Most of you will have probably banked with the same provider for most of, if not all of your lives. But have you stayed with them because they offer great interest rates and exceptional customer service? Or is it simply too much hassle to bother switching?
According to the latest UK Customer Satisfaction Index (UKCSI), banking is the only sector in the economy that has failed to improve its rating for customer satisfaction since July 2015.
This is a particularly worrying statistic when you take into consideration the recent news that interest rates are going to be stuck at rock bottom for the foreseeable future. It’s times like these that we could all use a bit of compassionate customer service.
So how is the banking sector getting it so wrong?
You need great frontline staff
10% of 10,000 survey respondents said that they experienced a problem with their bank within the last 6 months.
Out of that 10% an extremely worrying 54% cited their complaints to be related to either staff competence or staff attitude. So it would seem that one of the issues the banking sector has is with their frontline staff.
Regardless of how good your product is, if your frontline staff don’t respect the importance of a positive customer experience then it will affect the entire reputation of your brand.
Terrible service will mean you're very unlikely to revisit a brand no matter how good the product is. The UKCSI report has proven that this poor customer experience is driving customers to switch banks too. Those banks with lower than average customer service lost roughly 10,000 customers over the same period in which other banks were gaining 20,000 new customers.
Frontline staff, especially in the banking sector, need to be prepared for dealing with complaints, problems and the unexpected. They need to understand how the way they deal with these situations impacts a customer and moulds their opinion of a brand.
Interest rates might be out of their hands, but the traits needed in frontline staff such as a cool head, empathy and initiative all need to be instilled and practiced from day one.
You Need to Listen, then take action
Nearly a quarter of the people who experienced a problem with their bank didn’t report it, and the reason for not reporting it for about half of them was because they “didn’t think their complaint would make a difference.”
This should be extremely worrying to hear if you’re a bank.
Receiving bad feedback is far more valuable than not receiving any. It just goes to show that if you fail to take notice of the Voice of the Customer you can end up losing that voice altogether.
If you’re going to give customers the option for feedback but then refuse to do anything about it then what’s the point in asking in the first place? It’s better to not ask at all than ask and not take any action.
Voice of the Customer programmes are important because they provide you with insights into where your customer experience is excelling or failing. Whereas the banking sector seems to be making the all too common mistake of assuming that they know what their problems are without listening to their customers.
You can’t be complacent
Aside from public services, banking has the highest percentage of customers who have used the same service for more than 20 years.
Therefore there seems to be a distinct lack of competition within the banking sector, which is often a key driver for great customer experience. Just look at retail fashion brands, they have no choice but to offer an exceptional service because they know their customers will happily go elsewhere.
Great customer experience is about valuing your customers, not taking them for granted. They may not leave you but that certainly doesn’t mean they’re happy.
The Future is Competitive
Thankfully the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to make switching banks easier.
This means that banks such as Nationwide, who are the highest scoring bank for customer satisfaction, could face a significant advantage over their competitors unless things change.
Whether they like it or not, it seems as though banks are going to be forced to improve their customer experience if they’re going to start climbing back up the customer satisfaction rankings and back into their customer's hearts.
The sooner they have to start fighting for their customers, the better.
To help you out we created the 'Six Top Tips For Employee Engagement In The Contact Centre' where we highlight the most common complaints made by Contact Centre Agents and the best tips to help you stay on top of your game!
