How do students choose their banks?

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate customer behaviour in the banking industry of students at Kristianstad University. We wanted to test the theory of Customer based brand equity in the banking industry but also to challenge this theory with other independent theories which we have identified as important concerning customer behaviour the banking industry. The banking industry is an interesting business since it affects nearly everyone. Banks are known to focus much of their marketing on customer retention which makes this specific industry extra interesting for an investigation about customer behaviour. Kevin Keller‟s theories on Customer based brand equity was the catalyst that created our interest in this subject. The combination of this theory and the specific nature of the banking industry helped us form our problem. The chosen segment to investigate was students at Kristianstad University. Mainly because of the specific time limit this segment was the most suitable for this dissertation. The result indicates that the factors from the CBBE-model were not significantly connected to students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. However, it can be argued that some factors are still relevant when explaining customer behaviour in the banking industry. One of the challenging theories, Intergenerational Influence, proved to have a significant connection to customer behaviour. It can be argued that Intergenerational Influence is the most important factor when explaining students‟ customer behaviour in the banking industry. The results of this dissertation can be useful for banks in order to make their marketing strategy more efficient