Only 33% of bank customers are fully engaged, according to Gallup research. These customers have a strong positive emotional attachment to their primary bank.

Another 20% are actively disengaged, which means they feel strongly antagonistic toward their primary bank. The remaining 47% are indifferent -- they have no particular allegiance to the company and are at risk of switching if a better offer comes along.

When almost half of a bank's customers are open to taking their business elsewhere, and one in five are actively hostile, the company should recognize it has a problem with its customer culture. Before banks can correct the problem, though, they need to define what exceptional service culture is.

Customer Service Starts With Customer Well-Being

Most banks want to provide exceptional customer service, but their leaders often struggle to define it. Exceptional customer service, as customers define it, is more than well-staffed and capable branches, functioning online banking platforms, few if any errors, and a variety of products and services. To customers, those items are the point of entry -- the least a bank can do or provide for them.

Exceptional customer service requires far more -- but if leaders can't define it, employees won't know what they should do to provide it. The best way to approach defining it is to take a step back and consider customers as people first.

Customers are human, and they are looking for a life well-lived. There are five elements of well-being, as Gallup defines it: purpose, social, financial, community and physical. Financial well-being is the intersection of money and people, and banks are agents for that intersection.

Financial well-being is more than how much money a person makes or has. Gallup's analysis shows that people who have the highest sense of financial well-being share three things:

• Stable money management. They can manage the inflows and outflows of their money in ways that reduce daily worry.

• Financial security. They plan for the key life events -- such as paying for school, having children, buying a home or retiring -- that have significant financial implications.

• Spending on experiences rather than things, such as vacations. People accumulate a high level of well-being by anticipating the vacation, enjoying the event itself and remembering it afterward -- because happy memories are precious to them.

Benefits of Focusing on Customers' Financial Well-Being

Banks realize significant benefits from clearly focusing on their customers' financial well-being. When banking customers strongly agree that their bank looks out for their financial well-being, 84% are fully engaged, compared with the industry average of 33% fully engaged customers.

However, only 28% of banking customers strongly agree that their bank looks out for their financial well-being. That's unfortunate because customers who strongly agree have more products with their primary bank, are more satisfied with the banking channels they use and are more likely to invest with their primary bank.

For customers, the three aspects of financial well-being -- stable money management, financial security and spending on experiences rather than things -- make for lives with less stress and more happiness. For banks, these three aspects serve as a framework for providing exceptional customer service.

From http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/194108/banking-customers-define-service-financial.aspx?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_content=morelink&utm_campaign=syndication