In the yearly customer service evaluation survey by Dive, Citadele bank was revealed as the bank with the best customer service in Latvia and Lithuania.
The survey was performed at the end of 2017 by one of the leading customer service evaluation and improvement businesses in Central and Eastern Europe - Dive. As part of the research, 170 “secret customer” visits took place at branches of the banks included in the study. During these visits, bank branch environment, employee appearance, professional knowledge, communication abilities, ability to offer the customer the most suitable product and other parameters were evaluated using a unified method and identical criteria.
Citadele’s customer service rating in Latvia in 2017 was 97.3% out of 100%, the highest result from all banks included in the survey. In Latvia, the customer service of SEB bank, Swedbank, Luminor and Norvik banka was also rated in the survey.
Compared with 2016, when Citadele’s result was 91.7%, there has been an improvement of 5.6%. Citadele bank’s customer service has been recognised as the best in Latvia for the third time now - it previously achieved this result in 2014 and 2016.
“Branch environment, employee appearance, professional knowledge and communication skills are the most highly rated areas of Citadele’s customer service. Compared with other banks, Citadele is noticeably ahead in these areas,” acknowledged head of Dive Latvija Ilze Paožole.
In terms of customer service quality, Citadele bank also came in first in Lithuania, where seven banks were evaluated as part of the survey. Citadele in Lithuania has received this highest ranking for the third year in a row.
Citadele bank’s Head of the Private Person Service Sector, Anna Fišere-Kaļķe, admits that Citadele pays special attention to customer service quality and environment both in the bank’s branches as well as on remote channels like the Call centre, which clients can contact 24 hours a day. “The client is our biggest asset. That’s why we work on having great employees who make sure clients are satisfied with the bank’s service and are given an individual approach. I am thankful for each client who gives us their opinion so that the bank can develop. And a huge thank you to the Citadele team for their achievement!”
The Dive survey reveals that, from the three Baltic countries, Lithuania can pride itself on having the best customer service quality, with an average result of 87.7% from a maximum of 100% (the total result having decreased by 1.8% over the year.) Latvian banks come in second place with a result of 87.7%, which has improved by 7.2% compared with the previous year. Estonia had the lowest rated bank customer service with 83.3% (an improvement of 5.8%).
For many consecutive years now, Baltic banks have achieved their highest results in survey criteria such as branch environment, employee appearance and employee communication skills. The secret customers note that they are welcomed to banks with genuine smiles and politeness, in addition to rating employees’ product knowledge highly. At the same time, evaluators expect more engagement from Baltic banks, offering products suited to the customer’s specific needs as well as alternative solutions.
In Latvia, the survey was undertaken in branches in seven towns - Riga, Daugavpils, Ventspils, Rēzekne, Ogre, Jelgava and Jūrmala.
Dive TOP3 is a customer service quality comparison tool which is also applied in other fields during surveys in both the Baltics and Poland.
Dive Group is one of the leading customer service improvement businesses in Central and Eastern Europe with many years of experience. Dive helps its clients to improve customer service, thereby helping businesses to gain higher financial and quality indicators. Using the secret shopper method, Dive rates customer service quality mainly in banking, telecommunications, transport and retail as well as in the state sector.