You are here: silicon.com > Financial Services > News

Bank websites don't satisfy curious customers

Questions, questions...

Tags: call centre, customer service, banks, financial services

By Steve Ranger

Published: 23 August 2007 12:46 GMT

Despite the millions invested in online banking systems, it may still be quicker for customers to phone bank call-centres to find out basic information.

Bank websites could only provide answers for half of routine questions asked online, with the majority relying on static FAQ pages, according to research by customer service software company Transversal.

silicon.com Financial Services

Get the latest financial services news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the FS newsletter today!

Its research claimed 30 per cent of bank websites struggled to answer more than two out of 10 product and service questions.

Nearly a third of banks don't offer the option of emailing questions, it found. For those that did, the average reply time was 30 hours for a response - eight hours longer than the average response time last year. And even then, only three out of 10 banks answered the question satisfactorily - less than last year - so customers would then still need to phone a contact centre for more information.

By contrast, the research said bank contact centre response times have improved "dramatically", with 60 per cent of calls answered within three minutes and the shortest wait times being just a few seconds.

Transversal said customers are being pushed towards the telephone channel, irrespective of their preferences, and this reflects a failure by many banks to adopt a "cohesive online customer interaction strategy".

  1. Zones
  2. Management
  3. Networks
  4. Software
  5. IT Services
  6. Hardware
  1. Verticals
  2. Public Sector
  3. Financial Services
  4. Retail & Leisure

silicon.com Financial Services
Get the latest financial services news straight to your inbox. Sign up for the FS newsletter today!


  • Jobs
European Channel Sales - Call Centres, IVR, Speech Rec.

European Channel Sales - Call Centres, IVR, Speech Rec. The technology portfolio encompasses Information Technology and Telecommunications, ...

Graduate C# Developer opportunity within top tier investment bank

C#, Graduate C# Winforms Top Tier Investment Bank looking for a talented, C# Winforms Graduate Developer, to work in one of Europe's major banks with ...

Campaign Controller

The operation maximises sales utilising an appropriate channel mix of both inbound and outbound contact from both in-house and outsourced centres. ...

Nick Beecham and Belinda Doshi
No more tax breaks for offshoring?
Financial services firms must prepare now for 2010 legal changes

Tim Ferguson
On a new Voyager, tackling fraud and the intellectual challenge
Interview: Nationwide IT director, Peter Stafford

Nick Heath
David Lister on smart grids and why he left RBS
Interview: National Grid CIO

Andy Jones
Why banks will push ahead with offshoring
Comment: Even if they don't want to

Catherine Stagg-Macey
Legacy IT holding back insurers
Comment: Economic crisis means finance giants must step lively

Julian Goldsmith
The City fund manager with no IT department
Q&A: How asset management is embracing the cloud...

Agenda Setters 2009
Welcome to the ninth annual Agenda Setters poll – silicon.com's list of the top 50 most influential individuals in the technology and IT industries, from techies and CIOs to entrepreneurs and business leaders. Find out more in our latest special report.




Quick Sitemap Links: