RBC’s mobile users can now call on Siri to pay bills

Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) received the highest score for customer satisfaction among the Big Five Canadian banks for the second year in a row in the J.D. Power 2017 Canadian Retail Banking Satisfaction Study.

In addition, RBC received the highest rating among the big banks in terms of customer satisfaction with its mobile banking application in J.D. Power’s first survey on the banks’ mobile banking app platforms.

Among the mid-sized banks, Tangerine Bank, a direct banking subsidiary of Toronto-based Bank of Nova Scotia, earned the highest score in terms of customer satisfaction, the sixth consecutive year the bank has done so.

The J.D. Power study measured customer satisfaction in seven categories, listed in order of importance: product; self-service; personal service; facilities; communication; financial advisor; and problem resolution.

Based on a 1,000-point scale, RBC received 760 points on the J.D. customer satisfaction study, edging out runner-up TD Canada Trust, which received 759 points. Among the mid-sized banks, Tangerine Bank received 820 points with runner-up President’s Choice Financial receiving 801 points.

The J.D. Power 2017 Canadian Banking App Satisfaction Study measured overall satisfaction with mobile banking apps based on five factors, listed in order of importance: ease of navigation; appearance; availability of key information; range of services; and clarity of information.

Based on a 1,000-point scale, RBC received 840 points in the mobile banking app satisfaction study with runner-up Scotiabank receiving 835 points.

According to J.D. Power, the key findings of the two studies were:

Mobile banking: Usage of this growing technology among customers has almost doubled over the past three years, with 43% of Canadian retail bank customers now using mobile banking. Satisfaction with mobile banking has also improved, with a satisfaction index score of 807 points, making it the most satisfying method of interaction among all banking channels measured in the study.

Omnichannel: More than half (58%) of customers have used four or more interaction channels in the past year. However, customer satisfaction declined in 2017 for most channels, including website (-1 point); branch (-10); assisted online (-11); call centre (-13); and automated phone (-15). Overall, retail bank satisfaction declined to 759 points from 763 in 2016.

Customer Service Fundamentals: Overall satisfaction scores are 83 points higher among customers who were greeted at the branch entrance and 63 points higher among those whose teller addressed them by name, yet just 60% of customers say they were greeted at the door and just 47% say they were addressed by name. Likewise, only 19% of customers are aware of personalized ABM preference settings at their bank, despite usage of those features being associated with high overall satisfaction scores.

Trust: Banks can harm the level of trust that’s established with their customers when they make changes to agreed-upon terms of financial accounts and products. The introduction of new fees is associated with a 50-point decrease in overall satisfaction, while changing the amount of existing fees is associated with a 45-point decrease. Changes to interest rates cause overall satisfaction scores to fall by 31 points.

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