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Personal touch still appreciated in banking
21/10/2005 16:00:00
Internet banking users still want help over the phone from a human being, according to research from BT.
The survey found that 42 per cent of those questioned now bank online, up from 12 per cent in 2001. But just under half still want a telephone line to call when completing a transaction via a website.
A poor or absent telephone service can also affect whether individuals stay with a company. Almost a third (31 per cent) said that they switch companies when faced with an engaged tone, whilst just under a quarter claimed that they would give up entirely.
Gary Bullard, MD of BT Global Services UK, said that modern customers demand quick help for products and services. He claimed that the challenge for banks was to reproduce their standards of customer service across all channels, whether on the telephone, the web or interactive TV.
Bullard said that companies that did not do this were at risk of missing their customer's expectations of service.
Earlier research by Cahoot found that half of all over-50s online now use the web to do their banking.
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