Strategic service enhancement towards customer satisfaction in Maybank Simpang Kuala / Rafiza Mohd. Radzi ... [et al.]

Commercial banking is one of the major players in the business world. Customer satisfaction is a priority in order to retain customers, to have good words of mouth and to have more customers. Our study was on Maybank Simpang Kuala, Alor Star, Kedah. To reach their corporate goal and annual target, the management, from time to time conducted survey among customers to find areas where they could improve. Their
preliminary survey showed that the areas for improvements are parking space, facility layout, waiting time, counters and location of bank. This study was to verify the current situation of independent variables, i.e. parking space, facility layout, waiting time, counters and location of bank, and to see how they affect dependent variable i.e. customer satisfaction. A comparative study with CIMB, Bank Islam and Affin Bank which are situated near the Maybank Simpang Kuala, was done. Respondents were from customers of the four banks. Survey was done with three hundred and seventy-nine questionnaires given out and only seventy-seven responses were eligible for analysis. Business model used were SWOT analysis, Frequency analysis using SPSS, Competitor Assessment analysis and Porter's five forces. Findings showed current situation of the independent variables and there was a relationship between customer satisfaction and them. This study also suggested some recommendation for the bank in areas where they could enhance their services. Service enhancement were recommended so that customer satisfaction could be increased and switching to competing banks could be avoided.