Quebecers are value-driven: RBC Account Habits Poll

Quebecers look for value first (79 per cent), simplicity second (71 per cent), and convenience (63 per cent) third, when making everyday decisions. This is according to the 2007 RBC Account Habits Poll which surveyed bank account holders about day-to-day habits and preferences.

Poll respondents were given three definitions upon which to base their preferences: Simplicity - the quality of being easily understood or done; Convenience - freedom from effort or difficulty; and Value - the importance or usefulness of something. The RBC poll shows 39 per cent of Quebec bank account holders rank ’value’ as the most important factor in the making of everyday life decisions. When asked about specific scenarios, ’value’ is the most important principle for Quebecers when buying a home (57 per cent), investing (61 per cent), and retirement planning (47 per cent). Simplicity is an important principle for vacationing (39 per cent) and visiting with family and friends (53 per cent), while convenience is key for buying a car (44 per cent); grocery shopping (44 per cent) and banking (42 per cent).

“Part of the reason we do these polls is to better understand the mindset of consumers whether they be in Quebec or elsewhere,” said Danielle Coutlée, manager, Sales Strategy and Support. “What we learned will help us further tailor products and services accordingly.”

Further exploring the notion of simplicity, six in 10 Quebecers (57 per cent) have taken actions to simplify their life recently and half have recently taken measures to simplify their lives financially (52 per cent). The most popular course of action was making better, cheaper, purchasing decisions (14 per cent). This was followed by starting to save money (10 per cent); online banking (nine per cent); and consolidating bank accounts (seven per cent).

Some other highlights from the poll:

When it comes to recent efforts to simplify our lives, Quebecers are the most likely to stop worrying about the small stuff (17 per cent) or take a vacation (13 per cent), but the least likely to retire or quit work (four per cent).


Ninety-three per cent agreed they would “like to organize their life in simple ways”; 78 per cent agreed they “love all of the convenience today’s world offers”; 76 per cent affirmed “time is money”; and half think “life is just too complicated today.”
These are some of the findings of an RBC poll conducted by Ipsos Reid between April 5 and10, 2007. The online survey is based on a randomly selected representative sample of 2,270 adult Canadians with a bank account. With a representative sample of this size, the results are considered accurate to within ± 2.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire adult Canadian population been polled. For Quebec, the sample size was 559 and the results are considered accurate to within ± 4.1 per cent. These data were statistically weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/sex composition reflects that of the actual Canadian population according to the 2001 Census data.