Mapping Customer Satisfaction in BFSI: A Strategic Study Among Exporters & Commercial Bankers

Client

A well-established financial institution sought to assess how effectively it served one of its most critical customer segments - Exporters and Commercial Bankers.

Objective

The primary objective of this research engagement was to map the level of satisfaction among Exporters and Commercial Bankers who regularly interacted with the brand across key service and product touchpoints. The study was designed to offer a comprehensive view of both the emotional and operational metrics of satisfaction, while also generating a reliable Net Promoter Score (NPS) for the brand through a focused financial service benchmarking approach.

Five core pillars guided this investigation:

• Product Offering – Are the financial solutions aligned with customer needs and market trends?

• Service Quality – How responsive, courteous, and solution-oriented are the service channels?

• Cost Competitiveness – Are charges perceived as fair, transparent, and value-driven?

• Claims Management – Is the resolution process timely, transparent, and hassle-free?

• Procedural Efficiency – Do backend processes support or hinder the client experience?

In a highly regulated and relationship-driven space like BFSI, these dimensions have an outsized impact on loyalty, referral behavior, and long-term value. The study also aimed to identify onboarding friction points, trust-building metrics, and overall client experience modeling to shape a more customer-centric framework.

Approach

To ensure a rigorous and representative study, Market Xcel adopted a Computer Aided Telephonic Interview (CATI) approach. This allowed for high-volume engagement while preserving the quality and nuance of respondent inputs.

Execution Strategy:

• 30 trained tele-callers fluent in local dialects were deployed across 12 locations, ensuring linguistic and regional relatability.

• The research design was based on the SERVQUAL model, supporting service gap exploration and structured feedback reporting.

• Respondents: Exporters and commercial bankers who had active engagements with the client.

• Sample Size: 1,500 respondents, spanning Tier 1, Tier 2, and business-heavy Tier 3 zones across India.

• Data Source: Client’s existing customer database

Each participant was guided through a structured questionnaire aimed at evaluating the brand across the five key dimensions, with added emphasis on client perception study, priority client analysis, and loyalty influence metrics.

Research Outcomes

Granular Satisfaction Mapping

Satisfaction scores were generated at zone-wise, vertical-wise, and cumulative levels, allowing the brand to assess performance across branches, products, and customer profiles. This cross-zone analysis study enabled the identification of regional and demographic variations in perception and service expectations.

Gap Analysis with SERVQUAL Model

The SERVQUAL framework revealed important disparities between expected service and delivered experience. For instance, while the product range scored high on relevance, procedural delays and lack of proactive updates in claim settlements emerged as key deterrents to customer satisfaction. This insight was critical to efficiency performance mapping and touchpoint consistency review.

Key Findings

• High satisfaction in regions where Relationship Managers maintained proactive communication - highlighting strong relationship depth metrics.

• Low satisfaction where document-heavy procedures led to delayed onboarding or claim processing - underscoring process alignment analytics needs.

• NPS revealed polarization: strong advocacy in high-service zones, and detractors where issue resolution was slow or opaque. This highlighted the need for response quality monitoring and feedback aggregation tools.

Strategic Insights for the Brand

The results offered clear and actionable insights into:

• Which zones and service lines were underperforming.

• Where the brand’s promise-experience gap was highest.

• Which operational areas (especially claims and procedural clarity) needed immediate attention.

These findings enabled the client to not only measure but understand the “why” behind satisfaction scores - supporting strategic service appraisal and respondent sentiment mapping for future planning.

Business Implications

The implications of the study were immediate and far-reaching:

• Operational Fixes: Internal service SLAs were revised in underperforming zones based on the institutional feedback analysis.

• Policy Reviews: Procedural bottlenecks in claim resolution were escalated and redefined.

• Training & Communication: Service teams received updated training to address client-facing communication audits, particularly around clarity and responsiveness.

Most importantly, the client now had a data-backed blueprint to enhance loyalty and reduce attrition in a segment where one bad experience often results in switching providers. The financial partner evaluation highlighted areas for strengthening institutional client retention.

Conclusion

This customer satisfaction study provided more than just a metric—it provided clarity, direction, and competitive intelligence. By actively listening to its Exporter and Commercial Banker segments, the client is now empowered to make targeted improvements, realign service priorities, and build deeper, trust-based relationships that drive long-term business value. Supported by structured data insights and satisfaction pattern trends, the institution now leads with informed empathy and operational precision.

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