South Africa’s banks have overtaken insurers, retailers and telecoms companies in positive social media sentiment to become the country’s most-liked industry, while TymeBank is viewed as the most affordable among them, a survey has found.
DataEQ’s annual South African Banking Index tracked more than four million social media posts about African Bank, Absa, Capitec Bank, Discovery Bank, FNB, Nedbank, Standard Bank, and TymeBank, between September 1, 2021, and August 31, 2022.
“Having followed an upward post-pandemic trajectory, the banking industry’s net sentiment improved most significantly over the past year, shooting up from -7.5% in 2021 to 9.4% in 2022,” DataEQ head of client service Sarah Lamb said in a statement yesterday.
The sharp improvement saw the banks climb to first place in the cross-industry Net Sentiment comparison, suggesting South Africans had a generally better experience with their banks than local retailers, insurers and telecommunications companies.
The telecommunications companies achieved a negative -31.1% net sentiment rating, while the insurers' rating was 1.4%, and for the grocery retail sector, the percentage was 4.1%.
There had also been an overall increase in social media compared to 2021, with volumes growing by almost one million members, the survey showed.
This equated to a 41.2% year-on-year increase in online conversation “and suggests an ever-growing preference by South African consumers for using social media to speak to banks,” said Lamb.
FNB ranked first, followed by Absa, in the Banking Index.
Lamb said the banking industry’s ascendance into the realm of positivity had been the combined result of successful social campaigns and improved customer experience, with this year’s overall top performers, FNB and Absa, having done “exceptionally well.”
On FNB’s first-place overall ranking, Lamb said: “Not only was FNB’s #LoveFNB campaign crafted in such a way that it drove organic positivity from consumers on social channels, but the service being provided by the bank was of a quality that warranted this praise.”
A third of FNB’s online operational conversation – relating directly to customer experience from authors who either could be or were, at some point, customers of the bank – centred on staff competency.
Lamb said consumers also complimented FNB for its “seamless transaction experience”, as well as the virtual card and eWallet functions.
FNB also received well below the average percentage of complaints related to TCF (treating customers fairly) outcomes. Standard Bank had the most complaints alongside Nedbank. Capitec Bank and TymeBank had a near-equal share of complaints, despite Capitec receiving almost double the conduct-related conversation.
Standard Bank and Nedbank had the highest ratio of conduct complaints.
Absa’s conversation was evenly split between complaints and praises. More than half of Discovery Bank’s TCF conversations were complaints. However, this was slightly below that of the industry.
Smaller banks leveraged zero monthly fee accounts and low-interest rates to attract customers, while larger banks relied mainly on their campaigns to highlight transacting charges.
“When looking at conversations around pricing and fees, the smaller banks were, therefore, more positive. TymeBank was positioned as the most affordable bank across the industry, followed by African Bank,” the report said.
On affordability, TymeBank had “by far the highest conversation volumes.”
Consumers responded positively to TymeBank’s launch of health insurance, where the coverage started at as low as R139 per month. The bank also prioritised consumers struggling to access their Sassa grants, by giving customers access to their grants a day early if they joined the bank.
Looking at the industry as a whole, there was a greater emphasis on digital experience in general, said Lamb.
“For the first time, the topic of digital experience garnered a higher volume of conversation than general customer service. Digital downtime and digital security were major drivers of negativity, while complimentary conversation around platform navigation and third-party purchases emerged as net positive”.
Lamb said the 2022 banking index was indicative of the significant investment going into proactive social media strategies and campaigns to negate any harmful reputational impact and boost overall brand perceptions.
Net sentiment for the telecommunications industry was analysed between January 1, 2021 and December 31. 2021. Average public sentiment for the insurance industry referenced results reported on the 2022 South African Insurance Sentiment Index, which analysed conversation about fifteen insurers over April 1, 2021 – March 30, 2022.
Average public net sentiment for the food retail industry looked at conversation about South Africa’s four largest food retailers from January 1, 2021 to December 31. 2021.
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