Banks still have a good deal of public relations mending ahead of them as customer loyalty and perception dipped for the fourth consecutive year, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ latest Retail Banking Satisfaction Study.
Overall satisfaction among retail banking customers averages 748 on a 1,000-point scale, a slight decrease from 749 a year ago.
The percentage of customers who said they would “definitely not” switch banks during the next 12 months has sunk to 34 percent, compared to 46 percent in the 2007 study.
The gap between large and small banks is significant, J.D. Power found. At smaller banks, 41 percent of customers said they “definitely will not” switch, compared with 32 percent at larger banks.
Poor customer service was the most common reason given for switching banks – cited by 37 percent of those who changed their primary bank in 2010.
“As retail banking customers become considerably less loyal, banks need to focus on getting the fundamentals right,” said Michael Beird, director of banking at J.D. Power and Associates. “Banks that get back to the basics-such as maintaining a clean branch and greeting customers upon entering-may help to alleviate some of the distress customers are experiencing and increase their overall satisfaction.”
High fees on products and services was the second most cited reason for changing banks, with 29 percent switching in 2010.
“The study also finds that customers may be highly satisfied even when they are charged bank fees, provided that they perceive they are receiving sufficient value in exchange,” J.D. Power said.
J.D. Power based its study on responses from 48,000 bank customers during an online survey in January and February of this year.
