Just as there is a Starbucks on every street corner in Manhattan, banks are popping up on virtually every street as well which means it would be wise for banks to learn a strategy or two with regards to how to keep customers coming back – especially with banks barely being able to give any interest on savings account or offer incentives for customers to invest their money.
One bank that appears to be losing out to other leaders like Chase and PNC (News - Alert) Bank is surprisingly Bank of America, which was recently rated worst in the latest customer satisfaction ranking of major banks in Florida, according to a study by J. D. Power and Associates. Reports state that PNC scored 794 out of 1,000 points on the ranking, followed by Chase with 785 and by BB&T and Citibank with 783. Bank of America scored lowest of the banks studied with 740 points.
Bank of America might be at the bottom of the totem pole in Florida when it comes to successful customer engagement, but most Florida banks were up with regards to customer satisfaction as customer ranked Florida banks at 761 points, a better score than the nationwide average of 753 this year. While Florida banks are surpassing other states when it comes to satisfaction, they are still leaving their customers wanting more as the average score for satisfaction was down six points from 2011.
Now in its seventh year, the study asks customers to grade banks on six factors in their retail banking experience, including fees, account information, bank facilities and problem resolution. It surveyed nearly 52,000 people nationwide in January and February to compile results. All over the country research found that customers might be slightly more satisfied with their banks this year than last, but are less satisfied with things like bank fees in particular.
"The negative reaction to fees reflects customers' irritation about paying for something they didn't have to pay for in the past," said Michael Beird, director of banking services at J.D. Power and Associates said in a statement. Customers also don't fully understand what they receive in return for new or higher maintenance fees, said Beird.
When it comes to customer engagement no company understands the importance of this process more than ACCENT Marketing Services, a performance marketing company for brands that are passionate about keeping and growing customers. Specifically, ACCENT encourages its clients to adopt its Continuous Engagement Improvement Process, which couples ACCENT’s resources with a data-driven approach to help brands get the most out of their customer relationships. As explained by ACCENT officials, companies ought to go through five steps when trying to reach their customers: listen, learn, connect, influence and optimize. Each stage is centered upon making each customer interaction more intelligent and engaging than the last, regardless of the interaction channel.
Recently, ACCENT’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Searcy sat down with TMCnet to discuss the five stages of the customer engagement process. To access any of the previous podcasts, visit the “Featured Podcast” library on the Customer Engagement Channel homepage.
Edited by Jamie Epstein