PROJECT REPORT ON A Comparative Study of Customer Satisfaction Towards Current Account Services of HDFC & Punjab National Bank

In Moradabad
Submitted To:

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT AND COMPUTER APPLICATION, MORADABAD In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement of the Degree of Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) SESSION: 2009-2012 Department of Management TEERTHANKER MAHAVEER UNIVERSITY DELHI ROAD, MORADABAD

Project Guide:

Project Incharge:

Mrs. Smita Srivastava

Mr. Abhinav Srivastava

Mr. Avinash Raj Kumar

Submitted By: Shubham Agarwal B.B.A. Vth - Semester Roll No. R0912011328

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Shubham Agarwal is pursuing three year full time Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) course from Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad as a regular student, in session (2009-2012).

In compliance with the provision/guidelines of Teethanker Mahaveer University, Moradabad, He has been assigned a market survey project. The project work has been genuinely carried out by the student for the duration specified by the university.

He has made sincere efforts in the completion of the project work.

Mrs. Smita Srivastava Project Guide

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It gives me immense pleasure and privilege to acknowledge my deepest sense of gratitude towards all those who helped me in the successful execution of this project.

I would like to thanks Chancellor Sir, Shri Suresh Jain, Group Vice Chairman Mr. Manish Jain, for their able guidance. I also extend my gratitude towards the H.O.D. Dr. M.P. Singh and my course co-ordinator Mr. Abhinav Srivastava who entrusted me for the completion of this project. I am highly indebted to my project guide, Mrs. Smita Srivastava whose constructive counselling and able guidance helped me immensely in bringing out this project in the present form. And lastly the entire faculty member and Mr. Sanjeev Singh (Librarian) & the entire Lab staff for providing me this opportunity and expose me to industrial culture.

The acknowledgement would be incomplete without thanking my family members and friends who were a big support throughout.

Shubham Agarwal BBA - 5th SEM

PREFACE
Commercial banking is a fast emerging concept in the world of banking where changes have become a necessity in order for banks to survive in this competitive environment.

Customer preference with the opening of current account is a very important factor. Potential customer has the choice to open account with any bank as most of them are offering almost the same facilities. The bank whose strategies are designed to delight customer and is proactive in solidifying customer loyalty can only become market leader in todays global environment.

The title of the project is A Comparative Study of Customer Satisfaction Towards Current Account Services of HDFC & Punjab National Bank In Moradabad. The approach of this project is to study the level of satisfaction of current account holders and to analyze the consumer awareness regarding the different types of current account products offered by HDFC & Punjab National Bank.

This project report is based on the survey held in Moradabad city, in order to understand the current account customers satisfaction levels of HDFC & Punjab National Bank. The questionnaire method is used to collect the data which has been tabulated and processed in the form of pie charts & graphs.

CONTENTS

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Introduction Company Profile Research Objectives Assumptions Research Methodology Data Analysis Findings Suggestions Limitations

Bibliography Annexure

INTRODUCTION

This project report is based on the survey held in Moradabad city, in order to understand the current account customers satisfaction levels of HDFC & Punjab National Bank.

The main objective of my research is to study the level of satisfaction of current account holders and to analyze the consumer awareness regarding the different types of current account products offered by HDFC & Punjab National Bank. A questionnaire consisting of 16 questions has been used to carry the survey. The sample size of my research is 100 and the respondents are current account customers of HDFC & Punjab National Bank (50 each). The data was collected from various wholesale dealers, retailers and industrials of Moradabad city so as to minimize data bias and increase the opinion spread.

The data have been tabulated and processed in the form of pie charts & graphs. It has further been analyzed & interpreted so as to reach a conclusion for the study. The findings along with suggestions have been summarized at the end of the report.

Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction, a business term, is a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass customer expectation. It is seen as a key performance indicator within business and is part of the four of a Balanced Scorecard.

In a competitive marketplace where businesses compete for customers, customer satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

However, the importance of customer satisfaction diminishes when a firm has increased bargaining power. For example, cell phone plan providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, participate in an industry that is an oligopoly, where only a few suppliers of a certain product or service exist. As such, many cell phone plan contracts have a lot of fine print with provisions that they would never get away if there were, say, a hundred cell phone plan providers, because customer satisfaction would be way too low, and customers would easily have the option of leaving for a better contract offer.

Customer satisfaction is a measurement of the degree by which a product or service offered by a company either fails to meet, meets or goes beyond their customers' expectations.

What are customer expectations? Before purchasing a product a person automatically builds a mental satisfaction checklist of what they expect. How a company delivers against the checklist defines the level of satisfaction of their customer. For example, of a mental satisfaction checklist is a customer in a restaurant. On entry he or she will already have formed a list of expectations by which the service will be judged, e.g. speed of service, quality of food or politeness of staff, etc. The level of satisfaction felt by the customer depends upon how far the restaurant meets these expectations.

Impact of Dis-satisfaction on Business:

If your customers are dissatisfied, they will look elsewhere.

Poor satisfaction can put a business into a downward spin, called the Dissatisfaction Wheel of Pain. This results in increased costs, growth in dis-satisfied users, loss of customers and greater vulnerability to the competition.

Positive Satisfaction and its value:

Focussing on improving customer satisfaction is an investment that quickly pays dividends. The cost of managing and maintaining your customer base falls, while your revenue increases. The end result is the Customer Wheel of Satisfaction.

A number of research studies have shown a direct link between growth of satisfaction and increased cash flow. Especially if you focus on your valuable customers and encourage their loyalty.

How to Measure Satisfaction?

In essence, customer satisfaction is measured by a survey made up of list of statements. A customer is asked to evaluate each statement on a scale, typically of 1 to 10. The customer's response reveals their level of satisfaction.

Obtaining a score for satisfaction alone isn't enough. You need to understand what you have to change in order to improve satisfaction. To do this, additional questions are used that either look at key areas of your service or ask users to leave comments which can be analysed for common themes later. For example, a book shop owner might want to know how the cost, book range and service from staff impacts customer satisfaction. He or she would add relevant questions, such as, "How satisfied are you with the range of books?"

When to survey your customers?

In order to measure customer satisfaction reliably, it's vital to survey your customers post transaction. Too often surveys are conducted before customers have had a chance to experience a business. If your customers don't know your business, how can they comment effectively upon it?

Measuring satisfaction on the Internet

The Internet is a great tool for measuring satisfaction, as the process for surveying customers can be automated, saving resources and money. However, it's only useful if the customers on your internet site are the same as those in the real world. If they are different, you'll need to run two satisfaction surveys, one for your Internet users and another for your real world customers.

Measuring satisfaction in the real world

Passive surveys

It is possible to survey your customers unobtrusively in your place of business, via the use of simple survey cards. A classic example is to present a survey card with the bill in a restaurant. The only draw-back of this approach is the reliability of data, due to the lack of control over sampling, which can create negative bias in your results. However, it's easy to run and so worth considering.

Proactive surveys The proactive approach involves contacting customers directly with a survey. This can be done via the phone, mail or by a researcher at your business location. This is better for sampling and allows you to include more questions, but it does have the disadvantage of increased cost.

Duration and frequency of satisfaction surveys

The duration of your survey depends on the research method and customer sample size. If your business has less than 200 customers, you would need to poll all of them in order to obtain a reliable satisfaction score. If you have more than 200 customers, you should only need to poll 200 of them. On average a survey run should take between one and four weeks. The frequency of surveys depends on three key factors: The time available to analyse satisfaction research findings. Too many survey cycles can overload your business with information. The speed with which your business can affect change to improve satisfaction. The frequency with which your customers use your service and perceive a change.

Things to remember when measuring satisfaction

Keep surveys as short as possible for reliable data. No greater than 2 mins to complete or less than 20 questions.

 Make sure your survey sample represents all your customers. Only survey the customer once they have used your service. Never survey the customer twice in the same survey program. Everyone involved in your business must be committed to your satisfaction survey program. You must include additional questions to understand why customers are happy or unhappy with your service. To understand how satisfaction is really impacting your business, you also need to track loyalty. Make sure your survey captures real customer comments, as these are more revealing than a graph alone. Your survey needs to be simple to understand for your customers and staff. Don't survey too often, as customers don't like it and your business won't have time to act on your survey findings.

Listen to what your customers say: they are always right! Too many customer satisfaction programmes fail, as businesses don't agree with what customers are telling them.

How else can a business gauge satisfaction?

Unfortunately, only a satisfaction research programme will deliver a quantifiable score for your business, which is essential for tracking success, but there are other ways to understand what customers think of you.

Any business which has verbal or written interaction with its customer base will generate additional feedback. The key is to capture and review it with your staff regularly. Here are some tips: Organise a programme with your staff to capture feedback from customers. Set up regular team meetings (daily/weekly) to review the feedback. If you have a website, add a form to capture feedback. Set up a feedback box and encourage customers to leave comments. Get your staff to ask customers about their experience, but be careful not to overdo it. Maintain a list of pain points from your feedback and the solutions required to resolve them.