The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-4503.htm
MIP
25,1
82
Received October 2005
Revised October 2006
Accepted October 2006
Marketing Intelligence & Planning
Vol. 25 No. 1, 2007
pp. 82-97
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-4503
DOI 10.1108/02634500710722416
On the role of bank staff in online
customer purchase
Mark Durkin
University of Ulster, Belfast, UK
Abstract
Purpose – This paper reports the findings of the latest, quantitative phase of a continuing study that
explores the impact of the internet on bank-customer relationships. The specific aim is to shed light on
customers’ own views about when, how and in which circumstances personal contact with bank staff
remains appropriate despite developments in online banking.
Design/methodology/approach – Building on key elements of the theoretical framework
developed in earlier phases of the study and taking methodological leads in the academic literature,
a questionnaire was constructed and delivered to 5,000 customers of one UK bank. The usable
response rate was just less than ten per cent, delivering almost 500 sets of respondent data, which were
analysed by multiple regression.
Findings – Motivating and inhibiting influences on interaction with bank staff are identified. Data
analysis shows that the more complex the service product offerings, the more customers require
reassurance about internet security and the impersonal and intangible nature of online transactions.
At the highest level of complexity, they feel the need for “coaching” in the procedures of online
banking by bank staff, face-to-face and perhaps even in the home.
Research limitations/implications – While Stage I consisted of a small number of depth
interviews with specialist managers in four countries, Stage II analysed a large number of
questionnaire returns from customers of one bank in one country. There is obvious scope to enlarge
both study settings and thereby improve the generalisability of findings and conclusions.
Practical implications – The implications for marketing planning and strategy development in the
banking environment are discussed, including the possibility that a viable strategic option could
be reduce the emphasis on online transactions in the particular case of higher net-worth customers.
Originality/value – Adds to the body of knowledge about the rapidly developing phenomenon of
remote banking transactions, especially the purchasing of financial services, facilitated by customer
adoption of online banking (or “internet banking” or “e-banking”).
Keywords Banking, Internet, Relationship marketing, Consumer behaviour, United Kingdom
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The growth in online banking (also known as internet banking or e-banking), with the
increase in the range of interface options available to access online banking solutions,
has resulted in a steady increase in the number of customers interacting through remote
channels to a greater extent than before. In a climate of increasing online competition,
banks that have chosen to retain extensive branch networks are re-aligning the roles of
staff in these branches and moving towards a relationship-driven sales culture. A key
enabler in such a strategy would be a clearer understanding as to what customers see as
the role of these staff and for what products customers see interacting with branch staff
important in the financial services search-buy process.
While the economic imperative for banks to move business online is clear, the
customer imperative to use such virtual solutions appears less evident. With meaningful
internet banking penetration staying around the 10-20 per cent level internationally Bank staff in
(Financial Services Distribution, 2005), the key challenge of maintaining and developing online customer
customer relationships, as well as cross-selling other services through this medium, is
increasingly evident for banks. purchase
Accordingly, it is important for academics and banking practitioners alike to have
an understanding of the implications for more effective management of bank-customer
interactions in an increasingly remote banking context. This papers reports a research 83
study originally set in a single large UK bank, which offers a greater understanding of
motivations and barriers to customers’ referral to branch staff online before purchase
of varying financial products.

Technology in banking
The recent academic focus on customer self-service technologies highlights the
importance of research situations in which technology acts as a service enabler for the
customer (Gwinner et al., 1998; Bitner et al., 2000; Selnes and Hansen, 2001; Dabholkar
and Bagozzi, 2002). The benefits of such technologies are argued to be centred around
the fact that “customers can access services when and where they want without some
of the complications of inter-personal exchanges” (Bitner et al., 2000). Online banking is
one such technology, and constitutes the general research focus in this paper. Specific
examination of the role to be played by staff in an increasingly remote and
technology-enabled environment is important in understanding the practical
implications of the changes, as are the issues of appropriate delivery balance
between face-to-face and remote interaction platforms. Implicit in understanding such
issues is an appreciation of how and when staff can add value in the face-to-face
context and in what ways their involvement can be leveraged so as to maximise
relationship value to both bank and customer.
Historically, research in banking focused on the adoption of technology in the form
of ATM (automated teller machine) technology (Marr and Prendergast, 1991, 1993).
Their 1993 study found that the main variables encouraging consumer acceptance of
such technologies were time convenience, place convenience and simplicity of use. It
also examined consumers’ motives for not adopting the technology, and found that a
preference for dealing with humans was a key factor (Leblanc, 1990). A decade later,
these findings were supported by Mattila et al. (2003, p. 524) who, in their study of bank
customers in Finland, established that fears about security and a lack of personal
contact were the key inhibitors to adoption of online banking, especially among the
older population.
Lee and Allaway (2002, p. 556) propose that successful self-service technology
improves the service firms’ resource management by lowering delivery costs and
releasing service personnel to provide better and more varied service. This view is
supported by Ricard et al. (2001, p. 300), who claim that such technologies can “ensure a
customised service offering, help companies recover from service failure, and are often
perceived by customers as a delightful experience”. However, Lee and Allaway (p. 554)
emphasise the challenge of integrating self-service technology in a relationship
oriented way:
Consumers who are used to personal assistance in their service encounters may be less eager
to adopt new automated service delivery innovations even though these services might
appear to offer clear advantages.
MIP Harden (2002, p. 323) proposes that, given the general tendency towards
25,1 “virtualisation” it is “inconceivable that bank-customer relationships will become
any more intimate in the future”. Lang and Colgate (2003, p. 30) similarly argue that
technology may not always have a positive impact on the relationship between
supplier and customer, and comment that “few authors have investigated whether the
presence of IT-mediated channels have a detrimental effect on relationships between
84 firms and their customers”.

Managing personal and remote relationships

Given that a meaningful relationship culture is what many banks aspire to, the extent
to which they should embrace remote technological platforms remains a contentious
issue (O’Donnell et al., 2002). While the importance of technology in customer-bank
interactions at many levels remains undisputed, commentators continue to emphasise
the importance of socialisation in the service encounter and its key role in relationship
development and management (Hollander, 1985; Czepiel, 1990; Rexha et al., 2003). It is
suggested that, whether in consumer or business to business settings, the social
content of service encounters often seems to overshadow any economic rationale that
may offer a more expedient alternative.
Lee (2002, p. 241) argues that “face-to-face interaction is the richest method for
establishing a close relationship with customers, because it involves more verbal and
visual information and feedback”. Further, such social bonds and the corresponding
benefits to the customer-firm relationship have been found to create a sense of
“obligation” on the part of the customer towards the employee (Selnes and Hansen,
2001), thereby enhancing the prospects for relationship longevity. Dwyer et al. (1987,
p. 12) had previously emphasised the importance of “socialisation” in the encounter,
arguing that “relational exchange participants can be expected to derive complex,
personal, non economic satisfactions” from such activity.
Clearly, in a relationship context, it becomes important to examine the extent to
which the balance between personalised and remote interaction platforms may require
adjustment, depending on customer perceptions regarding the online purchase of
financial services products as the complexity of these products varies.

Product complexity in banking

A research gap has been identified by Harrison (2003, p. 7) related to a lack of
understanding of customer search-and-buy behaviour in the context of financial
products of varying complexity. The seminal research in the area of product
complexity was that of Shostack (1987, p. 35), who proposed that a service’s complexity
level can be defined as “the number and intricacy of steps required to perform it”.
This focus on process breakdown is characteristic of what Howcroft et al. (2003) term
the “confidence school of thought”. Their research concentrates upon the “degree of
complexity and divergence in the interactions and the certainty of outcome or risk,
which is determined by the nature of different financial products” (p. 1004). This
contrasts with the “involvement school of thought” which examines the nature and
degree of contact between customers and staff, rather than the complexity of the
underlying process. The typology of financial services proposed by Storbacka (1994),
shown in Table I, classifies service products according to how customers use them, and
is helpful in the understanding of product complexity. Transaction services usually
 Transactions Deposit and lending Counselling Specialist services Investment services

Frequency High Low Medium Low Low

Regularity Regular Irr/regular Irr/regular Irr/regular Irr/regular
Interaction duration Short Long/medium Medium/long Long Long
Customer control Low Low Medium High High
Diversity demand Low Medium High Medium High
Customer participation High Low Medium Medium Low/high
Level of contact Low High Medium/high High High
Initiative Customer/bank Customer/bank Customer/bank Customer/bank Customer/bank
Source: Storbacka (1994)
purchase
online customer

descriptions for financial

services
Storbacka’s Typology
85

Table I.
Bank staff in
MIP handled through a customer’s current account (“checking account” in the USA) are
25,1 continuously delivered and frequently used, and this familiarity makes such products
low in complexity. However, the current account itself is a high involvement product,
especially when problems emerge in its management (Stewart, 1995). Thus, even the
most basic financial service products can be involving for the customer at some stage
in the consumption process. At other times however, customer inertia or apathy may
86 well be the dominant force.
Building on the work of Shostack (1987), Storbacka (1994) and Howcroft et al. (2003)
classified financial products into three broad categories, which facilitate the
determination of complexity:
(1) transaction services, encompassing current accounts and simple personal loan
products, which entail low-involvement interaction modes and a small number
of process stages (e.g. ATM), where certainty of outcome is high and the process
is short-term and easy to understand;
(2) insurance services, encompassing pure insurance products, where certainty of
outcome is high and the process is short-term and simple, involving few process
stages; and
(3) specialist services, encompassing such investment products as stocks, shares,
bonds, pensions and longer-term lending products such as mortgages, all of
which typically require more complex search-buy processes, given their
long-term nature and the uncertainty of the outcome.

This classification scheme is further supported by the recent work of Walker and
Johnston (2004), who argue that products can appear complex to customers depending
on, among other factors, their prior experiences of interacting with banks with regard
to such products, their own personal level of self-efficacy, and their feelings related to
control over the product itself and perceived risk.
In the case of a mortgage, for example, customers’ prior experiences of the search-buy
behaviour process, the certainty of outcome and the number of process stages will all
shape the extent to which the product appears “complex”. Where they have simple
financial needs and are confident in using the internet, it is possible they might
over-estimate the appropriateness of online banking in the delivery of certain products.
Walker and Johnston (2004) emphasise the importance of a preference for face-to-face
interaction having a potentially significant impact on perceptions of complexity.
“Self-efficacy” describes judgements about one’s own performance capability in
specific settings. These derive from several sources, including personal experience,
vicarious experience, verbal persuasion and emotional arousal (Ellen et al., 1991).
Negative feelings about control and risk are increased by technical anxiety about
understanding how to “manage” a service process via the internet. If products require a
low level of contact over a long duration (such as mortgages or investments), this may be
more difficult, because the regular interactions that can develop confidence and
familiarity in more simple and transactional products will be missing (Storbacka, 1994).
To sum up, findings from the academic literature and the author’s own previous
research (Howcroft et al., 2003) suggest that product complexity does have a significant
bearing on appropriateness for online delivery and that the role of staff in product
purchase decisions is a critical factor. A three-way categorisation of the complexity of
financial products, which was adopted for Stage 2 of the research is listed below:
 (1) Simple: Bank staff in
.
motor insurance; online customer
.
home contents insurance; purchase
.
buildings insurance;
.
credit card;
.
premium bonds; 87
.
post office savings; and
.
bank savings account
(2) Medium:
.
life assurance;
.
personal loan; and
.
stocks and shares
(3) Complex:
.
mortgage;
.
personal equity plan;
.
individual savings account;
.
unit trusts;
.
TESSA; and
.
pension

“Simple product” applies when certainty of the outcome is high, process stages are
relatively few, and the product is deemed easy to understand. “Complex product”
defines a situation in which certainty of outcome is low, outcomes therefore need to be
monitored, process stages are varied, and the product is difficult to understand.
“Medium product” a classification derived mainly from feedback from the qualitative
interviews, describes one judged to fall between the other two.

Research study
A two-stage research study applied both qualitative and quantitative analysis
methods. At the qualitative Stage 1 reported in Howcroft et al. (2003), a key focus
within the interview guide was exploration of the nature of the bank-customer
relationship and customers’ perceptions of the role of staff in an environment
characterised by proliferating online banking solutions. In Stage 2, findings from
Stage 1 were combined with others from the literature review to inform the research
proposition. Stage 2 gathered data for quantitative analysis by means of a
questionnaire issued to 5,000 customers of one UK bank.

Issues emerging from research Stage 1

Stage 1 had comprised 15 in-depth interviews with bank staff across the UK, in the
USA (North Carolina) and in Sweden (Central Stockholm).
All banks sampled had traditional branch networks and positioned themselves in
the market as being relationship oriented. All were at the stage of having recently
MIP introduced the internet into their business. A total of 15 executives and senior
25,1 managers with specific responsibility for online banking strategy were interviewed at
their offices. Interviews lasted approximately 90 minutes, and were tape recorded and
transcribed. Most followed the interview guide quite consistently, making a more
structured form of content analysis possible and relatively straightforward.
The methodological validity of this qualitative stage had been assured as far as
88 possible by the adoption of research methods outlined in the literature (Miles and
Huberman, 1994; Gabriel, 1990; Hirschmann, 1986). The validity of the findings was
further enhanced by sending all participants a summary of the issues that had emerged
from the interviews and giving them the opportunity to corroborate or contradict.
Transferability was achieved by a process of continuous reflection and comparison
with the findings from other related research. Confirmability had been established by
the dissemination of the author’s earlier work via research conferences and publication
(O’Donnell et al., 2002).
The interview guide for the qualitative interviews had four key themes, and the
thematic findings were fed into the structure and content of the quantitative
questionnaire used in Stage 2. They represent the common management issues in
relationship management and channel mix appropriateness for customers of banks
in Ireland, the UK, Sweden and the USA.

Managing relationships and channels

All participants in Stage I clearly viewed the management of relationships as being of
paramount importance, and regarded the bank branch as a key facilitator in this
process. American, British and Irish managers emphasised the difficulty of reconciling
branch-based incentivised sales campaigns with customer-focused relationship
marketing strategies. All agreed that branches would remain a key distribution
channel well into the foreseeable future, but that branch staff would need to learn new
skills in order to cope with the changing technological environment. Where there was
divergence of opinion, it centred on difficulties the British, Irish and American
interviewees expressed about systems integration, specifically with respect to CRM
and CIS systems providing customer and bookkeeping information. This was not the
case for Swedish managers, who claimed to have a relationship orientation which had,
from the outset of computerisation, led them to pursue the goal of a “single view of the
customer”. That objective was realised through the integration of technological
systems capturing customer data across branches, e-banking and mobile interfaces.
Such integration enabled Swedish banks to profile customers and calculate average
relationship profitability over time.
This process of integrating the internet through PC, mobile and digital television
interfaces did not seem to pose a problem for any of the Swedish interviewees.
However, it was seen as problematic to predict the extent to which customers would
register for the various channels and then, more importantly, actually use them.
All interviewees in all countries agreed on the important role of customer education
in encouraging the adoption of online banking, though few were actively engaged in
such educational initiatives at the time of the interviews. The branch platform and
branch staff were seen as key enablers in this education process. The American and
Swedish banks were planning initiatives to further develop staff skills in this area.
British, Irish and Swedish managers alike mentioned the unpredictability of consumer
behaviour with regard to online registration and use, but there were key differences Bank staff in
between these countries on this score. While Irish and British managers were uncertain online customer
about consumer behaviour in general, their Swedish counterparts were certain about
registration and adoption but less sure about which interface would be favoured by purchase
different customer segments, or whether certain products would be found to be more
appropriate for certain interfaces. American interviewees were more circumspect in
predicting the nature and speed of any changes in consumer behaviour. 89
There was general agreement that, irrespective of in-branch education and general
awareness campaigns, consumers would change their behaviour slowly and there was
only so much that could be done to encourage them. The key motivators for adoption of
online banking were agreed to be convenience and time-saving. Key inhibitors were
thought to centre around issues relating to perceived safety and security and, related to
this, the intangibility of the internet medium. The interviewed managers felt that many
customers, while not averse to completing product purchases and transactions online,
might first require staff involvement in a reassuring capacity.
There was also general agreement on the lack of clarity regarding consumer buying
behaviour, especially with respect to the interfaces (PC, mobile telephone or digital
television) that would be used for particular products. This uncertainty was
compounded by the perceived range of complexity in the typical financial services
product portfolio.
That lack of clarity provided the impetus for Stage 2 of the research, with the
objective of focusing on the customers themselves rather than the banks’ perceptions of
them, and established their views as to interface and product appropriateness in their
banking dealings. One dimension of this customer-focused phase of the overall study
was an examination of the propensity of customers to refer to bank staff before
purchasing financial products online.

Research proposition and analytical strategy

The Stage 1 qualitative findings concur with the consensus of the literature, and the
research proposition for Stage 2 of the study can accordingly be stated as follows:
The key influencers of the customer choice to have face-to-face contact with staff before
purchasing financial services online are a perceived need for reassurance about security and a
perceived anxiety about the intangible and impersonal nature of the internet platform.
It was addressed through an examination of the perceived importance of referring to a
member of branch staff before purchasing financial services products of varying
complexity.
The survey questionnaire developed for the purpose was informed by the key issues
arising from the literature and the Stage 1 findings. While it would have been desirable
to distribute it in the same four countries in which the qualitative interviews were
conducted, that was not practicable. Instead, the questionnaire was issued to
5,000 retail bank customers in the UK. The 480 usable responses received constitute
a 9.6 per cent response rate.
The customer perceptions used in the subsequent analysis were specific to each
customer’s own level of personal product uptake, and were derived from their
responses to certain questions in the survey instrument (full details of which are
obtainable from the author). Customers were classified on this basis as “simple”
MIP “complex” or “medium” users. The three-way categorisation of the complexity of
25,1 financial products, summarises the literature-based criteria defining these categories,
which reflect the degree of complexity present in the outcome certainty and process
stages for purchase of the various products.
Since, “simple” customers can only be users of simple products, only their related
responses were taken into account. Such products exhibit relatively high outcome
90 certainty and few process stages up to purchase. “Medium” customers can take up both
simple and medium products, but their overall product holdings are not complex.
Therefore, only their views on simple and medium product appropriateness were
considered. “Complex” customers, by definition, accept the highest levels of complexity
in their product portfolios, and all their views were accordingly taken into account.

Establishing the dependent variable and independent variables

This dependent variable for this analysis has its origins in a survey question which
required answers regarding the likelihood that a respondent would seek a face-to-face
consultation with a member of bank staff before purchasing various financial products
online.
Three subsets of the dependent variable were derived from the data. Given that
products and customers had been classified according to three levels of complexity, the
perceived need to consult staff was treated on the same basis. The dependent variable
thus comprised.
REFSIMP. Customers’ perceived need to refer to a member of staff before
purchasing simple financial products online.
REFMED. Customers’ perceived need to refer to a member of staff before
purchasing medium financial products online.
REFCOMP. Customers’ perceived need to refer to a member of staff before
purchasing complex financial products online.
The impact of the independent variables detailed in the Appendix on these three
behavioural states was assessed by multivariate regression analysis, which allowed
for the construction of matrices that ultimately facilitated comparisons between the
three different levels of products and customers.

“Simple” customers
With respect to customers who have only simple needs (Table II), the key variables
which influence perceived importance of talking face-to-face with a member of staff are
consistent with previous findings. The key predictor at the simple-customer level is
reluctance to give credit card details online, accounting for almost half (45 per cent) of
the variability in the dependent variable. The issue of convenience/timesaving is
positively related (b ¼ þ 0.277) for simple products (b ¼ þ 0.277), and accounts for
about 8 per cent of the dependent variable. This shows that, as desire for convenience
increases, the perceived importance of pre-purchase staff contact also increases.

“Medium” customers
A similar theme emerges in Table III. As before, the positive correlation with the
inability to see or touch online products is a key variable, explaining exactly a quarter
of all variation in the dependent variable, while 21 per cent of variability is accounted
for by customers seeking reassurance about internet security. Other less significant
 Bank staff in
Percentage of products of varying
complexity for which it is important to Adj R 2 online customer
refer to a member of staff pre-purchase Simple products (per cent) purchase
Simple customers Reluctant due to credit card details 44.6
becoming known. b ¼ 2 0.701
Lower fees for net banking. b ¼ 2 0.484 66.8 91
Improved service with online. 81.8
B ¼ þ 0.491 Table II.
Desire for convenience. b ¼ þ 0.277 89.6 Matrix showing results
Regular access to e-mail at home. 94 from linear regression for
b ¼ 20.196 simple customers and
Adjusted R 2 ¼ 94 per cent (n ¼ 101) their products held

variables inhibiting pre-purchase contact with bank staff include the cost of telephone
bills (12 per cent) and already having internet access at work (24 per cent).
Medium customers differ from their simple counterparts with respect to medium
products because the perceived importance of consulting a member of staff before purchase
increases as the desire for convenience decreases. In other words, less convenience-oriented
customers who hold products of medium complexity are more likely to refer to staff before
purchasing. This may be symptomatic of an uncertainty generated by the higher level of
complexity present. This is also true for complex customers and complex products. When
such customers hold increasingly complex products, talking to a member of staff is
perceived as increasingly important regardless of the relative inconvenience attached to
this option. That may be because the perceived importance outweighs any convenience
aspects of completing online transactions or purchases autonomously.

“Complex” customers
For complex customers with simple and medium products in their portfolio, the desire
for an in-home staff demonstration increases as the importance of referring to a
member of staff before purchase increases (Table IV). With regard to complex
products, a reluctance to deal with the intangibility of the online offer is again evident,
as is the negative correlation with the desire for convenience and technology benefits.
This suggests that these respondents here did not consider themselves time-poor, and
did not see any real pragmatic advantages offered by technology.

Summary of key issues across customer levels

.
For customers with simple product needs, referring to bank staff ahead of
purchase reduces the inhibiting impact of the fear of credit card fraud; in other
words, it seems to reassure them.
.
For customers with medium level products, the inhibiting influence of not being
able to see or touch the products becomes more pronounced as the perceived
importance of pre-purchase contact with bank staff increases.
.
For complex customers with medium and complex product needs, the importance of
in-home demonstration of online buying increases with the perceived importance of
consulting bank staff before purchase, suggesting that a personalised educational
offering would develop customer confidence in online banking.
 92
25,1
MIP

Table III.

their products held

Matrix showing results

medium customers and

from linear regression for
Percentages of products of
varying complexity for which it
is important to refer to a member Adj R 2 Adj R 2 (per
of staff pre-purchase Simple products (per cent) Medium products cent)

Medium customers Reluctant due to lack of see/touch product. 25.1 Desire for convenience. b ¼ 2 0.535 24.7
b ¼ þ0.539
Reassurance about security. b ¼ þ0.475 45.9 Age. b ¼ þ0.427 39.9
Reluctant due to internet at work only. 69.5 Sex. b ¼ þ 0.407 55.2
b ¼ 20.629
Staff in-home demo. b ¼ 2 0.247 85.9 Relationship status. b ¼ 20.423 71.9
Reluctant due to slow download time. 92.6
b ¼ þ0.583
Reluctant due to possible delay in receiving 97.2
product. b ¼ þ 0.197
Adjusted R 2 ¼ 97.2 per cent (n ¼ 47) Adjusted R 2 ¼ 71.9 per cent (n ¼ 62)
Percentage of products of Simple products Adj R 2 Medium products Adj R 2 Complex products Adj R 2
varying complexity for which (per cent) (per cent) (per cent)
it is important to refer to a
member of staff pre-purchase

Complex customers Staff in-home demo. 7.1 Sex. b ¼ þ0.328 9.5 Reluctant due to lack of 8.3
b ¼ 20.290 see/touch product. b ¼ þ0.310
Desire for technology 13.4 Staff in-home demo. 14.4 Desire for convenience, 15.3
benefit. b ¼ 2 0.279 b ¼ 20.249 b ¼ 0.289
Speed. b ¼ 20.217 17 Reluctant due to delay in 19
delivery, b ¼ þ0.226
Chief income earner. 21.8 Income, b ¼ þ 0.243 23.4
b ¼ 20.242
Lower fees as incentive, 25.4
b ¼ 2 0.232
Regular access to a PC at work, 30.7
b ¼ þ 0.211
Adjusted R 2 ¼ 21.8 Adjusted R 2 ¼ 14.4 Adjusted R 2 ¼ 30.7 per cent
per cent (n ¼ 202) per cent (n ¼ 217) (n ¼ 174)
purchase
online customer

Matrix showing results

their products held

complex customers and
from linear regression for
93

Table IV.
Bank staff in
MIP The research proposition was that, if customers consider face-to-face interaction with
25,1 bank staff ahead of purchase to be important, the main influence will be a perceived
need for reassurance about security and a perceived anxiety about the intangible and
impersonal nature of the internet.

Discussion and strategic marketing implications

94 Some common themes emerge from this analysis. Indeed, issues of reassurance as to
the efficacy of online banking are evident at all product levels.
At the level of simple products, reassurance about the security and safety of online
transactions is deemed important in advance of personal trial. This finding is
encouraging for bank-marketing managers, suggesting that, once such reassurance is
provided, customers may be willing to attempt to use the internet, given that simple
products are low involvement and easy to understand, and involve relatively few
process stages. However, issues of intangibility become evident at the medium product
level. This has interesting implications, since financial services are by their nature
intangible and it is consequently unclear if such individuals would be disposed to refer
to staff about medium products irrespective of the nature of the alternative mediums
on offer.
At the complex level, which features higher involvement products with lower
certainty of outcome that are relatively difficult to understand and involves many
process stages, it is interesting that the personal reassurance required by the customer
before online purchasing seems to take the form of a personalised in-home tutorial on
e-banking. This “at home” option was included in the questionnaire because two
respondents in Sweden had mentioned that home visits to encourage online adoption
were being considered by their banks. It was not foreseen that it would later emerge as
a key issue for customers considering complex products. It does not follow, of course,
that adoption of the “home visit” strategy will necessarily lead to customers taking up
the online platform for completion of their more complex transactions or product
purchases.
At a general level, it would seem important for bank-marketing strategists to place
greater emphasis on reassuring all customers about the safety and security of banking
online. An advertising campaign would be one way of communicating this message to
the mass market, and could be reinforced at branch level by in-branch merchandising
and staff interventions. Indeed, such an approach may have merit in helping to
“migrate” lower net-worth customers away from the branch and towards the lower cost
internet interface.
As regards higher net worth customers with more complex product holdings, the
expressed wish for staff contact prior to engaging with the bank’s internet platform
presents an ideal opportunity for management to enhance relationship value. In many
instances, they might wish to maintain personalised relationships with higher net-worth
clients and would not want them to adopt the internet as their sole interaction medium.
Therefore, the strategic objective would be to communicate to higher net-worth
customers who are relationship managed that the internet is a complement to
face-to-face interaction and not a replacement for it, while simultaneously
communicating to lower net-worth customers that it is a viable alternative.
It could be argued that this challenge presents bank marketers with a potential
“do-nothing” strategic option, because acting on the findings of this study could find
them “reassuring” customers to the extent that they have much less need for staff Bank staff in
interaction at branch level and can handle their more complex finances autonomously. online customer
However, this presents a potential business risk only at the level of the higher
net-worth, relationship-managed clients, who may become more convinced about their purchase
own ability to deal with their finances autonomously and perceive less value in
customer relationship management initiatives.
95
Conclusion
A key challenge facing all banks today is to determine the appropriate balance between
face-to-face and online service delivery platforms, and to assess with greater certainty
what matches may exist between products and channels for differing customer
segments.
A key aspect of this strategic challenge is understanding the role of branch staff in
an increasingly remote and technologically enabled financial services environment. In
particular, it is important that bank marketing strategists have an appreciation of why,
how and when customers may wish to have contact with “real people” at the bank staff
before committing themselves to buying and transacting online.
The key findings of the study reported here indicate that predictors do exist for
customers’ adoption of online routes to the purchase of increasingly complex products.
These include personal reassurance about internet security and mitigation of the
remote and intangible nature of online banking, as well as the opportunity to be
coached in the practice of e-banking by bank staff. Awareness of these predictors and
implementation of the corresponding initiatives afford the opportunity to use staff
more effectively, in order to match customers to delivery channels. This could
potentially deliver cost reductions within the branch network, and improved
effectiveness in customer relationship management. However, the findings also point
out the need for bank marketers to exercise due care in any strategy they might pursue,
to overcome customer anxieties about adopting online banking through various
interfaces.

References
Bitner, M.J., Brown, S.W. and Meuter, M.L. (2000), “Technology infusion in service encounters”,
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 28 No. 1, pp. 138-49.
Czepiel, J.A. (1990), “Service encounters and service relationships: implications for research”,
Journal of Business Research, Vol. 20, pp. 13-21.
Dabholkar, P.A. and Bagozzi, R.P. (2002), “An attitudinal model of technology-based self-service:
moderating effects of consumer traits and situational factors”, Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, Vol. 30 No. 3, pp. 184-201.
Dwyer, F., Schurr, P. and Oh, S. (1987), “Developing buyer-seller relationships”, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 51 No. 2, pp. 11-27.
Ellen, P.S., Bearden, W.O. and Sharma, S. (1991), “Resistance to technological innovations: an
examination of the role of self-efficacy and performance satisfaction”, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 297-307.
Financial Services Distribution (2005), “Huge variation in on-line banking take-up across
Europe”, Financial Services Distribution, No. 116, pp. 1-6.
Gabriel, O. (1990), “The validity of qualitative market research”, Journal of the Market Research
Society, Vol. 32 No. 4, pp. 507-16.
MIP Gwinner, K.P., Gremler, D.D. and Bitner, M.J. (1998), “Relational benefits in service industries: the
customer’s perspective”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 26 No. 2,
25,1 pp. 101-14.
Harden, G. (2002), “E-banking comes to town: exploring how traditional UK banks are meeting
the challenge of technology and virtual relationships”, Journal of Financial Services
Marketing, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 323-32.
96 Harrison, T. (2003), “Understanding the behaviour of financial services customers: a research
agenda”, Editorial, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 6-9.
Hirschmann, E.C. (1986), “Humanistic inquiry in marketing research: philosophy, method and
criteria”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 2 No. 3, pp. 237-49.
Hollander, S. (1985), “A historical perspective on the service encounter”, in Czepiel, J.A., Solomon,
M.R. and Surprenant, C.F. (Eds), The Service Encounter: Managing Employee/Customer
Interaction in Service Businesses, Lexington Books, Lexington, MA, pp. 49-64.
Howcroft, J.B., Hewer, P. and Durkin, M. (2003), “Banker-customer interactions in financial
services”, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 19 Nos 9/10, pp. 1001-20.
Lang, B. and Colgate, M. (2003), “Relationship quality, on-line banking and the information
technology gap”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 29-37.
Leblanc, G. (1990), “Customer motivations: use and non-use of automated banking”, International
Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 36-40.
Lee, J. (2002), “A key to marketing financial services: the right mix of products, services, channels
and customers”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 238-58.
Lee, J. and Allaway, A. (2002), “Effects of personal control on adoption of self-service technology
innovations”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 6, pp. 553-72.
Marr, N.E. and Prendergast, G.P. (1991), “Strategies for retailing technologies at maturity: a retail
baking case study”, Journal of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 99-125.
Marr, N.E. and Prendergast, G.P. (1993), “Consumer adoption of self-service technologies in retail
banking”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 3-10.
Matilla, M., Karjaluoto, H. and Pento, T. (2003), “Internet banking adoption among mature
customers: early majority or laggards?”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 5,
pp. 514-28.
Miles, M.B. and Huberman, A.M. (1994), Qualitative Data Analysis, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.
O’Donnell, A., Durkin, M.G. and McCartan-Quinn, D. (2002), “Corporate banking in the UK:
personal versus remote interaction”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 6,
pp. 273-84.
Rexha, N., Kingshott, R.P.J. and Aw, A.S.S. (2003), “The impact of the relational plan on the
adoption of electronic banking”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 1, pp. 53-67.
Ricard, L., Prefontaine, L. and Sioufi, M. (2001), “New technologies and their impact on French
consumer behaviour: an investigation in the banking sector”, International Journal of Bank
Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 7, pp. 299-311.
Selnes, F. and Hansen, H. (2001), “The potential hazard of self-service in developing customer
loyalty”, Journal of Service Research, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 79-90.
Shostack, G.L. (1987), “Service positioning through structural change”, Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 51 No. 1, pp. 34-43.
Stewart, K. (1995), “Exploration of customer exit with empirical findings from the retail banking
sector in Northern Ireland”, Unpublished PhD Thesis, National University of Ireland.
Storbacka, K. (1994), “The nature of customer relationships and customer bases in retail Bank staff in
banking”, Research Report 55, Swedish School of Economics and Business
Administration, Helsinki. online customer
Walker, R.H. and Johnston, L.W. (2004), “Managing technology-enabled service innovations”, purchase
International Journal of Entrepreneurship & Innovation Management, Vol. 4 No. 6,
pp. 561-74.
97
Further reading
Marr, N.E. and Prendergast, G.P. (1994), “Disenchantment discontinuance in the diffusion of
self-service technologies in the services industry: a case study in retail banking”, Journal
of International Consumer Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 2, pp. 25-40.

Appendix
Independent variables
.
All products with the same provider?
.
Relationship status
. Chief income earner
.
Social class
.
Age and gender
.
Highest qualification level
.
Q26 – but not to include “other factors”
.
Q13 – reluctance stimuli for internet use
.
Highest level of product complexity
.
New 7 decision styles as detailed above from new factor analysis
.
Q7 – Use of internet to help make purchase decisions
. Q10 – Perceived ease of buying process online
.
Q1/2 – Use the internet at home/work; e-mail at work and home

Corresponding author
Mark Durkin can be contacted at: mg.durkin@ulster.ac.uk

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.