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Product category: Market research
News Release from: Maritz
Edited by the Marketingservicestalk Editorial Team on 31 January 2008

Will online banking make call centres
obsolete?

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Many banks in Britain increasingly use call centres for advising their customers: but with mixed success in the eyes of their customers.

In a recent Maritz Research poll, eight out of ten surveyed (76 per cent) prefer to settle their financial transactions on the Internet This is particularly true of higher-income earners with an annual salary of over GBP50,000, who tend to look after their banking needs online

Only every tenth person who has used the call centre of a bank or credit card company felt the experience was convenient.

A current study by Maritz Research has revealed this sobering result.

There are various reasons for dissatisfaction with call centres: for instance, 66 per cent of those surveyed would say that customer service representatives aren t easy to reach; 56 per cent do not consider the call centre agents to be sufficiently trained.

Only 7 per cent indicate that they have confidence in the call centre agents.

"These are alarming figures; it indicates that financial institutions need to invest in processes that not only ensure the customer reaches a person who can resolve their query straight away, but provide the required training to support this," said Dawn Ray, General Manager Research UK.

"On the telephone it is more difficult to quickly build up a trusting relationship than it is face-to-face, but we know this is particularly important, especially where finances are concerned".

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