Online banks must improve e-mail customer service

The latest finance Emysteryshopper benchmark study from Edigital Research has revealed that First Direct has been voted the best banking website by online mystery shoppers.

The study assesses the online customer experience across 15 of the high-street and pure-online banking providers.

With the banking sector looking to regain consumer confidence after the recent financial crisis, the survey highlights the need for more focus on providing a satisfying online customer experience, as the average online satisfaction score is 74 per cent, which trails the retail sector by seven per cent.

At 82 per cent, First Direct was seen to offer the best website experience, scoring highly for its simple-to-use account area, easy-to-find contact information and its non-automated telephone service.

Product information pages recorded the highest satisfaction score overall with Halifax, at 91 per cent, offing industry best practice through easily navigable pages, a wealth of product information and simple product explanations.

Pure online banks such as First Direct and Smile have recognised the importance of customer service, with First Direct credited for it being the only bank to provide a personal human response, while Smile came out top for its speedy and personal e-mail response.

As the internet becomes the preferred method of contact, it is important to mirror the high-street branch experience online and this is where traditional high-street banks can improve.

E-mail customer service was clearly the weakest area, with a third of respondents unable to find an e-mail address and half of these not receiving a reply within 24 hours.

Online banking requires a lot of trust on the part of the consumer, so this is an area where banks can differentiate themselves and provide their customers with confidence in their ability to help.

Lloyd Viney, associate director of the finance division for Edigital Research, said: 'Banks ultimately need to focus on rebuilding customer trust.

'Providing a seamless integrated approach where customers can research products and fulfil requests across their preferred channel will go some way in helping them to achieve this.

'Banks should also consider integrating chat capabilities and human assistance to enable customers to have a better and more meaningful dialogue with the bank.

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