An in-person customer satisfaction study, conducted in two different branches of a leading high-street banking provider in central London, has found that customers perceived that they waited for less time, had a superior arrival and welcome experience, and rated the branch higher overall where advanced customer journey management technology was implemented.
The report, which surveyed both business and personal customers, aimed to gauge customer satisfaction with the journey-enhancing technology and how this impacted on their general perspective of their customer experience within the branch. In the branch with customer journey management technology, both personal and business customers perceived their wait to be on average around 2 minutes less than their actual waiting time, as the environment made their wait more enjoyable and eliminated the friction of waiting in a line.
Furthermore, 68% of personal customers who experienced the customer journey management technology rated their arrival and welcome experience as 5-star, and 63% of those who experienced the technology rated the branch higher overall than the comparison branch. Staff were also in favour of the customer journey management technology, reporting that they enjoyed the ease of control it afforded them, enabling them to better personalise the customer experience and route the customer to the best expert available.
“This study clearly indicates how important it is for retail banks to provide a seamless customer journey,” commented Vanessa Walmsley, Managing Director at Qmatic UK, specialist in omnichannel customer journey management. “Consumers are increasingly demanding a more convenient, personalised service from the brands they interact with, whether that’s on a mobile platform, online or in a physical setting. Through collaborating with a vendor with expertise in delivering a connected customer journey across all channels, retailers and service providers can benefit from increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.”
Qmatic’s recent research into customer queuing habits in the UK reflected the mystery shopper study, finding that on average, 81 per cent of consumers would wait up to 10 minutes to be served in a retail store; the average wait time for many consumers only being 7.7 minutes in total. It also found that 35 per cent of UK consumers are convinced that returns desks represent the longest queues, followed by retail customer services at 28 per cent, and retail banking customer services desks also at 28 per cent.