Customer involvement and interaction in retail banking: an examination of risk and confidence in the purchase of financial products

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine bank customer involvement and the importance of risk when contemplating the purchase of financial products. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a discussion of the literature on customer involvement, risk and interaction forms the basis for a series of focus discussion groups and facilitates the design of a questionnaire. The questionnaire is used to collect information on bank customer involvement and confidence when purchasing a comprehensive range of financial products. The data is analysed using cluster analysis. Findings – The paper finds that the clusters provide evidence to suggest that the market consist of a number of distinctive customer segments. Although the research suggests that the market might be changing and becoming more “active”, the majority of bank customers are still essentially “passive”. Research limitations/implications – The sample size means that it is not fully representative of the UK banking population. The findings also raise a number of issues, which require further research, such as, the possibility that customer involvement could be used as the basis for segmenting the customer base. Practical implications – There appears to be an overwhelming customer need for more product information and more involvement with banks. This has major implications for the banks in formulating and implementing relationship management strategies. Originality/value – The paper provides new insights into the importance of customer involvement when purchasing a range of financial products.