The survey shows that while nine in ten banks make customer service a priority, only three in ten customers say that dealing with their bank is easy and pleasurable. The survey questioned 30 customer service managers from UK banks and 2,000 bank customers.
Two-thirds (66%) of consumers think their bank can do more for them; among the most popular improvements being “the bank understanding them better as a customer” (19%) and making more of available technology. Fifty-two per cent of consumers want a wider variety of online services, 32% want more mobile apps, and 31% want more personalised services.
Nic Merriman, Avanade UK CTO for Financial Services, said: “Although recognising their importance, banks appear to be underusing CRM and mobile technologies despite customer expectations — with too much fragmented marketing, too little use of mobile technology and a failure to offer personalised services, even though the technology to do all of this is already in place. UK banks need to match customer demand with the right technologies in order to stay ahead of their counterparts and compete effectively in a tough environment.
“A quarter of those surveyed want their primary retail bank to manage all their financial services, and one in six consumers said they would pay their bank to manage all of their utilities payments. Banks have real commercial opportunities within their reach.”