SA banks' customer satisfaction index improves
The banks measured were FNB, Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and Capitec. They were selected on the basis of market share. The massive sample size of over 16,000 customers benchmarked Capitec and FNB as leaders, with scores of 82.2 and 79.3 respectively, both significantly higher than the average SAcsi score of 76.3 out of 100.
The only real change in this year's banking industry benchmark is the turn-around success of Absa. The bank showed an improvement of 2.4 points. Nedbank's overall score was 74.8 whilst Standard Bank this year has fallen to the bottom of the log with an overall SAcsi score of 73.7 out of 100.
Prof. Adré Schreuder, founder of SAcsi and CEO of Consulta Research, says that Absa's performance has improved across all of the contributors to the SAcsi. In addition, Absa's net promoter score has improved from 8% to 15%.
Tough competition
There is a correlation between SAcsi scores and business performance, which has been proven over a number of years through the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). "Based on the improvement in the SAcsi score and NPS, Absa is likely to report greater customer acquisition and loyalty, as well as a larger share of wallet and ultimately even better financial performance. But competition will be tough and Absa still has a long way to go to catch up with Capitec and FNB," says Prof. Schreuder.
The move away from the traditional banking environment to a greater reliance on electronic channels has an effect on satisfaction, as digital banking creates less room for human error. "It is important to remember that customer expectation is influenced by each customer's individual experiences of consistency in service delivery as well as the promises made by competitors," explains Prof. Schreuder.
The SAcsi also measured satisfaction with specific retail banking channels. In terms of ATMs, the five banks maintained similar scores to last year at 79.7 out of 100. Nedbank and Absa have shown an upward movement.
When it comes to branches, Capitec is seen as the leader in customer satisfaction, although Nedbank's scored improved by 3.6% on last year.
Banking apps
The area of banking apps has shown the greatest upward movement, with all banks increasing their satisfaction scores for banking apps bar Nedbank, which maintained its position from last year. FNB and Standard Bank both recorded higher scores than last year, with FNB named as the leader in this segment.
FNB is still the leader in satisfaction with cell phone banking, although the gap seems to be closing. FNB was also the only bank to score above the industry average for online banking. Absa and Capitec improved on last year's satisfaction scores.
The SAcsi examines a number of areas to obtain an overall score, including customer expectation, customer loyalty, perceived value and complaints. "Expectations in retail banking amongst FNB customers have started to reach a stable level. On the contrary, all the other banks' customer expectations are slightly higher this year," says Prof. Schreuder.
Capitec and FNB were the best performers in the field of perceived quality and exceeded their customers' expectations. In this SAcsi measure ABSA was again the only bank that showed progress in their score, improving by two index points.
Perceived value
Capitec is a clear leader in the area of perceived value, beating the average by 12 points. "Capitec is giving their customers what they expect (value-for-money banking), which means they understand their target customer segment very well," explains Prof. Schreuder. FNB's perceived value is higher than the industry average. Absa has improved perceived value amongst customers by a significant margin.
Customers of South African banks still have high levels of complaints, with the industry average at 22% of customers. "This means that almost one fifth of banking customers complain on various forums," says Prof. Schreuder. "It follows that effective problem handling is an important element of customer satisfaction. This year, we see that Capitec has the lowest level of complaints and the highest level of problem resolution, while the other four banks are on a par."
