"Winning through customer experience", the 2014 Global Consumer Banking Survey by Ernst & Young (EY) shows that confidence in the banking industry is on the rise and customers have high trust in their primary financial services provider. Ellie Chambers takes a closer look at the survey’s findings
The EY survey, including responses from 32,000 retail banking customers across
43 countries, found that 33% of customers had gained confidence in the last year. Only 19% had lost confidence, compared to 40% in the last survey.
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While EY admits this could be down to a gradual restoration of confidence lost in the global financial crisis, it welcomes the positive sentiment.
However, this does not mean banks can afford to rest on their laurels – while 60% of customers do not have definite plans to open or close any accounts during the next year, this does not guarantee their loyalty.
Of those who definitely intend to maintain their current relationships with financial providers, 22% said that all financial service companies are the same and 17% said that it was too difficult or time consuming to change.
If customers are only staying with their banks because they think they have little to gain by moving, their banks may find that customers who are offered an attractive deal by a competitor will have no qualms about accepting it.
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By GlobalDataImproving customer experience
EY says that improving customer experience is key in taking advantage of the renewed confidence in the banking industry to push for greater growth.
Satisfied customers are more likely to open new accounts at their current primary financial provider, with the survey finding that 44% of "advocates" – those who are very likely to recommend their provider – opened a new account or service in the last year.
Additionally, while overall financial stability was the top reason for customers’ "complete trust" in their primary bank, the second most common response was "the way I am treated," followed closely by other aspects of customer experience such as communications, quality of advice and complaint handling.
To improve customer experience, the survey picks out five areas based on where respondents wanted to see improvements: transparency of fees and simplicity of offers and communication, omni-channel experience, more and better advice, greater use of data and digital channels to empower customers and enhanced problem resolution experience.
The need to make banking simple and clear is a pressing one – this is one of the most sought after benefits for customers and those who switched providers last year also cited rates and fees as an extremely important reason for closing accounts.
Customers said they valued easy access to branches and ATMs, excellent online banking features, ease of conducting frequent banking transactions and quickly handling requests.
As regards more and better advice, customers told EY that they would be happy to increase their range of financial products with a bank that helped them develop their financial plans and goals.
In terms of omni-channel, customers were interested in receiving financial advice in a variety of ways, with 60% interested in receiving it in branch, 50% by phone with someone they know from the branch during working hours, 49% through online financial management tools, 48% by phone with someone in a call center any day, any time and 31% by video chat from home and work.
Solving problems in a way that leaves customers satisfied is also one of the most important aspects of the banking relationship, as dissatisfaction leads to mistrust of the financial service provider.
Making it easy for customers to raise issues, equipping the front line to handle some problems and escalate others, explaining why the issue occurred, and following up to ensure resolution is complete are all important ways to improve customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
Increasingly, what was a differentiating factor for banks a few years ago is now the norm and expected by customers. For instance, while the first financial institutions to adopt mobile banking were seen as innovators, this is now seen as a basic service.
Traditional banks score poorly on both mobile and online banking compared to the competition – a serious matter considering that online banking is the second most common product a customer has at their primary financial provider.
With new competition in the form of mobile telephone services, technology companies and challenger banks, traditional financial service providers could be at risk of losing their status as primary providers if they do not properly take up the challenge of providing effective mobile and online platforms.
EY says that banks are poised for growth and well positioned to continue the recent momentum in building customer confidence. Focusing on the customer experience is paramount to establishing complete trust and, in turn, creating customer advocates who will both refer business and expand their own relationships.
