DECLARATION I hereby declare that the thesis is my own work and effort and that has not been submitted anywhere for any award Where other sources of information have been used, they have been acknowledged.The content and figures presented in the thesis reflected a fair and true situation of the internship organization Hanoi, May, 2016 Student Le Thi Hao ABTRACT The study focused on customer satisfaction with customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch Serverqual model was employed in the assessment of customer satisfaction of the bank The questionnaire was handed out at the bank for one month, from mid of March to mid of April, 2016 The results showed that the customers are mainly satisfied with all customer services at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch The research presented here has profound implication for future studies of the bank and may one day help solve problems about customer service at this bank ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to MA Ngo Thi Viet Anh, my supervisor who has given valuable guidance, advices, and comments throughout the whole period of this minor thesis Needless to say, without his support, the thesis would not be either inspired or finished Secondly, I want to thank Ms Nguyen Thi Dien- Director of Agribank Ha Tinh Branch; Mr Duong Dinh Luong- Head of Thach Ha transaction office and Tran Thi Huyen Trang-the credit officer for giving me the permission to commence the thesis, to the necessary research work and to use departmental data as well as supporting me during my study Especially, I warmly thanks to my beloved parents, family members and close friends for their support and encouragement not only during the period of this minor thesis but also for my whole life Finally, because of limitation of time and knowledge, mistakes are unavoidable, so I wish to have more opportunities I also wish to receive more contributions and suggestions to make my thesis better LIST OF ABRREVIATION Agribank Ha Tinh: Ha Tinh Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development P: Perception E: Expectation BIDV: Bank for Investment and Development of Viet Nam Vietinbank: Viet Nam Join Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Customer profile Table Data collected about customer satisfaction according to Reliability dimension Table Data collected about customer satisfaction according to Responsiveness dimension Table Data collected about customer satisfaction according to Empathy dimension Table Data collected about customer satisfaction according to Tangibility dimension Table 6: Data collected about customer satisfaction according to Assurance dimension Table Data collected on customer satisfaction according to SERVQUAL model Table Data collected on customer loyalty at Agribank Ha Tinh Figure Data collected on the level of customer satisfaction with customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch .39 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Rationale of study Today, customer service has been recognized as playing a crucial role for success and survival in competitive market However not many of banks in Vietnam have paid adequate attention to customer service, especially when both domestic and global competition is getting fiercer and fiercer Being one of the top branches of the Agribank with a quite growth, Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development-Ha Tinh Branch has achieved a certain success in this field This bank is known as the largest commercial bank in Ha Tinh province However, in recent years, at this branch its sale has a trend of declining This reason for this partly lies in its customer service After taking a close look at the banks performance I decide to chose Assessment of Agribank’s customer service in Ha Tinh Branch as the topic for my thesis with a view to examining the banks customer service and making some recommendation to improve it I hope that the topic will contribute to helpVietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to has orientations and measures to develop electric banking service in the new period Aims of study The study is carried out to analyze the perception and expectation of bank customers as regards to customer service of Agribank Ha Tinh branch from mid of March to mid of April, and make assessment of customer’s satisfaction with customer service at this bank based on the SERVQUAL model As a result, proposing some solutions in order to improve the customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch Scope of the study The study is to analyze and assess customer’s satisfaction with customer services at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch from mid of March to mid of April Methods of the study This study is presented and discussed based on methods such as statistical methods, analytical methods and a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods Organization of the study There are five main parts in my thesis The first part is the introduction dealing with the rationale, aims, scope, methods, and organization of the study The second part is the chapter that gives overall knowledge of customer service, customer satisfaction and Agribank Ha Tinh Branch The third part is chapter that is the most important part of the study The function of part is to assess the customer’s satisfaction with customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch The other part is chapter presenting some solutions and recommendations to improve customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch The last part is the conclusion that refers major findings, limitations of the study and suggestion for further study CHAPTER I: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Overview of customer service 1.1.1 Customer service 1.1.1.1 The definition of customer service Customer service is a pressing issue in this decade In the everexpanding market of today’s competitive industries, few topics have received as much attention, both in time and money, as the need to have excellent service personnel Providing customer service is a skill that will set a company apart from its competitors There are many definitions of customer service given different by different authors Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) defined customer service as a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer’s satisfaction that is the feeling that a product or service has met customer’s expectation Levy, Weitz ( 2007, 599) chimed in by suggesting that customer service is all of retailer activities that increase value received by consumer when shopping According to this definition, customer service is an activity that increase the value Customer service is identifiable, but sometimes intangible, activities undertaken retailer in conjunction and service it sells (Berman, Evans, 2007; 647) Intangibility, one of the main characteristics of services, is valid for customer service, too Customer service is viewed as service that support the provision of the company’s core product (Pettigrew, 2008, 257) The diversity of customer service definitions can be concluded that customer service is the provision of services to customer before, during, after a purchase It varies by product, industry and customer 1.1.1.2 The main feature of customer service According to Rissanen (2005, 20-21), there are at least five features that describe customer service They are: a Intangibility Service is not something you can store, service happens with the customer each time and each time it can be a different You can not return service like you can return tangible product Pricing a service can be difficult or may be even impossible b Coexistence Producing a service often happens in an interactive process where both the users and the service producer are in interaction This interactive process might take just few second or it might last decades c New product and new distribution channel Service can happen through many channels, for example, via phone or on the internet d Heterogeneity and unique variation Because service is intangible, unique and passing, product responsibility or consumer protection is hard to apply on a service Monitoring quality and pricing is difficult e Creativity Each service situation is unique and it gives the service provider space for being creative 10 3.3 Establishing more suitable price for bank’s service As presented in chapter 2, customers in focus group discussion had expressed that they not want to continue to use services at the bank because other banks (such as: BIDV, TP Bank, Vietinbank) are launching new products and services, they feel that the cost of using them is better in this bank Base on complaint’s customers, I suppose some solutions to help Agribank Ha Tinh branch chose the right price strategy to keep and attract customers Firstly, pricing is really difficult to get right and the bank has to think carefully about different factor For example, ask: Who are your target customers? What kind of product and service the bank is providing and what bank’s customer are ready to spend to that product Then the bank sets the price to match Secondly, look at the competition, the bank sees what bank’s competitors are asking for the same kind of product and the bank sets its price at about the same, or lower if the bank want to be competitive By comparing the price and fee with others banks service, the branch should carefully estimate cost to give customers the best price and fee, so that customers will feel that they are getting mores profit and preferences when using service at Ha Tinh branch A third method is that customers not have to pay fee for withdrawing money at any ATM of Agribank when using credit card of Agribank Another method is that this branch can offer customers some special discount of service’s fee such as transfer service or payment method by credit card, loan with low interest and et al The bank can link with other service to gain mutual benefit for both side and give customer the best price with huge discount for services at the same time Finally, to attract and keep customers, the branch should give incentives or preferences to long–term 47 customers who use the bank customer service for a long time as well as big customers By the way, the customer who received discount will be more loyal to the branch 3.4 Improving the quality of bank’s services The present era of competition has witnessed various large banks like: BIDV, Vietcombank, TP Bank Ocean Bank Therefore, Agribank Ha Tinh has to set to an extent for technology improvement with product innovations Firstly, the bank should improve existing products and services For example, deposit: in order to attractive the saving of the customer, the bank should provide every sort of facility and inspiration to them and collects the scattered savings of the society The bank should give a favorable for those people who deposit their saving for a long time Loan: The bank should support people with low income in Ha Tinh province by providing loans with low interest rate Internet banking: the bank should ensure the system of internet banking working effectively so that customers can promote their account anywhere, anytime, removing the restriction imposed by the geography and time Credit card: An electricity card issued by the bank which can allow bank clients access to their account to withdraw cash or pay for goods and service at any time and all ATMs with the lowest fee Besides, the bank should use customer’s complaints about the quality of products and services to find the limitation of product Secondly, when the bank had existing products and services with high quality, the bank should focus on expanding market by launching new products and services with new features I suggest some steps which help the bank successfully introduce its new products and service to market One step is to study on bank’s competition: The bank has to start by taking a serious look at your competitors Check out trade journals, competitor websites and 48 any other source of information on the products and services that you find Use this information to orient bank’s introduction towards the way in which products is different and better than competition Second step is to identify bank’s target customer: Try to pinpoint the age, gender, occupation and social economic background of your target customer This customer is the type of person that the bank should focus on when preparing to launch a new product Third step is to create a unique value position byimproving existing features and add new features in new products Another step is to get customers to test new services: Test it with focus groups to determine their response to bank’s promotion And final step is to perform marketing strategy before the launch: Create a public relation program Ideas include allowing the press to review bank’s product, writing articles to send to public media, giving interview, and holding a launch event The more opportunities the bank has to present its product to the target market, the more people will know the product and becoming interested in purchasing it 3.5 Improving auto bank machine at Agribank Ha Tinh branch Although the bank has good facilities, majority of customers are dissatisfied with Auto Bank Machine at the bank Base on customer’s complaints, I give some recommendations First, automatic bank machine should be equipped doors with full systems of light, electricity, so that customers will feel safe when they make transactions Second, auto bank machines should be located at the popular places where customers can find parking areas easily, so they not have to worry about their vehicle when transacting And finally, In Tet holiday, the bank should support customers by customers can withdraw money at the bank 3.6 Developing marketing activities for the bank Agribank Ha Tinh branch should regularly conduct survey and research about customer satisfaction and behavior They should promote market 49 research: improving the system of collecting and processing information, human investment, qualifications, knowledge markets, customers, competitors, capable of analyzing, evaluate and process information quickly and accurately in order to fully exploit the information collected In addition, the current channel information need to expand information channels such as: extract information from the marketing company, learn about competitors Banks had better to carry out market research of customer needs The collection of accurate information will help to give accurate predictions and plan an effective strategy As a result, they will know the change in customer’s demand, the strengths and weaknesses of customer service from customers’ view The bank can deeply understand their customers, and then they will have clear plan to improve customer satisfaction 50 CONCLUSION 4.1 Major findings of the study Five dimensions of service quality of the bank were tested in the study The majority of customers had expressed their satisfaction with the overall service that they received from the bank, especially regarding Tangibility, Assurance and Reliability Customers expressed their dissatisfaction with the service dimensions of Responsiveness and Empathy of the bank services However, there were few customers who had felt overall dissatisfied with the bank services.The result of the study call attention to the need of bankers in identifying effective ways of closing service quality gaps in order to remain competitive and there are still improvements to be made In addition, they can prioritize which gap to focus on However, satisfying clients is not an easy task One of the ways to improve service quality would be to introduce a complaints handing system in terms speed of response, and understanding the customer’s specific needs Making frequent surveys to know about the customer’s perceptions and expectations and analyze whether their aims have been achieved or not or relaxing banks closure hours would also be means to enhance on customer service level 4.2 Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study The research mainly focuses on the customer satisfaction with customer service in banking sector which is a broad term Agribank Ha Tinh branch is selected among the other banks Customer expectation and customer perception are subjective and are in a state of constant flux and change The finding is generalized to a given period, a pre-defined market and economic Therefore, the study has a certain limitations The research is done in the 51 Agribank Thach Ha Ha Tinh branch Thus, the result of this study can not be generalize for the whole customer service at all branch of Agribank Ha Tinh In addition, the information in survey was provided by a selected group of diversity customers This is potentially problematic because members of different group have been found on the satisfaction of customer service related to attributes in different ways Therefore, it is possible that some of the scores could not be exactly marked Due to the limitation of time, I just have stopped the assessment of customer’s satisfaction with customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch It is better for further research to investigate in the customer’s satisfaction with ATM service at Agribank Ha Tinh branch 52 REFRENCES Journals: Anderson, R.E., and Srinivasan, S.S (2003) "E-Satisfaction and E-Loyalty: A Contingency Framework" Psychology and Marketing, 20(2), 122–138 Bovée, C L., & Thill, J V (1992) Study guide to accompany Marketing, McGraw-Hill, 332 p Bowen, J.T and Chen, S (2001) The relationship between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 13/5 Davidow, W.H & Uttal, B(1989) Service companies: Focus on Falter Harvard Business Review, July-August: 77-85 Dean, A.M (2007) “The impact of the customer orientation of call center employees on customers‟ 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Prentice Hall East, R (1997) Customer Behavior: Advances and Aplications In Marketing, Prentice-Hall, London Liu-Thompkins,Y., Williams, E V and Tam, L., (2010) Not all repeat purchases are the same: attitudinal loyalty and habit College of Business and Public Administration Old Dominion University Norfolk Pettigrew, S (2008) The Silver Market Phenomenon Springer [Online] available: http://link.springer.com/content/u134g348j42778w3/fulltext.pdf (June, 2011) Rope Timo & Pöllänen Jouni (1994) Asiakastyytyväisyysjohtaminen.WSOY:n graafiset laitokset Juva Tonya Trappe & Graham Tullis (2005) Intelligent business: Coursebook Intermediate England, Person Education Limited Vivek Bindra (2014) Double your growth through excellent customer New Dehhil, Diamond Pocket Books (P) Ltd Zeithaml ,VA., Bitner, M.J (2003) Service marketing rd Edittion, Tata Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J., and Gramler, D.D (2006) Service marketing: integrating customer focus across the firm (4 th ed., pp.117) Singapore: McGraw Hill Websites 55 Agribank Ha Tinh Branch (2016) Thông tin doanh nghiệp from http://dangbokhoidoanhnghiephatinh.org.vn/vi/gioi-thieu/Thong-tindoanh-nghiep/NGAN-HANG-NN-PTNT-VIET-NAM-CHI-NHANHHA-TINH-37/ Agribank Ha Tinh Branch (2014) Agribank chi nhánh Hà Tĩnh vinh danh doanh nghiệp doanh nhân tiêu biểu Hà Tĩnh năm 2014 Retried from 15th, November, 2014 from http://agribank.com.vn 56 APPENDIX The survey of customer satisfaction with customer service at Agribank Ha Tinh Branch I General information about customers Question Gender Male Female Question In which age group are you? 21 to 30 years 41 to 50 years 31 to 40 years Over 50 years Questions What is your current occupation? Employee Retired University student Housekeeper Free Unemployed Question Which products and services you currently use? Credit card International settlement Saving Others Loan II Customer satisfaction Question How good you think customer service of this bank? Initiative Very satisfie d ( 5) Satisfie d Neutra l (4) (3) 57 Dissatisfie d (2) Very dissatisfie d (1) A Reliability Bank performs the service right the first time Your information is handled confidentially Bank provides services at the time they promised to so Bank promptly and accurately informs to changes in exchange rates and interest rates Responsivenes s Employees make instructions easily obtainable by customer B 58 C D Employees are willing to listen and respond to your need Your questions and problems are handled quickly and efficiently Empathy Employees take care of your transaction quickly and accurately The banks give the best services with suitable price Opening hours of the bank are convenient to customers Tangibility Employees are well dressed and appear neat 59 E Physical environment of the bank is clean Bank has upto-date equipments Automatic bank machine in convenient location Assurance Employees are knowledgeable about bank’s products and service You feel safe with your transaction with the employees Question 6.Would you recommend this bank branch to friend or familiar? Recommend Will not recommend May or may not Question Are you likely to use to continue Agribank Ha Tinh for your future banking needs? Will use Will not use May or not use Question How satisfied are you with customer service at this bank? Very satisfied dissatisfied 60 Satisfied Very dissatisfied Neutral III Comment and suggestion Question Would you like to comment something in order to improve the service? 61 ... Overview of customer service 1.1.1 Customer service 1.1.1.1 The definition of customer service Customer service is a pressing issue in this decade In the everexpanding market of today’s competitive industries,... transaction office of Agribank Nghe Tinh, was found under the Decision 115/NH-QD The branch had head office located at 01 Phan Dinh Phung street, Ha Tinh city, Ha Tinh province with main activities:... trend of declining This reason for this partly lies in its customer service After taking a close look at the banks performance I decide to chose Assessment of Agribank’s customer service in Ha Tinh