Bank of America Receives a Third of Negative Comments Made Online about the US Banking Sector According To Latest Findings from DigitalMR

Columbus, Ohio (PRWEB UK) 28 February 2012

Social media research specialist DigitalMR releases latest findings on what customers are saying about US financial service companies online.

DigitalMR analysed thousands of customer comments regarding banks for the month of November 2011. Interestingly a large proportion of customer views monitored were positive (62%), compared with 38% being negative about their customer experiences.

DigitalMR’s report (powered by SocialNuggets) analyses thousands of customer comments posted via a range of relevant finance related websites and open access social media platforms. It measures not only the number of comments posted by consumers on the internet, but also sentiment – whether these posts are positive or negative.

Results are based on comments posted by consumers on the major US banks: CitiBank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, US Bank, American Express, HSBC, Capital One, Barclays, JP Morgan Chase Manhattan and US Bancorp.

The banking service brands with the highest share of overall mentions were: Amex (27%), Bank of America (22%), Citibank (17%), and Wells Fargo (15%).

There was, however, a large difference between the positive and negative mentions that these banks generated. Amex achieves the highest share of positive comments (36%) but only 12% of negative ones. Conversely, Bank of America attracted the largest share of negative comments (33%) which is more than twice its share of positive ones (16%).

Taking the difference between positive and negative posts into consideration, the winner for November is Amex with a Net Sentiment Score (NSS) of 66%, followed by US Bank with 64%.

Third placed is Capital One with an NSS of 40%. A strong NSS score is an indication of high overall satisfaction levels among customers. Only one bank had a negative NSS – Bank of America with a NSS of minus 11%.

Ryan Rutan, President of DigitalMR USA commented: “nearly two-thirds of all customer feedback measured has been positive which is good news for US banks and Amex in particular. However Bank of America continues to receive a higher proportion of bad reviews and this month is the only bank with a negative NSS of minus 11”

Click here for further data

Features and Services

DigitalMR measured thousands of customer posts across November regarding the services and features that banks offer. Services attracting a much higher proportion of positive mentions to negative ones included: Credit Cards (39% positive vs 15% negative). Services attracting a higher proportion of negative comments included: Mortgages (10% positive vs 23% negative).

In their words – sample customer comments

Amex:

“Amex, you guys are excellent. Your transactions reconcile faster than any other banks I deal with, your gold card knows no limits (pardon the pun), & your customer service is top notch. Never an issue disputing a charge on the off chance I have one and each time I have to use customer service, the staff is empowered to take a corrective step if necessary rather than asking a manager ever 30 seconds”                                        

http://www.mybanktracker.com/bank-reviews/American-Express/Always-On-Point-3913

US Bank:

“I love the app – huge improvement over the last app – but I’d like to have the option to make payments to my U.S. Bank Visa Credit Card, U.S. Bank CreditLine, and U.S. Bank Home Mortgage all from the mobile app. Perhaps consider this for your next revision? Otherwise the app is great. :)”                

http://www.facebook.com/usbank?sk=wall

Bank of America:

“New BofA Online Bank web site is a NIGHTMARE”

First time I tried a transfer, no detail showed but the balance show a decrease, I called customer support and they couldn’t find the transaction and suggested I do it again. Well you guessed, the next day 2 identical transactions showed and it ran my balance below zero. So now I had to call customer service and get them to reverse the transfer and tomorrow I get to call again to reverse the overdraft fee”.

http://www.mybanktracker.com/Bank-of-America/Reviews

Wells Fargo

“I just closed a 6 figure account with wells fargo today and the bank officer did not care!! Since wells fargo took over wachovia, the service has been horrendous. The bank officer in the syosset, ny branch gave me incorrect information so when i went to florida to specifically take care of business for my mother’s account; i could not complete this business.

http://www.mybanktracker.com/Wells-Fargo/Reviews

Click for further customer comments and more about web listening reports

Contact

For regular reports and more information:

Ryan A. Rutan

rrutan(at)digital-mr(dot)com

tel: +1 (614) 638-0216

http://www.digital-mr.com

About DigitalMR

DigitalMR understands what people think and feel when they share views online. It is a specialist agency which provides a holistic approach to web based market research. It specialises in utilising social media research, especially active web-listening, and online communities to enhance its business consulting approach. The agency has pioneered new methods in online focus groups alongside tools such as video diaries, bulletin boards and online ethnography. DigitalMR is headed by founder and MD, Michalis Michael and has offices in London UK, Nicosia Cyprus, and Columbus Ohio, in the US.

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