Why don’t Banks change their approach to customer service?

My mate Ingrid recently wrote about how rubbish UK some banks are at customer service; and asked why they stick to the old model given the financial crisis and massive decline in consumer trust.

I couldn’t agree with her more. Why don’t they change?

I read with interest that Walkovia (US bank) continues to be the highest scoring bank for customer service and that despite struggling this year with financial and regulatory problems, it continues to tout its reputation for good customer service.

I wanted to understand the reasons behind their success and discovered that last year they had recruited their first "customer experience executive" (Michael Sherck).

His job description says it all: “My job is to stand in the shoes of the customer, to make sure that every employee at the line level is doing the right thing for the customer. How do we do that? We take great care of the employees. That's the first step.”

Powerful stuff. There is more.

The current program their are working on involves calling 1 million + customers in the next four months, just to thank them for their business. He thinks while most will just say: "Wow, that's great, thank you very much," a lot will probably respond with: "Wow, I appreciate your call, and I had something I want to discuss with you."

UK banks could learn a thing or two from Walkovia about how to delight consumers with positive brand experiences.

Mind you…a posting that appeared on the news story article about this bank shows the challenges the web has created for brands' today.