EVALUATION OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN THE HIGH-INCOME SEGMENT OF BANKING SERVICES

Abstract

Objective: The objective of this research is to evaluate the financial services customer experience, in the high-income segment of the financial industry. Methodology/Approach: Based on the fundamental concepts considered in the literature review, a customer experience assessment model was proposed, establishing five relationship hypotheses between the four constructs that formed it: service quality, satisfaction, switching costs and loyalty. To test its validity, a survey was carried out with 216 customers of a large financial institution. The statistical technique used to test the hypotheses was the confirmatory factor analysis through Partial Least Squares (Warp/PLS). Main Results: The proposed model shows the importance of the service quality, satisfaction, switching cost and loyalty constructs for the assessment of the customer experience in banking services. The analysis depicted Loyalty and Switching Costs both explained by Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Banking Services. Relevance/Originality: The importance of the research lies in the counterpoint the analysis provides between the highly digital and depersonalized banking service attendance on the one hand and the need for human touch on the other hand. Managerial/Social Implications: The approach of specific dimensions used in this study to assess the experience of providing financial services can help bank professionals and managers to obtain useful information about the relative contribution of each dimension to the management of customer satisfaction and loyalty.