With the election now decided (as much as it can be at this stage), it is time for UK politicians to roll up their sleeves and start delivering on those promises that helped get them to Westminster. To bring smiles to the faces of the UK consumer – our simple suggestion is to listen to the growing discord from customers of the now Government part-owned banks. Brown might have bailed the banks out but there’s more than a feeling of discontent amongst the millions of customers who hold accounts with RBS, LloydsTSB and HBOS. With the government now having their say in how these banks are run, it might be time to for party members to listen to their constituents and customers and have services improved. Even better, learn from the banks of choice, Nationwide and First Direct.
As part of iCD Research’s monthly Online Consumer Index survey, a Net Promoter Score (NPS)* is collected across a wide number of brands and industries. Put simply, a positive score is satisfied customers that would advocate or promote your brand – the ones that you’ve delivered to and delighted, rather than damaged your relationship. For First Direct (6.76) and Nationwide (3.92), the NPS rates as positive – the only positive scores across all the major banks (more promoters than detractors).
So does money buy love? It seems not as HBOS and the Royal Bank of Scotland brands make for unpleasant reading, all with strongly negative NPS scores of -30.76 (RBS), -26.37 (Halifax), -21.80 (Lloyds TSB), and -19.75 (Bank of Scotland).
Chris Binney from ICD Research commented “Any way you look at it, the news is not great for Government backed banks and they need to start listening to their customer’s needs more than they currently do. With Nationwide in particular positioning themselves away from the big banks, being ‘proud to be different’ is true not just for their strategy but also true of their satisfied customers. As the politicians tried to listen to the voters, it’s time that the banks started listening to their customers – before they lose them”
*Respondents are asked to rate their willingness to recommend their bank to family/friends on a scale of 0-10 where 0 is not at all likely and 10 extremely likely. Responses are split into three groups; Detractors (0-6)- unhappy customers who have potential to damage brand image, Passives (7-8)- unenthusiastic and prone to switching and Promoters (9-10)- Loyal brand enthusiasts. The NPS score is calculated from the percentage of Promoters minus the percentage of Detractors.
