Online customer service from Britain’s banks has sunk to an all time low, according to the latest annual research published on CRM Today. Half of the banks surveyed were unable to answer a single one of ten basic customer questions asked via their websites. This is surprising given the growing numbers of customers utilising internet banking. As a result of this poor service, customers are turning to email or call centres for help. This migration to higher cost channels to find the answer themselves is likely to have a negative impact on the customer experience, as well as potentially increasing the cost to the bank of providing service.
Of those banks that provided the ability to email, they took an average of 22 hours to respond. Even the fastest response took 8 hours - a whole business day! The slowest response was 69 hours.
Only half the banks surveyed had Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) pages, and in many cases these were hidden away in obscure corners of their sites, rather than being easy to find. Perhaps bank website designers should read Jacob Nielsen’s definitive guides to website usability?
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