The development of customers' satisfaction in the banking sector of Slovakia in the turbulent economic environment

Abstract

Satisfaction of bank’s customers presents important area of building of long-term relationships with the client, which significantly determines the financial performance of commercial banks through successful business. Satisfied customer buy bank’s products, is willing to pay also higher price for the product or service and represents some form of free advertising and considerable less effort, time and money needed for keep him, than to get a new one. This article presents current situation in the banking sector in Slovakia and quantifies changes in the area of customer satisfaction, which occurred during the financial and economic crisis. Customer satisfaction research has been conducted through a questionnaire survey. First research has been carried out on the first half of 2008 on the sample of 298 respondents, ie. the time before the financial crisis. In that time, the greatest satisfaction has been assigned to the availability of bank’s products and services, and the greatest dissatisfaction has been expressed by respondents to the prices of banking products and services. In 2012, this research has been conducted on the sample of 320 respondents. The change of satisfaction factors, respectively dissatisfied bank’s customers compared with 2008 has been investigated by standard statistical methods. Results of our research in 2012 showed satisfaction reduction of bank customers and also changes in respondents’ preferences of the perception of satisfaction factors, respectively dissatisfaction in relation to commercial banks.