Customers Speak for Themselves: A Case of Customer Satisfaction in the Four Main South African Banks

There is a stiff competition for customers among the four ‘big’ banks in South Africa. Banks have been dedicating a lot of time and resources in order to improve customer service levels and to expeditiously solve and respond to queries timeously. Although banks are trying their best to give their customers the best service, it is important to continuously measure customer satisfaction and identify most important service attributes that contribute to overall customer satisfaction for the banks. It is against this background that this study was carried.

In order to carry out this study, a quantitative survey of randomly selected customers in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town were interviewed using a face-to-face methodology. A questionnaire with close-ended questions was designed using attributes sourced mainly from BANKSERV and included other demographic information. The interviewers were properly trained on how to administer the questions to the respondents. A total of 500 respondents participated in the survey. The respondents were randomly intercepted in the shopping malls and outside some banking halls for the areas considered in the study. The study showed that customers are generally satisfied (90%) with the overall service offered by the banks with low percentage (8%) of customers wanting to switch to another bank. The study also showed high usage of Internet banking, telephone banking, and automated teller machines (ATMs).