The e-mail runaround: Two recently released reports say that's what many customers encounter when they send their bank an e-mail. All too often, according to research by the Ipswich, Mass. Consulting firm Customer Respect Group and Keynote Systems, a San Mateo, Calif., consulting firm, customer queries end up in e-mail oblivion.
In its study of 72 North American firms, Customer Respect found that 16% of all customer e-mails to financial services firms go unanswered, and 43% are not answered within the 24-hour period that is considered the benchmark for good service.
Of the 57% of queries that were answered within that 24 hours, the number of responses considered to be very helpful to the customer fell to 51%, down from the 66% the survey reported last year.
"Financial institutions want to get you online because it's cheaper and more efficient," says Terry Golesworthy, president of Customer Respect. "Yet if [financial institutions] don't respond to e-mails, it doesn't help with trust and transparency. It is counterproductive."
On speed of response, savings institutions fared the best in the Customer Respect survey, sending replies within 24 hours in 100% of the cases. Canadian banks replied to 75% of e-mails in the time period, and Web financials came in at 72%. Diversified financials did so 50% of the time, commercial banks, 48%, and credit card companies only 8%.
In the war for talent, experts say, performing well in this kind of survey can help attract candidates. »more
"There's an invitation put out by financial services to communicate with them," says Golesworthy. "People have taken them up on that. But [institutions] haven't learned how to work with that volume."
Companies that have built online platforms from the ground up, as opposed to jury-rigging solutions, tend to respond better to booming volume, Golesworthy says. "If it's a system held together with rubber bands, they are going to snap when the volume goes up," he says.
On the bright side, the survey suggests that companies have made themselves more accessible to consumers online. For example, 83% of financial Web sites use forms to interact with customers, rather than just listing an e-mail address. That's up from 67% a year ago, according to the study. Consumers are more likely to respond to forms rather than an e-mail address, Golesworthy says.
According to Keynote's study, 13% of customers say it takes too long to receive an e-mail response. While that's down from 17% in 2003, it's still not good enough, concludes Bonny Brown, director of research at Keynote.
"Banks are getting the message that they have to improve customer support. But we are still seeing a lot of frustrations," she says.
The stakes are high, Brown adds, as customers may embrace or jettison their financial institution based on their experience online alone. "How well the site is supporting people turns out to be very important in terms of holding customers, driving loyalty and driving brand," Brown says.
More Articles in This Issue
» HOW NOT TO KEEP THE CUSTOMER WAITING Customers at a few banks in the U.S. and U.K. are now being watched in ways they may have never imagined. »more
»
5 BUSINESS CONTINUITY LESSONS AS TAUGHT BY KATRINA
Sudden disaster strikes your bank and you lose all electricity, communications and contact with your own employees. What steps do you take to assure that business can continue?
»more
»
'TOP BANKING EMPLOYERS' GUIDE TURNS COMPANIES INSIDE OUT SunTrust Bank is known for its "gobs of girls" and "happy, shiny people" and Citigroup employees have "super superiors" but "live in a box." Such are among the insider reports in the just-published Vault Guide to the Top 50 Banking Employers, 2006 Edition. »more
»
RANDOM NOTES The "scramble" to provide corporate clients distributed capture solutions will result in early adopting institutions' "consolidation of billions and billions of dollars in assets," predicted Dave Youngerman, president of Panini North America, in conversation at BAI's office in mid-September. »more
