Power. “However, branch employees can positively impact abank's brand image by providing personal service, communicatingproactively and having a customer-driven focus. These three aspectscombined account for 15% of importance in the shopping process,which is even greater than the importance of bank products andservices.”