Banks in Canada historically use TV, but just think what is possible if they got on radio with a catchy jingle …. why get a mortgage anywhere else. Oh the possibilities and of course the first in wins! Now if only the telephone prompts could direct me to the person in charge of “growing market share”
The banking sector needs to buff up its image and may be a ripe target for the radio industry. New J.D. Power research shows not only is the banking industry’s reputation still suffering from the Great Recession but few customers are bothering to shop around.
Paul McAdam, senior director of Banking Intelligence at J.D. Power, says during the past decade banks have improved their service quality and made it easier for customers to access and manage their money. But that message doesn’t seem to be getting through. “Customer satisfaction and convenience have improved, but far too many customers have not re-established the trust and developed the deeper levels of connection required to improve the industry’s reputation,” McAdam says.
The J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study finds that in the 10 years since the financial crisis, bank reputations have declined rather than improved with the economy. When asked if banks have a good reputation or are customer-driven, Americans gave banks scores that are lower in 2019 than in 2009. There is the thinnest of silver linings: overall customer satisfaction with retail banks is 807 on a 1,000-point scale—up just one point from 2018.
J.D. Power theorizes this could be because as online and mobile banking have improved, there’s been a “trade-off” for banks which now have fewer easy customer relations-building interactions that allow them to provide financial advice and also strengthen their bond with people using their services.
At the same time, banks are having a harder time organically attracting new business. Only 4% of customers switched banks in the past year, according to the survey. Radio ad buys could help change that trend. Only two banks made Media Monitors’ list of 2018’s top radio advertisers: Capital One at No. 43 and Wells Fargo at No. 53.
The annual survey also turned up overall satisfaction levels continue to be plagued by unresolved issues, most notably the ordeal that customers must go through when resolving a problem and using telephone customer service. The survey shows satisfaction scores declined for online assisted customer service—things like online chat, email or social media channels. Of all the delivery channels measured in the study, only ATM increased in customer satisfaction, according to J.D. Power. “Failing to execute on the basics have negative effects on reputation,” the report says. “Customers have long memories and their brand image ratings for bank reputation decline dramatically when they experience problems. Reputation declines further when customers perceive that problems are unresolved or resolved in a manner put the bank’s interests ahead of theirs.”
For customers aged 40 and under, there’s also a belief bigger banks are better. That could be because those banks—including Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, PNC Bank, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo—have been quicker digital adopters and that’s critical for younger consumers. In 2009, J.D. Power notes mobile banking customer adoption was “minimal” while today a majority (53%) of retail banking customers uses mobile services. “Looking 10 years into the future, when digital banking will be the norm for nearly all customers, retail banks will be required to be unique by scale or unique by strategy,” McAdam predicts.
The study is based on responses from more than 84,000 retail banking customers of more than 200 of the largest banks in the U.S. It was fielded in quarterly waves from April 2018 through February 2019.