Different forms of information on a product and a company reach existing or potential customers and influence their purchase behavior and loyalty. This shows that information management is of great importance on a highly competitive market. This paper aims to examine the role of word-of-mouth communication in determining the behavior of customers acting on a retail banking market. It also provides an analysis how word-of-mouth communication functions on this market.

The term "word-of-mouth" (WOM) is used to describe conversations about products and/or companies between non-commercial communicators. The first part of this paper highlights specific characteristics of retail banking services, which are responsible for high value of WOM within the context of retail banking. Subsequently, empirical evidence is provided that retail banking services are often the subject of communication between a family and friends. As the data demonstrate the WOM originating information significantly influences market decisions of customers acting on the retail banking market.

The second part of the paper describes a course and results of research conducted among mBank customers in the form of an e-questionnaire on the mBank Forum website.

The research shows that there is a strong relationship between the level of customer satisfaction and the willingness to recommend the bank as well as between the level of customer satisfaction and the readiness to change the attitude towards the bank in the case of a disappointing occurrence. The study also confirms that a positive word-of-mouth communication is an actual indicator of customer loyalty.

Kyewords: word-of-mouth communication, retail banking, marketing, customer satisfaction

  Aneta Kłopocka, Word-of-mouth communication in the market of retail banking services - case study - plik pdf; (277 KB)