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E-mail customer service: savings banks are fast, direct banks are thorough
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More than half of the responses sent by savings banks are deficient
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Direct bank clients receive comprehensive advice and assistance
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Hamburg, Germany, September 28th, 2005 –
On the whole, savings bank clients are made to wait less time for an e-mail response from their bank than customers from other financial institutes. Almost three out of four savings banks (72 percent) in Germany answered customer e-mail queries within 24 hours. On average, they were quicker to respond than all other credit institutes (67 percent). These are the results of the recent e-mail response analysis "Credit institutes and e-mail customer service 2005" carried out by novomind AG and M&Oh Research Services. Direct banks, which allegedly focus more strongly on online support, were slower to react: test persons received an answer - e.g. to questions about credit plans or current interest rates - within 24 hours just 63 percent of the time. One in ten answers from direct banks was sent to test customers at least three days after the original request had been received. However, rapid reaction times alone are not enough to meet a customer’s service needs.
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The savings banks’ speed comes at a price: the response quality was unsatisfactory. Savings bank employees were able to answer just 43 percent of requests. On average, testers awarded savings banks just 37 of a possible 100 points for the quality of information contained in the response e-mail - four points below the average number awarded to the credit institutes as a whole. In comparison, the direct banks received an average of 53 points to achieve the best results overall and were able to resolve seven out of ten e-mail queries satisfactorily. The bank which came top in the test, NetBank (72.5 points) was the only credit institute to answer and resolve all e-mail questions sent to them. In fourth position, the best savings bank was the Hamburger Sparkasse with an over-average total of 63.5 points.
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Savings banks failed to provide customers with the level of detail they needed in their e-mail responses. 28 percent failed to respond at all or terminated the contact for no given reason. Sparkasse Frankfurt completely ignored 60 percent of the e-mails it received and left customers to look elsewhere for an answer to their questions. And over one in four e-mail answers from savings banks only partially resolved the initial question. Direct banks offered their customers significantly more information when answering their questions with test persons receiving a satisfactory response to their queries in 60 percent of cases.
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Savings banks are failing to provide enough detailed information.
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Too little information in an e-mail response usually means that the customer is forced unnecessarily to follow up his or her query. It therefore takes longer for the question to be resolved satisfactorily. Savings bank service staff get back to customers to clarify details of their questions four times more often than their direct bank counterparts. E-mail service from a savings bank takes an average of 2.1 days, whereas direct bank customers are made to wait just 1.7 days until they have received all the information they need.
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novomind AG is the leading provider of digital customer communication solutions enabling optimized processes and lower costs. novomind’s products and solutions offer future-oriented customer service, competent, personalized communication and boost customer administration to achieve a more rapid return on investment and long-term, sustainable customer loyalty. The product department’s portfolio includes e-mail management systems, as well as virtual customer services assistants and systems for interactive communication in real time. The novomind services department develops complex e-business applications, including scalable online shop solutions. Leading companies from across the market sectors - including Citibank, Bertelsmann Der Club, EnBW, Mexx, Otto and Travelocity, as well as public sector representatives such as the German Federal Ministry of Health and Social Security (BMGS) - have already successfully implemented novomind systems to boost customer loyalty, turnover and public relations.
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