Self service technology and customer loyalty in the banking industry: A study of retail bank customers in anambra state.

The emergence of information, communication technology (ICT) and its wide application in the banking industry lead to the development of self-service technology (SST) based products like automated teller machine (ATM) internet banking among others. In view of this banks have invested heavily in the innovation with the aim of attracting and holding customers; hence the aim of this study is to evaluate how these SST products impinge customer loyalty among the retail banking customers in Anambra State. The question is how does this affect customer loyalty in the banks? The study is a survey research and is based on a statistically determined sample of 246 respondents selected from among some of the major towns in the state out of which 236 respondents returned duly filled and usable questionnaire. Questionnaire is the major instrument for data collection and this will be self-administered to the respondents. The stated hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. The results of the analysis show that security of SST, reliability, competence and accessibility have significant influence on customer loyalty with in the retail banking industry. To further improve the service quality, SST service should be able to provide enhanced interactivity, diversified offerings, and facilitate customers to participate in improving the service encounter with ATM and make it a memorable and pleasant experience. Banks should develop strategies to motivate non- users through awareness, education, extending personalized services, and demonstrating the functions of SST baking services. This is more so as the study has shown that consumer awareness is highest among ATM users. It is evident from the study that security, reliability, accessibility and competence have relationship with SST. Bank management should monitor the environment and identify the trends through marketing intelligence. Further studies could be conducted to check the socio-demographic trends in consumer use of the SST channels since demographic variables are dynamic.