Digital Banking, Customer Experience and Financial Performance: UK Bank Managers’ Perceptions

Purpose – The study examines managers’ perceptions of digital banking’s effect on customer experience and banks’ financial performance. Design/methodology/approach – The research uses interviews from senior UK Bank managers to gather their views on digital banking impact on customer experience and financial performance. The interviews were thematically analysed to produce results and a model. Findings – The attributes affecting digital banking experience are: service quality, functional quality, perceived value, service customisation, service speed, employee-customer engagement, brand trust, digital banking innovation, perceived usability and perceived risk. They affect customer experience, satisfaction and loyalty, and financial performance. The research revealed relationships amongst these attributes (e.g. brand trust and loyalty). Research limitations/Implications – The study is UK bank specific and can be replicated in other developed countries’ banks, helping in further comparison. However, digital banking is conducted globally, which implies that the findings are robust enough to be potentially applied in other countries. The proposed model shows customer experience drivers and outcomes through managers’ views, which can be theoretically tested. Practical implications – The findings suggest important attributes (as above) for consideration to improve digital banking customer experience and financial performance. They show the relevance of employee-customer interaction, service personalisation, value proposition, quality service offering and digital banking experience, which have useful implications for improving digital banking design and interactive marketing. Originality/value – Gauging digital banking customer experience as perceived by bank managers has not been studied in this way, highlighting digital banking effectiveness, which is important for multi-channel marketing and banks’ financial performance, and advances theory. Keywords: Service Quality, Customer Experience, Customer Loyalty, Digital Banking, Internet Marketing, Digital Growth Paper Type: Research paper