Large banks scoring better on customer satisfaction.

The banking industry's customer satisfaction scores are on an upswing, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). The reason is that the CEOs of the nation's largest banks, which this survey covers, are focused these days more on their retail clients and less on mergers and integration issues.

The ACSI is a broad-based satisfaction study conducted under the aegis of the University of Michigan. This study looks at satisfaction levels across virtually all consumer retail categories and expresses comparative results on a percentile basis, where 100 is perfect. The survey includes only the very largest banks, such as Bank of America, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Bank One and a few others. Smaller bank's clients are not surveyed, but comparisons can be made with the FCSI (Financial Client Satisfaction Index) surveys done by community banks. The FCSI is a service provided by the ABA. (See www.clientsatisfaction.com).

Small banks generally score higher

Interestingly, the comparisons highlight some key strategic issues for community banks. Overall, the average score among large banks in the ACSI study is 76 (base = 100). The overall average among smaller banks in the ABA FCSI study is 87 (5.2 on a 6 point scale for "overall satisfaction"). Although the methodologies differ, it remains clear that smaller banks achieve higher satisfaction scores. This has largely to do with the fact that the key factors driving satisfaction are the day-to-day, people-to-people service protocols, which have always remained the focus of smaller banks.

The larger banks' scores are returning to the levels they achieved prior to the merger "boom" of the late 1990s. During this period, large bank managers were distracted by both the merger integration challenges and a misguided notion that Internet banking would somehow replace live bankers, Today, CEOs like Jamie Dimon (Bank One), Ken Lewis (Bank of America), and others am very engaged in improving customer satisfaction scores as a way to achieve greater customer retention and profitability. According to articles in recent banking industry publications, including the American Banker, this top management focus has led to better satisfaction scores as large banks reinstate at the branch level customer-focused programs like mystery shoppers, teller empowerment programs, internal satisfaction measurement programs and other grassroots initiatives. Gwynne Whitley, director of corporate customer service excellence at Wachovia, credits her bank's top score on the emphasis her boss, CEO G. Kennedy Thompson, places on customer satisfaction.

Other large banks are also improving their satisfactions scores by returning to the basics of customer service. And, although smaller community banks have never lost this focus and today enjoy a competitive advantage stemming from closeness with their clients, they must not become complacent. It is easy to get distracted with required initiatives such as the new Check 21 process changes, the FACT Act and other important initiatives.

One way to stay oriented on clients is to put in place a standard, repeatable survey that shows you customer satisfaction scores on a quarterly basis. This can be done through a simple statement-stuffer questionnaire. Your goal should be to monitor on as close to a real-time basis as possible how well your team is satisfying your clients.