Customers’ ways of making sense of a financial service relationship through intersubjective mirroring of others

The importance of relationships between buyer and sellers in marketing research is well established. This study contributes to relationship marketing (RM) research as it examines the microfoundations of financial service buyer and seller relationships. The study uses intersubjective theory and a qualitative method with the purpose of conceptualising the qualitatively different ways customers experience face-to-face interactions with a service provider. An empirical study is conducted to determine, based on the customer's own words, what is experienced in the interaction between the customer and the provider. Findings from the empirical material show that not all personal interactions between customers and a service provider, in this case a bank, can be labelled as relationships. Instead, what customers do perceive as a relationship is an encounter where the interaction entails symmetry in the way the customer and the provider mirror each other. When customers receive a treatment in opposition to an expectation of intersubjectivity, they will not refer to the situation as a relationship and, subsequently, according to the underlying assumptions of RM, do not willingly engage in further business with the provider.     

Consumer responses to dissatisfaction with financial service providers: An exploration of why some stay while others switch

In spite of research suggesting that services elicit greater dissatisfaction than products, service dissatisfaction has been less widely researched than product dissatisfaction. Although responses to dissatisfaction such as exit and voice have been investigated, the loyalty response to dissatisfaction has been largely overlooked. To begin to address this discrepancy, this paper relates a preliminary research study into customer dissatisfaction and loyalty with financial services. Research was conducted in two phases to explore dissatisfying experiences and consumer decisions to switch or stay with the current provider. The study finds that the most commonly cited reason for staying with a financial services provider is the perceived costs involved in switching or, putting it more colloquially, ‘the hassle factor’. Differences between customers who stay and switch are also revealed in the study.     

An exploration of call centre agents' CRM software use,customer orientation and job performance in the customer relationship maintenance phase

Exploratory research techniques are used to examine the relationships between call centre agents' customer relationship management (CRM) software use, agents' customer orientation, and agents' job performance in the maintenance phase of customer relationships. Maintenance activities, which focus on customer retention and cross- and up-selling, are important to study because prior research suggests they have the strongest effect on company performance. In the financial services industry, CRM software applications supporting retention and cross-/up-selling activities benefit firms by raising revenues and reducing costs. The context for this exploratory research is that of in-bound customer service and sales call centres at three different financial institutions. Based on the analysis of data from key informants across these different contexts, this research suggests that CRM software use is a separate antecedent of call centre agent job performance and has a minimal relationship with customer orientation. Given the suggestive nature of exploratory research results, further research is warranted.     

Winning the worksite customer

As the UK financial services industry advances channel strategies in response to developments in regulation, technology and government policy, a number of systems are evolving. One such system is worksite distribution. The environment is set to facilitate the development of this channel and a good deal of activity is under way. Key environmental drivers include the legal obligation on UK employers regarding stakeholder pensions provision; the continuing erosion in state benefits and the recognition that individuals will almost certainly have to provide for themselves in retirement; and the culmination of IT infrastructure development. Along with a tight labour market and reduced access to financial advice for the ‘mass market’ as advisers turn their focus to high-net-worth individuals, the role of the employer and the workplace as a source of information and purchase power begins to make sense — in essence, the role of a ‘portal’. This paper takes a close look at the customer potential of worksite marketing — both employers and employees — and the technology challenge faced by providers in winning their business.Worksite distribution (also known as worksite marketing) is the latest distribution channel emerging in UK financial services. There has been much discussion over the last two years on the viability of this channel in the UK. These discussions initially focused on comparing the drivers in the UK to the different drivers behind the development of the channel in the USA. More recently, discussions have focused on UK activity and the scramble to secure (pre-register) stakeholder pension (SHP) clients. This flourish of provider activity may well account for the channel becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, with many employers already being presented with a SHP or worksite proposition. ‘Best practice’ in this channel will be dependent on providing the best process for target customers — some lessons are learned from experience in other established markets and, importantly, from realising the inherent differences between the UK and these markets. This paper takes a deeper look at the subject and explores the worksite customer — who they are, how to win their business, and the enabling technology that will determine the outcome for financial service providers embarking on this channel.     

Customer account relationships and e-retail banking usage<Superscript>1</Superscript>

Financial institutions are actively developing new electronic banking products for their retail customers. To date, the market leaders have drawn a disproportionably higher share of e-retail banking customers. In response, smaller institutions have become quite active in exploring ways to participate profitably in online banking. A major influence is from a customer relationship management (CRM) perspective, where institutions try to limit the outflow of current customers and direct high-value customers to potential products from a multi-product service offering array. These efforts can succeed only if retail bank marketers focus the promotion of the new products and services that can utilise this channel toward those customers who are most likely to find them attractive. The first aim of this study was to examine the role that online and electronic banking play in defining the customer's primary financial relationship. The analysis of 701 retail customers of a financial institution presented in this study suggests that banks and other institutions are highly vulnerable to loss of customers to rivals with extensive online services. A second aim was to examine to what extent information on banking relationships is able to extend CRM analysis beyond that offered by typical demographic and income data. Current customer account relationships are found to be highly predictive of use of electronic services use in general. And, interest in the use of specific online services is related to differing customer relationships in addition to ordinary demographic and balance information. These findings can be useful for retail banking in identifying potential high-value users from a customer relationship management perspective.     

Effects of perceived cost,service quality,and customer satisfaction on health insurance service continuance

This paper aims to contribute to the universal discourse on financial services continuance behavior by examining the impact of service cost on customers’ service-quality perception and service continuance intention. It presents the results of an empirical study that has explored the impacts of service cost, service quality, and customer satisfaction on health insurance customers’ behavioral intention toward continuing or discontinuing with their service providers. Very few studies had examined the impact of service cost on service-quality perception. Our study attempts to fill that gap. A sample of 820 customers was surveyed, and 624 usable responses were analyzed with ANOVA, standard multiple regression, and logistic regression. Our findings indicate that, although highly satisfied health insurance customers will most likely retain their current service providers, customer dissatisfaction does not necessarily lead to discontinuance. Our results also provide some operational implications for health insurance managers, with strategies for reducing attrition and improving customer retention.     

Influence of perceptual metrics on customer profitability: The mediating effect of behavioural metrics

Accountability of marketing actions is a topic of ongoing interest. In accordance with the growing importance of the subject, a multitude of customer metrics has been developed intended to measure and value marketing investments and link their returns to financial results and performance. Managers widely acknowledge the need for quantitative measures of marketing performance but now face the challenge of deciding which metrics to measure and how to interpret them. One of the main difficulties lies in the interdependencies of metrics. Those interdependencies may lead to serious misinterpretation and have been widely neglected in the existing literature. Therefore, this study empirically tests if the influence of customer perceptual metrics (for example, customer satisfaction) on customer profitability persists when customer behavioural metrics are considered. We use data from a large European financial service provider. Our findings support the relevance of mediating effects of customer behavioural metrics (for example, cross-selling ratio) on the relationship between customer perceptual metrics and customer profitability. The article contributes significantly to the body of knowledge about interdependencies between different customer metric combinations by considering direct and indirect links, testing for mediator effects, and evaluating their impact on customer profitability.     

Satisfaction drivers for Internet service technology among stock brokerage customers in Thailand

Many financial services firms are offering the Internet as a self-service technology (SST), for online stock trading, in an effort to increase effciency and give customers greater access. It is important to understand how this technology will influence customer satisfaction. This paper reports results of exploratory research to identify sources of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction with the service encounter in Thai stockbrokerage firms. Results show that customers and service providers determine sources of customer dis/satisfaction differently, depending on whether the service encounter is technology-based or interpersonal. Different customer profiles give rise to segmentation in response to the use of Internet technology in this industry.     

An analysis of website evolution in the pensions sector

Considerable commentary exists on the potential of the internet for transforming the financial services industry but there is limited longitudinal research into changing website configuration. Studies have investigated online banking ignoring more complex financial services such as pensions. This paper proposes a model of financial services website evolution and applies it to a longitudinal content analysis of 30 pension provider websites, spanning eight years of web development from 1996 to 2003. The study finds that pension websites have evolved over time with apparent links between phases of development and external drivers. The findings indicate that websites support new business transactions rather than existing account management and provide more information on company strength and market position than detail on product and services. Marketing opportunities are present for improved online information provision, business-to-business communication and customer servicing.     

The effects of customer age and recovery strategies in a service failure setting

The aim of this article is to explore the relationship between the type of service failure, age and the customer's negative emotions after a service failure; as well as the relationship between these emotions, the recovery strategies executed and service recovery satisfaction. The proposed model is tested on a sample of financial services customers who suffered some type of failure. The results indicate that the customer's age has a negative impact on the intensity of the negative emotions experienced after a service failure. In addition, the type of service failure (process or outcome) interacts with the age variable on its effect on these negative emotions. Finally, results also show that recovery strategies offset the negative effect of negative emotions on customer satisfaction and that a compensation strategy is more efficient if offered quickly.     

R&D comes to services. Bank of America's pathbreaking experiments

At the heart of business today lies a dilemma: Our economy is increasingly dependent on services, yet our innovation processes remain oriented toward products. Indeed, we have well-tested, scientific methods for developing and refining manufactured goods, but many of them don't seem applicable to the world of services. In this article, Harvard Business School professor Stefan Thomke points out the challenges of applying the discipline of formal R&D processes to services: Because a service often exists only in the moment of its delivery to a customer, it is difficult to isolate in a traditional laboratory. And since many services are tailored to individual buyers at the point of purchase, they can't be tested through large samples. As a result, experiments with new services are most useful when they are conducted live--with real customers engaged in real transactions. But live tests magnify the cost of failure; an experiment that doesn't work may harm customer relationships and even the brand. Given such challenges, it's no surprise that most service companies have not established rigorous, ongoing R&D processes, Thomke says. Here the author provides an in-depth look at a five-step process that Bank of America has used to create new service concepts for retail banking. The company has turned a set of its branches into, in effect, a laboratory where a corporate research team conducts service experiments with actual customers during regular business hours, compares results with those of control branches, and pinpoints attractive innovations for broader rollout. The author describes the program's workings, its successes, and the obstacles the bank faced. The effort reveals what a true R&D operation might look like inside a service business, he concludes.     

地区公共服务供给与转移支付减贫效应研究-基于多维贫困分析框架

从宏观与微观相结合的角度,考察宏观上一个地区的公共服务供给能力是否会影响到转移支付的减贫效果.从多维贫困的研究视角出发,利用CHNS数据库考察了个人特征和家庭特征对贫困的影响;在此基础上利用分层模型将地区公共服务供给能力这种宏观因素和微观因素相结合,探究了不同公共服务供给能力对转移支付减贫效应的影响,同时也与收入贫困框架下的结果进行对比分析.结果显示:就多维贫困来讲,地区公共服务供给能力高的地区转移支付减贫效应有加强效果;转移支付对收入贫困的改善则不受地区公共服务水平的制约.     

网上交易服务质量与顾客满意感的关系研究

本文通过对网上交易服务质量和顾客满意概念的界定进行实证研究,通过实证研究进一步探讨网上证券交易行业的服务质量和顾客满意的关系.     

Using Relational and Transactional MCSs to Manage the Delivery of Outsourced Public Services: Evidence from Twelve Cases in the USA

The successful management of the purchaser–provider relationship is essential for the effective delivery of public services, and entails the use of both transactional and relational approaches. We herein analyse the degree and complementarity of transactional and relational management control systems in the management of purchaser–provider relationships for the successful delivery of public services using evidence from 12 US case studies. We demonstrate that transactional and relational management control systems are controlled differently in order to improve contracting efficiency. We also show how a combination of these management control systems offers a framework for structured public accountability and service flexibility.     

Measuring service fairness and its impact on service quality and satisfaction: a study of Indian Banking Services

As very few studies have investigated banking services from fairness perspective and none of the studies have attempted to measure service fairness in Indian retail banking services context, the paper seeks to investigate service fairness in Indian retail banking services context. It attempts to validate the existing four-dimensional service fairness scale and investigates its applicability in the retail banking industry. The conceptual model depicting the relationship between service fairness, service quality and customer satisfaction was tested using SEM. The results established reliability and validity of the scale and the impact of service fairness on service quality and customer satisfaction. The impact of individual fairness dimensions on these two customer evaluation variables is also studied. The paper discusses important implications of the findings and presents valuable insights for the practitioners as well as academia.     

On the potential for Twitter to add value in retail bank relationships

It is argued that research within financial services marketing has omitted to pay sufficient attention to social media in banking contexts generally and its potential impact on retail bank relationships in particular. At a general level, this research study explores the advent of social media and the manner of its deployment in financial services. Specifically, this article reports on the deployment of Twitter in bank–customer communications. Accordingly, a content analysis of 400 Tweets sent from a range of financial service providers to their customers was conducted. A literature-based model allowed for the classification of these Tweets as either customer acquisition, engagement or retention-oriented. Findings indicate that Twitter is mainly used for customer engagement, but scope is identified for their more meaningful deployment in relation to customer acquisition and retention.     

商业健康保险在医疗保障体系中的角色探讨

商业健康保险绝不仅仅是社会基本医疗保险有限的、简单的补充,而应该成为我国医疗保障体系中必不可少的重要组成部分。在这样的制度定位下,本文分别探讨了商业健康保险主要承担的三种角色,即补充保障的主要提供者、基本保障的主要竞争者、医疗保险机构与卫生服务提供者关系的探索者。     

Brand positioning in financial services: A longitudinal test to find the best brand position

Brand positioning is a core activity of most marketing departments. In this paper, the relationship between six different positions and customer vulnerability is tested over time in the business financial services market. Two particular attributes relating to fees and charges and relationship/service were found to have strong relationships with customer vulnerability, both across brands and over time. This research suggests that the ’better‘ brand positions, as defined here, can be common across brands. Therefore, marketing managers of financial services should perhaps not be striving for a unique position for the brand, but aim for distinctiveness in the way the position is communicated. Research techniques to identify ’better‘ positions should also not assume that these ’better‘ positions will be those that differentiate between brands.     

What is being exchanged? Framing the logic of value creation in financial services

Financial service providers are facing a major paradigm shift. The understanding of what eventually constitutes customer value is being extended; economic value as the sole core of exchange is a far too limited perspective in contemporary competition. To address this emerging shift, the purpose of this study is to reframe the logic of value creation in financial services. As a result, a tentative framework for value creation logic in financial services is developed and discussed. On the basis of the framework, financial service providers should not limit their attention and resources to the exchange process, but identify innovative value-creating mechanisms through which they could contribute to the customer value actualization process. Our tentative framework (i) offers financial service providers guidance on which innovative value-creating mechanisms would enable them to participate in their customers’ value actualization process; (ii) shows how a product becomes a channel for a service, specifically a solution possessing value in the customer’s routine processes; (iii) illustrates that researchers and service providers should develop their understanding of customers beyond the traditional loan, insurance and/or investment product orientation.     

Is your company ready for one-to-one marketing?

One-to-one marketing, also known as relationship marketing, promises to increase the value of your customer base by establishing a learning relationship with each customer. The customer tells you of some need, and you customize your product or service to meet it. Every interaction and modification improves your ability to fit your product to the particular customer. Eventually, even if a competitor offers the same type of service, your customer won't be able to enjoy the same level of convenience without taking the time to teach your competitor the lessons your company has already learned. Although the theory behind one-to-one marketing is simple, implementation is complex. Too many companies have jumped on the one-to-one band-wagon without proper preparation--mistakenly understanding it as an excuse to badger customers with excessive telemarketing and direct mail campaigns. The authors offer practical advice for implementing a one-to-one marketing program correctly. They describe four key steps: identifying your customers, differentiating among them, interacting with them, and customizing your product or service to meet each customer's needs. And they provide activities and exercises, to be administered to employees and customers, that will help you identify your company's readiness to launch a one-to-one initiative. Although some managers dismiss the possibility of one-to-one marketing as an unattainable goal, even a modest program can produce substantial benefits. This tool kit will help you determine what type of program your company can implement now, what you need to do to position your company for a large-scale initiative, and how to set priorities.