The financial sector shows a certain division in the market, just like last year. In the top 10 of the entire ranking, the sector is represented three times, taking home 3rd , 4th , and 7th place, but as a whole, the financial sector finds itself somewhere in the middle. The top three brands (Equa bank, Fio bank, Air Bank) stand out among the rest mainly thanks to their price-performance ratio, as all three banks beat the study’s average in this indicator by an impressive 20%.
When it comes to the intragroup comparison, the top 3 banks are ahead in the Personalization, Time and Effort, and Expectations pillars, but the entire sector is actually below the market average in the last two of them (by 1.3% and 0.6%). The underperformance in the Time and Effort pillar might be caused by regulatory burdens that are much heavier for banks compared to other industries, and by the banks’ complex organizational structures. Understandably, making improvements in this area might prove difficult for the traditional banks. Nevertheless, when a bank is preparing itself for a big change, a simple opportunity to improve another below-average pillar – Expectations – arises. Management of customer expectations is still underestimated, regardless of the potential it brings. The experience of the British Santander bank shows that clients are willing to accept a slower reaction time in exchange for predictability. A client who knows when the bank will send the required documents can plan around that accordingly, and that’s good enough for them. No need to have the documents tomorrow.
In general, we could say that the top three banks inspire the others to improve as well. This is supported by the fact that among the top 50 brands, 10 of them represent financial institutions. Most of them have moved up the ladder, which is not the case in the other sectors.
Raiffeisenbank has made incredibly noticeable progress, moving up by 53 places and scoring the 52nd spot. The bank has dramatically improved in all the observed metrics, with the biggest improvement in Resolution. The clients appreciate quick communication when an issue arises and, apart from the option to solve many things online, they also feel positively about communication over the phone or in person. Raiffeisen Raiffeisen stavební spořitelna follows closely, having jumped up by 56 places and ending up 67th , with an average improvement of 0.9 points. Obviously, Raiffeisen group has done a lot of work in customer experience management.
ING Bank has also made some impressive progress, moving up 45 places and scoring the 25th spot. The bank has shown improvement of at least 0.5 points in all pillars, with Personalization and Expectations improving the most. The bank actively manages customer expectations by holding investment seminars and conferences to educate their clients and explain what products they offer. This is followed by efforts in personalization – the bank tries to provide the clients with expert advice and help them make the best choice for their situation.
“I have a personal account with this bank. I know the employees at the office in our city by their first names and I am always happy to pay them a visit since they are always very accommodating.” (Moneta)
“I communicate with VZP regularly, always from home (where I work), and always online. They always respond within 24 hours and the employees are always helpful. I have only good things to say – this is how communication should work.” (VZP)
“I’ve been with this bank for forty years. I have always dealt with nice people doing a good job, whether we were talking about loans or just normal transactions. I had my personal consultant and I could use his services pretty much anytime I wanted, which I often took advantage of.” (Česká spořitelna)