The Influence of Customer Satisfaction on Performance in Swedish Banks

The Swedish banking industry is highly competitive and the possibilities of differentiation are limited. The market is saturated and retaining customers is of increasing importance. Retaining customers can be done in two ways, to build switching barriers or to create customer satisfaction. Some benefits from choosing customer satisfaction are positive word of mouth and reduced price sensitivity, it also makes current customers more costly to take away for competitors. Customer satisfaction is officially measured by Svenskt kvalitetsindex (SKI). Studies from the American equivalent have shown that companies that enjoy high customer satisfaction also enjoy excess stock returns. The purpose of this study is to describe the influence from customer satisfaction on the major banks in the Swedish banking industry. The study has used the official SKI ratings together with case studies. The case studies involved interviews with three local branch managers from the major banks. The study finds that bank managers consider customer satisfaction to influence profits by repeat business from existing customers, cross-selling and positive word of mouth. Measuring is conducted differently in all banks but Image is considered to be the most important factor for customer satisfaction. The results from measures are primarily used to improve operations and as marketing in all banks. The study finds no support for excess stock returns for companies that do well on the SKI ratings.Validerat; 20130705 (global_studentproject_submitter)