Customer experience in retail banking : A swedish study

Customer experience has become more difficult for companies to control with the expanding number of touch points that the companies must be aware off. One of the major reasons behind the expanding number of touch points has been digitalization. The financial sector is not excluded from this change. With the digitalization continuously improving and new financial technology (fintech) being developed, things might have changed. For example, bank offices and employees have been viewed as important in earlier studies, but has this changed? What is important and affects the customer experience in the Swedish financial sector today? The purpose of this paper is to gain a deeper understanding of which factors of banking services are considered important by customers today and whether there has been a shift since earlier studies. Thereby, we seek to establish what impacts the customer experience in financial institutions today. To find the answer to the purpose, a qualitative and quantitative study were conducted. The results of the full study show that employees are, as earlier studies have shown, still considered important when conducting a bank errand. However, in what context the employees are important seems to have changed. The results show that the quality that is delivered by the staff is important, while in earlier studies the relational aspect has been more important. Furthermore, the results show that bank offices are no longer considered important for the customer experience. Therefore, a shift can be identified. The study also show that it is important for the customer experience that the banks offer different channels for the customers to reach the bank. Furthermore, having the option to choose whether to resolve the bank errand on your own or obtain help from the bank is important for the customer experience. These two aspects are connected to the digital development of the industry. The results of the earlier research, referred to in this study, has not found these two aspects important. Our study therefore shows a significant shift, compared to earlier studies, in what customers consider important in contact with financial institutions