Acquired customers want attention, and they’re more likely to become ex-customers if they feel ignored, according to a recent survey by J.D. Power and Associates. The company tracked customers in four ongoing major acquisitions and found that the “stated likelihood of switching to another bank is two to three times higher than a year ago, driven in part by customers’ perceptions that acquirer was far less focused on customer best interest and personal service than their previous bank.”
Even at the bank with the best grades at communication, just 50 percent of the acquired customers say their received sufficient details about the merger. “At the least communicative bank, 94 percent of customers say they did not receive enough information” and almost a third are ready to move to another institution. Two-thirds of those surveyed first learned about the merger from press accounts; 12 percent first heard the news from J.D. Power.
