KPMG Report Finds Bank Customers Value Service Experience Above Cost

The 2024 Kenya Banking Industry Customer Experience Survey, titled “Beyond Satisfaction, Towards Delight,” conducted by global consulting firm KPMG, has revealed that excellent customer experience is the primary factor influencing Kenyan bank customers’ preferences, surpassing even the cost of banking services.

The research was conducted in three regions covering Nairobi region, Coast Region and Western region to obtain nuanced information on customer experience across the country.

The sample had a total of 866 customers interviewed, with 75 % being retail customers and 25 % business customers.

A key survey finding is that, excellent customer experience overrides other considerations for customers, including the cost of a banking service.

Branch customer experience ranks highest (47 % ) among the reasons given by customers for selection of the preferred bank channel, while charges/rates ranks lowest at 6 % for reasons for preference of specific channels.

This implies that customers’ sensitivity to charges and costs is low, and they rank customer experience over and above the cost it takes to access services via a given channel.

In terms of channel preference, majority (42 %) of the banked population used mobile app as their preferred channel to interact with the bank, with bank branch ranking second at 24 % and the least preferred option being internet banking at 4 %.

In previous customer satisfaction surveys conducted by the Kenya Bankers’ Association (KBA), Co-operative Bank of Kenya was named Overall Winner for both years 2022 and 2023.