Banks Provide Poor Online Customer Experience

UK -- A new study of 52 leading European banks and building societies has revealed poor levels of online customer service.

The study, commissioned by IBM and KANA Software, Inc. revealed poor online customer service at many top British banks and building societies.

Researchers conducted a mystery shopping study of 52 major financial services companies across the UK and asked a typical customer query through the available online channels. Queries such as “What savings accounts do you offer? What are the interest rates?” or “How do you ensure that the internet banking you provide is secure?” were used.

53% of UK financial institutions failed to correctly answer a simple enquiry through any online channel, either providing an incorrect answer or no answer at all. More than 35% of those surveyed did not provide a contact email address on their website and almost 18% did not respond to an email enquiry at all.