Business customers are less satisfied with their banks than personal customers, the latest Roy Morgan Business Single Source survey revealing a further drop in the satisfaction level during the month of March.
Business banking satisfaction levels dropped by 2.9 percentage points during the last six months, falling to 66.1 per cent in March.
The findings, sourced from 10,000 interviews with business decision-makers and the Roy Morgan Single Source Survey of over 50,000 individuals per year, reveals a business banking result well below the 82.9 per cent satisfaction rating registered with personal banking customers.
The big four did not fare too well in the latest results, with all four’s business customers locking in a satisfaction level much lower than that of their personal customers. The ANZ bank saw the biggest gap with 21.6 percentage points; business satisfaction came in at 57.4 per cent while personal banking satisfaction came in at 79.0 per cent.
“Although the overall level of business banking satisfaction has been improving over the last five years, it is still well below that of personal customers, who have also been showing improved satisfaction levels,” Roy Morgan Research Industry Communications Director Norman Morris said.
“Of particular significance is the fact that only around one in five business customers are very satisfied with their bank, compared with approximately one in three personal customers — which is also a low level.”
Bendigo Bank came out on top among the major banks, with 46.1 per cent of business customers being “very satisfied”. The big four followed quite a bit behind, with NAB registering 20.5 per cent as “very satisfied”, Westpac with 20.3 per cent, ANZ with 18.7 per cent, and CBA with 18.4 per cent.
“The much lower incidence of very satisfied business customers is a lost opportunity and as such should become an increasing focus of the major banks,” Mr Morris said.
“Low levels of very satisfied business customers will not only be likely to impact on business growth and customer retention, but have the potential to negatively influence personal customer satisfaction and advocacy levels. This is due to the fact that there is a very close connection between the personal bank and business bank used by small business owners.”
