Developing a model of customer defection in the Australian banking industry

Abstract

Examines the activities of a regional bank in Australia and follows Hart and Smith examining customer profitability and Ramsay and Smith examining customer channel preferences. Examines the customer database to identify those at risk of leaving; specifically this study looks at the retention of customers with savings accounts and strategies that might be adopted to secure their retention. In Australian banking, the funding pool is insufficient to support current lending activities. This has generated intense competition within the banking industry for customers purchasing savings products, making the retention of existing customers imperative. Fornell identifies two strategies for increasing an organisation’s market penetration: the offensive strategy, which focuses on generating new customers, and the defensive strategy which focuses on preserving the current customers. Although these strategies can be successful all customers are not retained as a consequence and organisations need to identify those customers at risk of leaving in order to reduce defections. Expands on the findings of Ainslie and Pitt and Hamilton and Howcroft in database marketing to develop, with considerable success, a model of customers at risk of leaving the bank.