Importance of Customer Satisfaction in a Community Bank

It is sometimes argued that bigger is better. However, that is not always the case. Smaller, community banks are the lifeline of the towns that span the country. Community banks, where a customer is considered a ‘human being', understand their local target market better than their larger counterparts, where the customer is just a ‘number'. Moreover, the image of the larger banks has been considerably tarnished because of the recent economic downturn. This research can also help community banks compete with larger banks in niche service areas. In order to investigate whether the bank's customers 1) were satisfied with the bank's products and with the image of the bank 2) felt welcome and 3) had any concerns about the bank's (financial) position during difficult economic times, the author found that customer responses are mixed on these issues. Interesting implications and ideas for further research also emanate from the current study.