One Marketing Survey That Was Worth a Look

I walked to the local Citibank branch a block away and conducted a straightforward deposit transaction with the teller. Citi promptly sent an email survey (right).

First take: another marketing survey for the benefit of a large corporation. Delete.

Second take: hasn't everyone--and the banks especially--told us never to click on e-mail links or open attachments? The risk of identify theft and crooks trying to steal our money is very high. Press doubly hard on Delete.

Third take: hold on a second. That small neighborhood branch has been there for over 40 years. We opened an account with Glendale Federal, which was acquired by Cal Fed, then Citi. The big banks are always looking for ways to cut costs, and I definitely want to keep that branch open.

After carefully screening where the email came from and examining the marketing feedback site (that didn't ask for personal information), I answered the questions, giving the teller mostly 10's and a few 9's just to imply that I thought about the questions. I also typed in a comment about how friendly, efficient, and accurate she was.

Emails from "financial institutions" are risky because of the probability of fraud; this is the rare one that was worth a look.