Forbes.com have recently published the results to their annual online financial services study.
Since 2003, ForeSee results has partnered with Forbes.com to conduct a scientific study of customer satisfaction with online banking using a methodology that predicts the purchase of additional financial products, bank loyalty, use of the web channel over other, more costly channels, and other customer behaviours that translate to increased revenues and cost savings for banks.
Although this is a study conducted in the US, the results can probably be applied to the UK. This years results yielded the following key findings:
- Customer satisfaction with online banking is down year-on-year – however, compared with customers’ views on banking as a whole, it’s still a bright spot in the industry.
- Improving the convenience of online banking, the simplicity of the website, and the usefulness of the website will provide the greatest return on investment.
- Credit unions provide the most satisfying online experience.
- A satisfied online customer is a valuable, profitable customer – if financial services companies can get their online experience right, they’ll find their clients buy more of their products and are more likely to recommend the service to their friends. Therefore the investment can really pay off for the bank.
- Online bankers are multichannel customers – despite the convenience of online banking, these users still visit branches, require ATMs and call up their banks. However…
- Mobile banking penetration is still relatively low – all the top banks provide banking apps, but only a quarter of their customers are aware of them (2% up in a year). 49% of those who know about them use them, up from 16% last year, which is encouraging.
- Negative news impacts trust, but less so behaviour – more negative news about a bank means customers will trust it less.
- Customers want to connect with their banks – only a small percentage of customers don’t want their banks to get in touch with them in any way. Email is the most preferred method, followed by post.