Customer satisfaction is essential in the world we live in today that is full of alternative options to any product or service. There are options to choose from, and everything happens in a few clicks. This applies to banking as well; gone are the days when people had to stand in long queues at a teller’s counter in a bank to know their account balance. People can now do transactions, make payments, pay bills, check balances, and generate account statements through their smartphones that too in seconds. This is what technology has done to banking today; everything is quick and reliable. Thus, the impact of e-banking on customer satisfaction is visibly significant.
All this digital transformation made customers’ lives easier, and thus it led to improved customer satisfaction. This phenomenon of customer satisfaction can be defined as the level of customers’ expectations being met by the service provider (banks, in our case). A plain vanilla definition could be the extent to which the customer is happy with the products and services he is using. Thus, the impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction is quite substantial, given the ease that e-banking offers.
Let us now observe the different components of electronic banking and how they lead to higher customer satisfaction:
Automated Teller Machines (ATM):
With the advent of ATMs, now you don’t have to visit a bank first, stand in a queue to withdraw cash from your account. You can just walk into any ATM and withdraw cash in a few seconds. You don’t have to carry physical cash when you go out, you can just carry your debit card and withdraw cash depending on your need. This is exemplary when we speak of the impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction.
Mobile/Internet Banking:
Now banking is in your hands with the introduction and rapid adoption of mobile or internet banking that created a huge transformation in how we used to do transactions. With mobile/internet banking, you can pay bills, send and receive money from any account in the same or a different bank that too 24*7, check account balance, view and download account statements (savings account, current account, loan account, etc.), track spending to name just a few. All this speaks volumes about the impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction.
Electronic Clearing Services (ECS):
Borrowers have loans against their name on which they have to pay an equated monthly installment (EMI) every month. With ECS, you can set a standing instruction to the bank to debit the EMI amount from your savings or a current account on the due date. Because of this service, you will not default on your repayment obligations, and thus your credit score will not go down. Now you don’t have to remember the due date of EMI payment on your loan or credit card and pay by visiting the branch in cash. This is another significant impact of e-banking on customer satisfaction.
Investing/Trading:
Gone are the days of buying shares of companies in physical form on the trading floor of the Bombay Stock Exchange. You can now open a Demat account, link your bank account to it and start trading stocks. Even the banks have their own brokerages now that allow you to buy and sell shares. All this adds to the ease of banking and showcases an evident impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction.
Bill Payment:
Banks these days have tie-ups with insurance companies, service providers, utility companies, third-party payment apps, etc. All this helps in paying bills in a timely manner and without any hassle. Be it your mobile bill, electricity bill, water bill, broadband bills, insurance premium payment, mobile recharge, to name a few. There’s a lot more that you can do here with a few clicks by sitting on your couch. This is why the impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction is substantial. Customers will not have to wait in long queues to pay their bills today and thus they are happier than they were ever before.
NEFT/RTGS Facilities:
NEFT stands for National Electronic Funds Transfer, and RTGS is Real Time Gross Settlement. Both these are facilities offered by banks to transfer a large amount of money (in lakhs and crores) to the beneficiary’s bank account in real-time. RTGS is real-time, while NEFT payment occurs in hourly batches. In a nutshell, both these modes of payment are super quick and reliable apart from being available 24*7*365. This eliminates the use of sending a cheque or a demand draft to the beneficiary, and thus you will not have to visit your bank’s branch. Also, you are saving on the demand draft making charge that is charged by the bank. The impact of e-banking on customer satisfaction is linear and can be proved with this payment facility.
Conclusion:
This is all we had for you in this edition of the impact of electronic banking on customer satisfaction. We hope you have a fair understanding of how the digital transformation in banking has led to increased customer satisfaction. They now don’t have to go anywhere for withdrawing cash, doing transactions, or paying bills, all because of e-banking. Thus, a linear relation between e-banking and customer satisfaction is directly proportional. To link your bank account in the least steps to your Demat account and to enjoy the lowest brokerage fee, open a trading account with Angel One by clicking here.
