Study Shows Increasing Need for Banks to Improve Customer Communications to Build Trust and Relationships
TROY, N.Y., July 25, 2011 - Pitney Bowes Business Insight, a global leader in customer data, analytics and communication software and services, today announced a study revealing that 57 percent of consumers in the U.S. and the UK trust their banks overall.
According to the study, trust in the marketing communications of a service provider determines up to 23 percent of a customer’s overall trust in the provider. Within the financial services industry, less than half (49%) of study respondents trust communications they receive from their bank.
The research, conducted by the ESCP Europe Business School in partnership with Pitney Bowes Business Insight, demonstrates how important it is for banks to deliver customer-centric communications across multiple channels in order to build levels of trust. Study results include:
- Only 32 percent of respondents considered that their banks were doing a good job implementing policies that favor the customer’s best interest.
- Less than half (41 percent) of banking customers agree or strongly agree that if they share their problems with the employees, they feel they would respond caringly.
- 53 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with their direct and indirect experience (reputation, advocacy and word-of-mouth) with their banks.
- 64 percent of respondents said they trust self-service technologies (e.g. ATM, e-commerce platforms, and online accounts).
“This study reveals the importance of building relationships with customers and how trust in an organization’s communications and frontline employees play a significant role,” said David Newberry, Chief Marketing Officer of Pitney Bowes Business Insight. “The financial services industry can improve their relationships with customers by ensuring that every customer touch point is accurate and relevant to the needs of each individual. The customer experience must consistently be the top priority.”
Of the categories for improving customer trust, respondents recommended that improved customer communications would have the greatest impact. Specifically, consumers cited that better quality, clarity, transparency, and advanced information specific to their accounts would be most helpful in communications from their bank.
To meet these recommendations and continue building relationships with customers, Pitney Bowes Business Insight offers a wide set of solutions for the financial services industry, including strong customer communications management programs that drive businesses to be more customer-centric, effective, efficient and profitable. Pitney Bowes Business Insight has helped leading organizations in the financial sector such as Bank of America, AmTrust Bank and Bank J. Van Breda Company address their communications challenges and build lifetime customer relationships.
The ESCP group interviewed 20 senior marketers in order to gain a deeper understanding of the importance that organizations place on customer trust, the benefits they are looking for, the way they measure trust and the management policies they put in place to influence it. In addition, ESCP issued an online consumer survey of 1,000 UK and 1,000 U.S. residents.
About Pitney Bowes Business Insight
Pitney Bowes Business Insight is a software and services company that provides solutions to help organizations acquire, serve and grow relationships with customers and citizens. These solutions enable lifetime customer relationships by integrating data management, location intelligence, sophisticated predictive analytics, rules-based decision making and cross-channel customer interaction management to increase the value of every customer communication while also delivering operational efficiencies.
Pitney Bowes Business Insight is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a customer communications management technology leader. For more information, please visit www.pbinsight.com and www.pb.com.