E-Commerce News: Financial Services: Banking on Customer Satisfaction

Americans are mainly quite happy with the service at their banks, although they see some room for improvement. According to a survey by the American Society for Quality and Harris Interactive, two-thirds of those who had a problem were satisfied with how it was resolved.

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Most Americans rank the customer service at their financial institution as above average, but there is still room for improvement, according to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Society for Quality.

ASQ conducted the survey to identify areas of concern regarding customer service in financial services. The survey finds:

96 percent of adults rate the customer service at their financial institution as above average or average.
85 percent are very satisfied or satisfied with the products and services available.
89 percent of adults feel that it is easy to open a new account.
27 percent of adults have experienced a problem with their account in the past year.
About two-thirds (68 percent) of adults who experienced a problem are satisfied with the process to get the problem resolved.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index, banks have either maintained or gained in customer satisfaction each year since 1999, to where the industry is now at an all-time high of 78 (on a scale of 0-100). This is despite an overall decline of .4 percent in the ACSI to 74.9. The index is produced through a partnership with ASQ.

"It's likely that most Americans are receiving excellent customer service from their financial institutions because of the quality processes they have put into place to measure and improve customer satisfaction," said Mike Nichols, ASQ president and co-author of Six Sigma for Financial Services.

Room for Improvement

Nichols also stated that it is a fairly high defect rate for 27 percent of adults to have experienced a problem with their account in the past year. "This is a significant area for opportunity," he said. "With the help of quality tools, banks can improve operational processes, identify problems quickly and systematically and have fewer errors."

The survey found that 85 percent of adults are very satisfied or satisfied with their financial institution's accessibility, which includes location and hours of operation. According to Nichols, this may be because of significant increases in access available to customers such as online banking and weekend hours.