first direct the bank customers most likely to recommend

Findings from a study of UK banks reveals that First Direct is the bank customers would be ‘most likely to recommend’ to friends and family whilst Barclays, HSBC and Abbey came in the bottom three.

The study, sent to over 30,000 consumers, reveals that despite the onset of the ‘credit crunch’, UK consumers are positively influenced more by good customer service than the latest market-beating financial products, offers and services when it comes to making recommendations to others.

Carried out by integrated marketing agency Geronimo, and designed to capture customers’ perceptions of their own banks, the study used the Net Promoter Score system (NPS) to find that First Direct came first with nearly three quarters of its customers saying they would actively recommend it. Key reasons given include friendly, helpful and efficient staff, ease of use and excellent customer service.

The Co-Operative and Nationwide came second and third respectively, although the reasons given were different. The Co-op was praised for its ethical stance whilst Nationwide was rated highly because its products and charges were perceived to be very fair.

The NPS system, which subtracts the number of ‘detractors’ from ‘promoters’, calculated that Barclays was least likely to be recommended by its customers.

The Top Five

First Direct
(71% of customers would recommend First Direct and its NPS score is 57%)

Co-operative
(56% of customers would recommend Co-operative and its NPS score is 37%)

Nationwide
(52% of customers would recommend Nationwide and its NPS score is 25%)

Alliance & Leicester
(50% of customers would recommend Alliance & Leicester and its NPS score is 22%)

Royal Bank of Scotland (36% of customers would recommend Royal Bank of Scotland and its NPS score is 10%)

The Bottom Five

HBOS
(26% of customers would recommend HBOS and their NPS score is -17%)

Lloyds TSB
(24% of customers would recommend Lloyds and their NPS score is -19%)

Abbey
(24% of customers would recommend Abbey and their NPS score is -20%)

HSBC
(28% of customers would recommend HSBC and their NPS score is -20%)

Barclays
(19% of customers would recommend Barclays and their NPS score is -35%)

Andy Snuggs, MD at Geronimo said: ”It is no coincidence that the top rated banks in our research have a clear positioning – their customers know what they stand for and the banks deliver; be it ‘personal service’ (First Direct), ‘ethical stance’ (Co-op) or ‘fair pricing’ (Nationwide).The big players need to address a number of areas including … what they actually stand for, what their customers’ expectations are and how can they start to meet and beat these; also how can they surprise and delight their customers, especially their more valuable ones”.