Enhanced customer
service and longer opening hours may be wasted on potential account
switchers, who now favour cash incentives and value for money,
according to a report from pollsters YouGov.
Respondents were asked
what banks would have to offer before they would consider a change
of provider. ‘Better value for money’ (50%) and ‘[lower] bank
charges’ (49%) the topped the poll, leaving ‘customer
services’ (42%) trailing in third.
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Furthermore, ‘longer or
more convenient bank opening hours’ ranked lowly in reasons to
change bank providers, with only 29% of consumers valuing this
incentive over the others.
While 46% of consumers
said that the quality of customer service had become more important
to them over the past two years, 60% said that the quality of
internet banking services was a more important factor in
determining their choice of bank.
Todd Davies, Financial
Services consulting director at YouGov, said:
“Consumers want good
telephone banking services and websites that make it easy to manage
their finances. For Metro Bank, the prospect of great service in
branch along with other features such as longer opening hours has
worked in attracting customers in their first few
months.
“However, the fact remains, most
consumers are rate and fee sensitive and it is these things that
continue to drive the selection of providers.”
