It’s clear the Finance Royal Commission has scared bank customers with the latest Roy Morgan research showing customer satisfaction had dropped ahead of the Commission from 82.3 per cent in January to 78.5 per cent in May, the lowest monthly satisfaction rate since May 2012.
This is still ahead of the long-term average of 74 per cent since 2001, and well up on the 60 per cent recorded in January of that year.
The study also highlighted a shift in customers who were previously satisfied, and now are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. This portion has increased from 13.1 per cent in January to 15.3 per cent in May.
One in five bank customers (21.5 per cent) are now now either dissatisfied with their bank or only neutral, as opposed to 17.7 per cent of customers in January this year, which poses a threat to customer retention.
The survey showed that 52.2 per cent of customers were highly likely to recommend their bank to others, a drop from 55.4 per cent prior to the Royal Commission.
Industry communications director, Norman Morris, said it wasn’t a surprising result given the level of negative publicity involving banks and the Royal Commission.
“Despite the declines, the current levels of satisfaction and advocacy remain above historic levels, but the potential impact of continued negative publicity represents a major of challenge for banks,” he said.
Apart from that, Morris said interest rates, fees and charges, customer experience, reliability, security and product offering also had a direct effect on customer satisfaction.
