Improving satisfaction with bank service offerings: measuring the contribution of each delivery channel

TLDR

The study investigates how customers of a Portuguese bank use Internet banking within a multi‑channel service offering that also includes branches, telephone banking, and ATMs. A qualitative approach was employed to examine customer perceptions and usage patterns across these channels. Results show that channel performance, customer characteristics, and transaction type drive complementary use, and that Internet banking satisfaction depends on both its own performance and its contribution to overall service satisfaction.

Abstract

This article presents the results of a qualitative study of a Portuguese bank regarding customer use of Internet banking integrated in a multi‐channel offering that includes high street branches, telephone banking, and automatic teller machines. The results show that performance evaluation is a key factor influencing channel use. Customers tend to use the different service delivery systems in a complementary way, taking into account their assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Customer characteristics, and the type of financial operation, are also identified as important factors influencing this process. These results indicate that, in a multi‐channel context, customer satisfaction with Internet services depends not only on the performance of this channel in isolation, but also on how it contributes to satisfaction with the overall service offering.