Customer experiences receiving investment services
Szepe, Sanna (2015)
Szepe, Sanna
Laurea-ammattikorkeakoulu
2015
All rights reserved
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201505229628
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-201505229628
Tiivistelmä
Today the customers are able to compare the products of the different services available easily and between service companies, the experience the customer receives has become more and more important.
Banking services have experienced the same evolution than the other surrounding service companies, and the importance of more complicated advisory services is sought after, when simpler transactions are taken care by the customers themselves. Investment services are one of the highest profiting business areas and it is understandable that more focus is steered towards them when banks are determing where to put their resources. Because of the importance of investment services and the customer experience within, the thesis studies the investment advisory process in the three largest banks in Finland providing advisory to their retail customers.
The study was conducted by a mystery shopping research where young adults sought for advisory in starting to invest in the form of monthy saving. All of the mystery shoppers are laypersons in the world of investing. The study follows the end-to-end journey of seeking the service and making an appointment, all the way to receiving the service. Attention is also paid to the websites of the case companies as they serve as the first point of contact both to finding general information all the way to making an appointment. The mystery-shopping round paid attention to the service experience in general, but also to the ability to which the banks were able to justify the recommendations on the basis of asset allocation and the benefits it provides to an investor.
The websites of Nordea and Danskebank resulted being the easiest to access and to find information from. The service accessibility was also better than that of OP on both Nordea and Danske. In the service experience measures, it was extremely difficult to grade the experiences and to compare them to each other. In total, Danskebank and Nordea received the best grades in professionalism and ability to bind the recommendation to the theories known about investing and asset allocation. In OP however, the experiences were more affected by empathy and service agent’s ability to link the saving to the dreams and plans of the customers.
All in all, as the study showed, the link between the service personnel and the customer is very important and can never be underestimated, especially when the service in question has a high personal importance to the customer.
Banking services have experienced the same evolution than the other surrounding service companies, and the importance of more complicated advisory services is sought after, when simpler transactions are taken care by the customers themselves. Investment services are one of the highest profiting business areas and it is understandable that more focus is steered towards them when banks are determing where to put their resources. Because of the importance of investment services and the customer experience within, the thesis studies the investment advisory process in the three largest banks in Finland providing advisory to their retail customers.
The study was conducted by a mystery shopping research where young adults sought for advisory in starting to invest in the form of monthy saving. All of the mystery shoppers are laypersons in the world of investing. The study follows the end-to-end journey of seeking the service and making an appointment, all the way to receiving the service. Attention is also paid to the websites of the case companies as they serve as the first point of contact both to finding general information all the way to making an appointment. The mystery-shopping round paid attention to the service experience in general, but also to the ability to which the banks were able to justify the recommendations on the basis of asset allocation and the benefits it provides to an investor.
The websites of Nordea and Danskebank resulted being the easiest to access and to find information from. The service accessibility was also better than that of OP on both Nordea and Danske. In the service experience measures, it was extremely difficult to grade the experiences and to compare them to each other. In total, Danskebank and Nordea received the best grades in professionalism and ability to bind the recommendation to the theories known about investing and asset allocation. In OP however, the experiences were more affected by empathy and service agent’s ability to link the saving to the dreams and plans of the customers.
All in all, as the study showed, the link between the service personnel and the customer is very important and can never be underestimated, especially when the service in question has a high personal importance to the customer.