Press Release Headlines

Banking Industry Shows Steady Improvement in Customer Experience With Credit Unions and USAA Leading the Charge, Reports New Temkin Group Research Study

Third Annual Temkin Experience Ratings Evaluates 246 Companies Across 19 Industries

WABAN, Mass., March 26, 2013 /PRNewswire/ — Based on a study of 10,000 U.S consumers, credit unions and USAA earned the top spots in the banking sector of the 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings. At the other end of the spectrum, HSBC and Capital One were the lowest-rated banks. The banking industry earned the fifth highest average rating out of 19 industries.

"Credit unions and USAA continue to lead the banking industry in customer experience, but the entire sector is making great progress," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

The Temkin Experience Ratings evaluates three areas of customer experience: functional (can customers do what they want to do), accessible (how easy it is to work with the company), and emotional (how consumers feel about their interactions).

The ratings include 16 banks: Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, Citizens, credit unions, Fifth Third, HSBC, ING Direct, PNC, Regions, SunTrust Bank, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, USAA, and Wells Fargo.

Here are some additional highlights from the ratings:

  • The banking industry has been steadily improving over the last three years, from an average Temkin Experience Rating of 62.0% in 2011 to 68.6% this year. Banks also made the largest improvement of any industry between 2012 and 2013, gaining 3.4 percentage points.
  • Credit unions take first place in the industry for the second straight year with a rating of 79%. USAA earned the second spot with a rating of 78% followed by ING Direct and TD Bank that tied for third place with ratings of 74%.
  • The lowest-ranked bank is HSBC, earning a score of 57%. It also earned the lowest functional, accessible, and emotional ratings. The two next lowest banks are Capital One (62%) and Bank of America (63%).
  • Credit unions lead in the functional and accessible components while USAA leads in the emotional component.
  • Citibank improved by 15 percentage points between 2012 and 2013. This gain represents the largest improvement by any company across all industries.
  • Regions also had a significant improvement of 10 percentage points over the last year.
  • PNC had the worst decline from 2012 to 2013, experiencing a loss of six percentage points. HSBC was the only other bank with a ratings drop since last year.

The 2013 Temkin Experience Ratings along with other ratings can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

The report "2013 Temkin Experience Ratings" can be downloaded for free from the Customer Experience Matters®blog, at ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com as well as from the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is widely recognized as a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys. Temkin Group combines customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of the dynamics of organizations to help accelerate results. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building four critical competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices across a wide range of activities for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

About Bruce Temkin: Bruce Temkin is widely recognized as a customer experience thought leader and is Customer Experience Transformist and Managing Partner of Temkin Group. He is also the author of a very popular blog, Customer Experience Matters® (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com). Prior to forming Temkin Group, he was a VP at Forrester Research for 12 years. Bruce is a highly demanded speaker who consistently receives high marks for his content-rich, entertaining keynote addresses. He is also the co-founder and Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a global non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of customer experience management.

Customer experience matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.