second century. Banking in India can be, by and large, grouped into three eras, i.e., pre-nationalisation, postnationalisation

By: Dr M. SELVAKUMAR e.l. ramar ATTITUDE OF CUSTOMERS TOWARDS e-crm SERVICES OF BANKS IN VIRUDHUNAGAR DISTRICT, TAMIL NADU The key objective of an organisation should be to keep an eye on each and every transaction and interaction done between them and their customer. The organisation should communicate effectively with its customer. Building a lifelong relationship with the customers is the mantra for the development of any business. Banking is the lifeline of the nation and its people. Banking existed in India even in the Vedic times, where giving and receiving of credit in one form or the other was prevalent. Although the origin of banking in India was in the form of money-lending business, the transition from money lending to formal banking took place before the second century. Banking in India can be, by and large, grouped into three eras, i.e., pre-nationalisation, postnationalisation and post-liberalisation. During pre-nationalisation era till 1969, banks were focussed more on basic principles of banking, i.e., accepting deposits for the purpose of lending. During post-nationalisation era till 1994, several banks were brought under government control and directed to give a major thrust to rural lending and poverty alleviation programs. The post-liberalisation era started in the late 1990s and has been continuing as a major export earner for the country till now. In the beginning of the millennium, new technology was introduced in the banking industry. After the technology was implemented, the major barriers of banking completely disappeared and a situation arrived where there was no limitation to the progress of banking industry. The customers realised the importance of anywhere and anytime services. Electronic customer relationship manager (e-crm), which is the latest buzzword in the corporate sector, has been perceived as one of the most effective tools employed in this direction by the banks. The e in e-crm creates an anytime, anywhere, through any medium of communications paradigm that offers challenge. Thus this market survey analyses the attitude of customers towards e-crm services of banks in Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu. In the modern day scenario, due to heavy competition and availability of more products of similar qual- 22 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013

ity, the customers frequently change their brand preference while buying any product. So it is the responsibility of the marketers to keep an eye on all the prospective and existing customers. This constitutes a serious problem in the service sector because if any gap is left for the competitors to exploit, they will capture the interest of your customers towards their products. Nowadays even an uneducated customer is knowledgeable about the various products available in the market. This has become possible due to the growth and development in communication technology. Now all the information about products is furnished for the customers without any extra cost. These are only a few challenges faced by businesses today and they can face more of these challenges in the future, as customers continually increase their demands in the marketplace. The key objective for an organisation should be to keep an eye on each and every transaction and interaction done between them and the customer and to communicate effectively with their customer. Building a lifelong relationship with the customers is the mantra for the development of any business. The concept of CRM The concept of CRM was derived from contact management which involves collecting all the information of customers when they come in contact with an organisation. CRM has been defined as the business strategy, process, and information technology which enables an organisation to optimise revenue and increase value by understanding and satisfying the individual customer s needs. Local small town stores provide a CRMlike service, anticipating the needs of customers based on the intimate knowledge of their circumstances and preferences, and treating different customers in different ways. CRM and banks of India When talking about use of CRM system in banks of India, they are struggling with some perceptual issues and are not in the face of worldwide competition yet. Moreover, they lack sophisticated applications and professional support. Their CRM adoption is progressing at a very slow pace compared with foreign banks. Customer-oriented banking system All services in the banking industry can be managed theoretically by IT applications on the Internet. Instead of the physical form, most finance merchandise is delivered in the digital form, e.g., if you take a personal loan from a bank, you can submit all the scanned loan documents via email service and get the loan amount transferred in your savings bank account by the bank after approval. So in this case you do not need to even visit the bank. Rather all the dealings are done using Internet. Many surveys have reported that banks which develop a customer-centric strategy make higher profits. Starting from the early service of automated teller machines (ATMs), the banking industry has begun to offer phone banking, Internet banking, customer care centres, etc., which itself is directly related with customers. It is apparent that the real power of IT applications has been transferred to the customer s side because the development target of business is now all customer-oriented. In the near future, a customer s requirement will lead to the direction of all kinds of financial services. Now, the challenges faced by the banking industry have never been so complex. To operate in this tough environment, banks need to be ready to change and redefine them the way they do business. Market Survey Therefore it is necessary to study the customer relationship management in the banking industry. Objectives of the study The main objectives of the study are: 1. To analyse the opinion of about e-crm services. 2. To offer suitable suggestions on the basis of the findings of the study. Methodology of the study The present study is based on both primary as well as secondary data. The primary data were collected from the customers. The researcher also collected the secondary data from the records of commercial banks, journals such as Indian Journal of Marketing, Indian Banks Association bulletin, banking studies, books, web sites and so on. Sampling design Amongst the 131 bank branches in Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, the researcher has selected 65 branches as samples for his research by using the lottery method, which constitutes 50 per cent of the population, representing all parts of the district. The researcher has selected five customers from each branch by judgement sampling method. A total of customers have been approached to conduct this study. Plan of analysis To analyse and interpret the collected data, the researcher has used the statistical tools like percentage analysis, weighted arithmetic average method, five-point Likert techniques to analyse the opinion of customers about e-crm services. Firstly the researcher evaluates the demographic variables of the sam- December 2013 FACTS FOR YOU 23

Table I Sex-wise Classification of Respondents Male 238 73.23 Female 78 26.77 Total 100.00 Table II Marital Status of Respondents Marital status Number of Total percentage Married 214 65.85 Unmarried 111 34.15 Total 100.00 Table III Age-wise Classification of Respondents Age group Number of Percentage Below 30 years 85 26.15 30-40 years 149 45.85 40-50 years 53 16.31 50-60 years 26 8.00 Above 60 years 12 3.69 Total 100.00 Table IV Educational Qualification of Respondents Educational Number of Percentage qualification Primary level 42 12.92 Secondary level 37 11.38 Undergraduate level 136 41.85 Post-graduate level 85 26.16 Diploma level 25 7.69 Total 100.00 pled namely, sex, age, income, educational qualification, occupation and so on. Sex-wise classification of The researcher has collected the data relating to the number of male and female as mentioned in Table I. Table I shows that out of, 238 (73.23 per cent) are males and the remaining 78 (26.77 per cent) are females. It is understood from this survey that a majority of the account holders are the male members. Marital status of The researcher has created a survey to know the marital status of all. The Table II indicates the marital status of : From Table II, it is clear that out of, 214 are married and the remaining 111 of them are unmarried. It is evident from the study that a majority of the (65.85 per cent) are married. Age-wise classification of Need and satisfaction may vary according to the age of people. So the researcher performed a study about the age of the and its results are presented in the below-mentioned table. Table III shows the fact that 45.85 per cent of the come under the age group of 30-40 years followed by 26.15 per cent of the that come in the age of group of less than 30 years, 16.31 per cent of the come under the age group of 40-50 years, 8.00 per cent of the come under the age group of 50-60 years and rest 3.69 per cent of the come under the age group of above 60 years. Educational qualification of The educational qualification of is one of the important factors which also influence the behavior, tastes, living standards and aspirations. To ascertain the literacy level of the, a study was performed and the findings are presented in the Table IV It can be observed from Table IV that exactly 41.85 per cent of the are under graduate level, 26.16 per cent of the are under post-graduate level, 12.92 per cent of the are under primary level, 11.38 per cent of the are under secondary level and 7.69 per cent of the are diploma holders. Employment status of The researcher has further analysed the employment status of the. Table V shows these details. Out of, 74.77 per cent (243) of the are employed, and 25.23 per cent (82) of the are unemployed. Category of employment Occupation is one of the major influencing factors to utilise the e- CRM services. The survey was cre- 24 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013

Table V Employment Status of the Respondents Employment Number of Percentage Employed 243 74.77 Unemployed 82 25.23 Total 100.00 Table VI Category of Employment Category Number of Percentage Professionals 33 13.58 Businessmen 60 24.69 Government employees 54 22.22 Private employees 66 27.16 Agriculturists 19 7.82 Pensioners 11 4.53 Total 243 100.00 Table VII Unemployed Respondents Unemployed Number of Percentage category Students 46 56.10 Housewives 21 25.61 Jobseekers 15 18.29 Total 82 100.00 Table VIII Monthly Income of Respondents Income level Number of Percentage (in `) Below 10,000 127 39.08 10,000-20,000 85 26.15 20,000-30,000 53 16.31 30,000-40,000 22 6.11 Above 40,000 38 11.69 Total 100.00 ated to know the occupation of the and its outcomes are presented in Table VI. Table VI conveys the information that 27.16 per cent of the are private employees, followed by 24.69 per cent of the who are businessmen, 22.22 per cent of the are government employees, 13.58 per cent of the are professionals, 1.82 per cent of the are agriculturists and rest 4.53 per cent of the come under the category of pensioners. Category of unemployed Table VII reveals the classification of unemployed category of. Out of 82, 56.10 per cent (46) of the are students, 25.61 per cent (21) of the are housewives and 18.29 per cent (15) of the are jobseekers. Monthly income of the This study clearly shows the income group of. The income group classification is given in Table VIII. Table IX Nature of Banks Banks Number of Percentage Public sector bank 245 75.38 Private sector bank 80 34.62 Total 100.00 Source: Primary sector Table VIII shows that out of, 39.08 per cent are earning below Rs. 10,000 per month, followed by 26.15 per cent of the who earn Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per month, 16.31 per cent of the earn between Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 30,000 per month, 6.11 per cent of the earn between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000 and 11.69 per cent of the earn Rs. 40,000 and above per month. An analysis of the income of the has revealed that a majority of the have monthly income below Rs. 10,000. Nature of the bank Table IX represents the information regarding the nature of banks of the sample in the study area. Table IX shows that 75.38 per cent of the are the customers of public sector banks and the remaining 34.62 per cent of the are the customers of private sector banks. Table IX also shows that (75.38 per cent) majority of customers belong to public sector bank. Period of relationship with bank The customer holds the bank account with a particular bank for a certain number of years. Keeping account with a particular bank depends on so many reasons like quality of service, convenience, proximity to residence and so on. In order to know whether the are regular customers of the selected bank or not, the researcher made an attempt to study for how long dura- December 2013 FACTS FOR YOU 25

tion the have contact with the selected bank. The result is given in Table X. It is apparent from Table X that out of, 195 are having accounts with the bank for less than 5 years, 69 are operating bank accounts from 5 to 10 years, 31 persons are maintaining accounts with the bank for the period of 10 to 15 years and the remaining 30 are having accounts with the bank for more than 15 years. The study has disclosed that most of the customers (60.00 per cent) have their bank accounts for less than 5 years. Details of maintenance of accounts by the customers The researcher investigates about the maintenance of accounts by the customers in the bank because utilisation of e-crm services depends upon the accounts they have. The Table XI shows the type of accounts of the. While analysing Table XI, have more numbers of saving accounts in banks (55.77 per cent); followed by current account (20.28 per cent); followed by fixed deposit account (16.43 per cent) and rest have recurring deposit account (7.52 per cent). It can be interpreted that most of the have savings accounts in the selected banks. Frequency of visiting the bank (per week) The researcher investigates the frequency of visit to bank by the and its results are enlisted in Table XII. It is clear from Table XII that 79.69 per cent of the visit the bank for less than two times per week; followed by 14.77 per cent of the who visit the Table X Period of Relationship with Bank Period Number of Percentage Less than 5 years 195 60.00 5 to 10 years 69 21.23 10 to 15 years 31 9.54 More than 15 years 30 9.23 Total 100.00 Account type Table XI Type of Accounts Number of responses Total number of Savings account 319 Current account 116 Recurring 43 deposit account Fixed deposit 94 account Total 572 Note: *Since some of the have mentioned more than one account, the total number of responses outnumbers the * bank for two to five times per week; 4.31 per cent of the visit the bank for five to eight times per week and rest 1.23 per cent of the visit the bank for more than eight times per week. It is inferred that 259 out of visit the bank for less than two times per week. Reasons for selection of the bank Commercial banks are providing various services and facilities. To ascertain reasons for selection of the banks by the, the researcher makes an enquiry with the. Table XIII shows the various reasons to select the particular bank. Table XII Frequency of Visiting the Bank (Per Week) Times Number of Percentage Less than 259 79.69 two times Two to five 48 14.77 times Five to eight 14 4.31 times Above 8 times 4 1.23 Total 100.00 Bank s election Table XIII Reasons to Select the Bank Number of Percentage Better service 212 65.24 Proximity 46 14.15 Helpful staff 30 9.23 Convenient 37 11.38 business hours Total 100.00 It is highlighted in Table XIII that out of, 212 select the bank for better service, 46 choose the bank for proximity, 37 select for the reason of convenient business hours and 30 select the bank for helpful staff. Majority of the are selecting the bank for the reasons of better service. Opinion of about implementation of CRM in their banks The investigator has analysed whether CRM is implemented by the bank or not. It is shown in Table XIV. Table XIV show that out of, 40.32 per cent of the 26 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013

Table XIV CRM Services Offered by Bank Certainly 131 40.32 Probably 89 27.38 Never 46 14.15 Always 59 18.15 Total 100.00 Table XV Knowledge about CRM of Respondents Knowledge 247 76.00 No knowledge 78 24.00 Total 100.00 say that their bank offers CRM services certainly, 27.38 per cent of the state that their bank offers CRM services probably, 18.15 per cent of the said that their bank offers CRM services always, and the remaining 14.15 per cent of the mention that their banks never offer CRM services. Knowledge about CRM Development is the process of evolution. Change is the only thing which does not change is an evergreen proverb. Changes have been taking place in the functions of management. Customer relationship management is the need of the hour. CRM aims at retaining customers. This involves managing opportunity for optimum productivity, coordinating the specialised activities of the multifunctional teams, developing and retaining corporate knowledge and completing complex multi-step Table XVI Period of Knowledge about e-crm Services Period Number of Percentage Before 1 year 112 34.46 1 to 2 years 81 24.92 2 to 3 years 61 18.77 Before 4 years 71 21.85 Total 100.00 Table XVII Source of Getting Knowledge about e-crm Solutions Sources Number of Percentage Media 91 28.00 advertising Friends/ 100 30.77 relatives Bank staff 97 29.85 Co-workers 37 11.38 Total 100.00 processes in a timely and efficient manner. The utility of CRM has become more in service sectors like banks. The researcher made an attempt to study the knowledge about CRM of the and the details are presented in Table XV. It is observed from Table XV that 247 (76 per cent) have the knowledge of CRM and remaining 78 (24 per cent) have no knowledge of CRM. Stage of knowledge about e-crm services The research analysed about when the customers acquired knowledge about e-crm services. This is useful to the find whether, customers, within a short span of time, are attracted by e-crm services or not. Market Survey So the researcher tried to find the above-mentioned fact and its findings are presented in Table XVI. Table XVI reveals that 34.16 per cent of the acquired knowledge of ecrm services before 1 year, 24.92 per cent of the acquired knowledge of e-crm from 1 year to 2 years ago, 21.85 per cent of the acquired knowledge 4 years ago and rest 18.77 per cent of the acquired knowledge from 2 to 3 years age. It is concluded that most (34.46) of acquired knowledge of e- CRM services before one year. Sources of getting knowledge about e-crm services It is another important task to know how the customers acquired knowledge about e-crm services. The researcher made an attempt to study the source of getting knowledge. The details are presented in Table XVII. It is apparent from Table XVII that the customers can acquire knowledge about e-crm solutions from friends and relatives (30.77) followed by bank staff (29.85), media advertising (28 per cent) and coworkers (11.38 per cent). Period of availing e-crm services by customers It is essential to know how long the customers make use of e-crm services. Hence the researcher made an attempt to find the above-mentioned fact and its outcomes are presented in Table XVIII Table XVIII reveals that 60.92 per cent of the make use of e-crm services for less than 2 years, about 25.23 per cent of the make use of e-crm services for 2 to 5 years, 8.62 per cent of the make use of e-crm services for 5 to 8 years and rest of December 2013 FACTS FOR YOU 27

the 5.23 per cent of the make use of e-crm services for more than 8 years. It can be concluded that majority (60.92 per cent) of make use of e-crm services for less than 2 years. Availing the e-crm services e-crm in simple terms provides banks with a means to conduct interactive, personalised and relevant communication with customers across electronic channels. e-crm was introduced in the late 1990s. It made banks believe that by using this technology, they can tailor offerings according to individual customer s loyalty. An analysis was made and its results are as shown in Table XIX. It has been observed from Table XIX that 301 (32.62per cent) have availed the e-crm services and remaining 24 (7.38 per cent) have not been using the e-crm services. Customers satisfied with e-crm services It is necessary to know whether the customers are satisfied with e- CRM services provided by the banks. An analysis was made and its results are as shown in Table XX. Table XX reveals that 86.46 per cent of the are satisfied with e-crm services and 13.54 per cent of the are not satisfied with e-crm services. It is concluded that vast majority (86.46 per cent) of are satisfied with e-crm services. Reasons for customers satisfied with e-crm services The researcher analysed about how far the e-crm services are satisfying the needs of customers. The Table XVIII Period of Availing e-crm Services by Customers Period Number of Percentage Less than 2 years 198 60.92 2 to 5 years 82 25.23 5 to 8 years 28 8.62 Above 8 years 17 5.23 Total 100.00 Table XIX Availing the e-crm Services Availed 301 92.62 Not availed 24 7.38 Total 100.00 Table XX Customers Satisfied with e-crm Services Satisfied 281 86.46 Not satisfied 44 13.54 Total 100.00 details are presented in Table XXI. It is apparent from Table XXI that the customers are satisfied for time savings (45.20 per cent), followed by easy accessibility (25.27 per cent), convenience (23.84 per cent) and for error free (5.69 per cent). Reasons for no satisfaction The researcher also analysed about why the customers are not satisfied with e-crm services. The information collected from the is presented in Table XXI Reasons for Customers Satisfied with e-crm Services Time savings 127 45.20 Easy accessibility 71 25.27 Error free 16 5.69 Convenience 67 23.84 Total 281 100.00 Table XXII Reasons for No Satisfaction with e-crm Services Lack of 15 34.09 services Lack of staff 9 20.45 Lack of 10 22.73 information Service charges 10 22.73 are expensive Total 44 100.00 Table XXII. It is apparent from Table XXII that 34.09 per cent of the are not satisfied with e-crm services for lack of services followed by 2.23 per cent of for lack of information and services charges being expensive and remaining 20.45 per cent of the said that they are not satisfied with e-crm services because of lack of staff. So it can be inferred that 15 out of 44 customers of e-crm services are not satisfied due to lack of services. Opinion of about security in e-crm services The opinion of 28 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013

Table XXIII Security of e-crm Services Secure 277 85.23 Not secure 48 14.77 Total 100.00 about the security in e-crm services is shown in Table XXIII. While analysing Table XXIII, 85.23 per cent of the agree that e-crm services are secured and the rest 14.77 per cent of the agree that e-crm services are not secured. It is apparent from Table XXIII that majority (85.23 per cent) of the opinion is that e-crm services are secured. Overall opinion of the customers of e-crm services In order to know the e-crm services in Virudhunagar District, the customers were given 25 statements and were asked about their opinions. The responses of customers about e-crm services are shown in Table XXIV. Table XXIV exhibits the overall opinion of customers about e-crm services in Virudhunagar District. Customers provide their opinion about 25 statements of e-crm services in Virudhunagar District like the bank s site provides information about the transaction and are accurate, the bank provides financial security and confidentiality, the websites are available in the language you understand, the bank is easy to approach and contact and so on. To analyse the opinion of customers about e-crm services, the researcher provides grade points to the statements about e-crm. The points are as under: Strongly agree - 5 points Agree - 4 points No opinion - 3 points Disagree - 2 points Strongly disagree - 1 point The number of is multiplied with respective grade point and the points to a particular opinion are added and then the sum is divided by the total number of (i.e., ). The result of average is given in Table XXV. Table XXV shows the average satisfaction scores of the for the statements individually and overall. The overall average score is 3.81. Therefore, the statements which have the average score equal to or more than 3.81 satisfied the customers and the rest, i.e., the statements have the average score below the overall average score (3.81) need some improvements. The statement numbers 2, 4, 5, 6,7, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 22 and 23 should be concentrated more and should be improved. Findings of the study The findings of the study are summarised below: 1. It is inferred that maximum numbers of are male, fall under the age group of 30 years to 40 years, married, have studies up to undergraduate level and are working as private employees. 2. Majority of the unemployment belong to students. 3. As per study, 127 are earning income below ` 10,000, 85 are earning income from ` 10,000 to ` 20,000 per month, 53 have the income between ` 20,000 and ` 30,000, 38 are getting income from above ` 40,000 and some are earning a monthly income between ` 30,000 and ` 40,000. 4. It is clear that most of the belong to public sector banks. December 2013 FACTS FOR YOU 29

Table XXIV Overall Opinion of the Customers about e-crm Services Opinion SA A NO DA SDA Total Information that is provided is accurate 135 (41.54) The web pages are functioning properly 104 (32.0) Information content and texts are easy to understand 120 (36.92) Links are problem free, accurate and the pages download quickly 111 (34.15) The bank s site has unrestricted access to all financial information 106 (32.62) The bank provides the updated technology regularly for Internet banking 11 6 (35.69) The web pages do not freeze after you have put in all your information 99 (30.46) The bank is easy to approach and contact 128 (39.38) The website is available in the language you can understand 132 (40.16) The bank s site provides information about the transaction and products 138 (42.46) Personalisation of bank s site for customer s personal requirements 103 (31.69) The bank authority listens to your queries and meets your personal needs 95 (29.23) You can rely bank for not misusing your information 120 (36.92) You can rely on the personal information remaining in the register 104 (32.0) The bank provides financial security and confidentiality 132 (40.62) The bank s site is secured for credit card information 11 3 (34.77) The bank s site is easy to navigate and simple to use 11 9 (36.62) The speed of login of your account is fast 11 7 (36.0) It is easy to find policy and notice statement on the bank s site 11 3 (34.77) The bank takes care of problems properly and compensates for the losses to 111 the customers (34.15) Knowledge and skill of the contact personnel 123 (37.85) You are able to talk to a customer service representative in the bank over 107 mobile phone (32.92) The bank is willing to help customers provide appropriate information and 98 prompt service (30.15) The bank s site performs the service right the first time 11 5 (35.38) The bank s site provides a confirmation of the service ordered quickly 125 (38.46) Note*: The figures in the brackets show percentage of total SA: Strongly agree; A: Agree, NO: No opinion, DA: Disagree, SDA: Strongly disagree 105 (32.31) 100 (38.46) 125 (38.46) 97 (29.85) 90 (27.69) 107 (32.92) 111 (34.15) 121 (37.23) 11 3 (34.77) 110 (33.85) 108 (33.23) 108 (33.23) 97 (29.85) 11 8 (36.31) 121 (37.23) 11 5 (35.38) 126 (38.77) 11 2 (34.46) 120 (36.92) 11 5 (35.38) 128 (39.38) 11 2 (34.46) 131 (40.31) 11 3 (34.77) 11 6 (35.69) 20 (6.15) 68 (20.92) 40 (12.31) 36 (11.08) 50 (15.38) 49 (15.08) 65 (20.0) 22 (6.77) 27 (8.31) 31 (9.51) 45 (13.85) 49 (15.08) 52 (16.0) 46 (14.15) 31 (9.51) 35 (10.77) 33 (10.15) 47 (14.46) 43 (13.23) 52 (16.0) 32 (9.85) 53 (16.31) 46 (14.15) 51 (15.69) 41 (12.62) 27 (8.31) 39 (912.0) 20 (6.15) 37 (11.38) 55 (16.92) 24 (7.38) 36 (11.08) 30 (9.23) 37 (11.38) 31 (9.51) 35 (10.77) 32 (9.58) 33 (10.15) 26 (8.0) 25 (7.69) 28 (8.62) 33 (10.15) 27 (8.31) 32 (9.85) 30 (9.23) 26 (8.0) 34 (10.46) 25 (7.69) 26 (8.0) 27 (8.31) 38 (11.69) 14 (4.31) 20 (6.15) 44 (13.54) 23 (7.08) 29 (8.92) 14 (4.31) 24 (7.38) 16 (4.92) 15 (4.62) 34 (10.46) 41 (12.62) 23 (7.08) 31 (9.54) 16 (4.92) 34 (10.46) 14 (4.31) 22 (6.77) 17 (5.23) 17 (5.23) 16 (4.92) 19 (5.85) 25 (7.29) 20 (6.15) 16 (4.92) (1000) 30 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013

Table XXV Overall Opinion of the Customers about e-crm Services Opinion SA A NO DA SDA Total Total Average number of Information that is provided is accurate 675 420 60 54 38 1247 3.84 The web pages are functioning properly 520 400 204 78 14 1216 3.74 Information content and texts are easy to understand 600 500 120 40 20 1280 3.94 Links are problem free, accurate and the pages download quickly 555 388 108 74 44 1169 3.60 The bank s site has unrestricted access to all financial information 530 360 150 110 23 1173 3.61 The bank provides the updated technology regularly for Internet banking 580 428 147 48 29 1232 3.79 The web pages do not freeze after you have put in all your information 495 444 195 72 14 1220 3.75 The bank is easy to approach and contact 640 484 66 60 424 1274 3.92 The website is available in the language you can understand 660 452 81 74 16 1283 3.95 The bank s site provides information about the transaction and products 690 440 93 62 15 1300 4.00 Personalisation of bank s site for customer s personal requirements 515 432 135 70 34 1186 3.65 The bank authority listens to your queries and meets your personal needs 475 432 147 64 41 1159 3.57 You can rely bank for not misusing your information 600 388 156 66 23 1233 3.79 You can rely on the personal information remaining in the register 520 472 138 52 31 1213 3.73 The bank provides financial security and confidentiality 660 484 93 50 16 1273 3.92 The bank s site is secured for credit card information 565 460 105 56 34 1220 3.75 The bank s site is easy to navigate and simple to use 595 504 99 66 14 1278 3.93 The speed of login of your account is fast 585 448 141 54 22 1250 3.85 It is easy to find policy and notice statement on the bank s site 5645 480 129 64 17 1255 3.86 The bank takes care of problems properly and compensate for the problems they create 555 460 156 60 17 1248 3.84 Knowledge and skill of the contact personnel 615 512 96 52 16 1291 3.97 You are able to talk to a customer service representative in the bank over mobile phone 535 448 156 68 19 1226 3.77 The bank is willing to help customers provide appropriate information and prompt service 490 524 138 50 25 1227 3.77 The bank s site performs the service right the first time 575 452 153 52 20 1252 3.85 The bank s site provides a confirmation of the service ordered quickly 625 464 123 54 16 1282 3.94 Overall 30987 8125 3.81 Source: Processed data 5. Regarding the finding on the period of operating the bank account, 95 have got less than 5 years of experience and 69 have been operating the bank account from last 5 to 10 years. 6. Most of the have savings account in selected banks. 7. Most of (259 out of ) visit the bank for less than two times per week. 8. Majority of the are selecting the bank for the reason of better services. 9. Majority of the say that their bank offers CRM services certainly. 10. It is known that majority of the (76 per cent) have the knowledge of CRM. 11. Most (34.16 per cent) of the acquired knowledge of e-crm services before 1 year. 12. The customers can acquire knowledge about e-crm services only from friends and relatives, followed by bank staff. 13. Majority (60.92 per cent) of the make use of e-crm services for less than 2 years. 14. The customers select the sample bank only for the service quality. 15. Majority (86.46 per cent) of are satisfied with e-crm services. December 2013 FACTS FOR YOU 31

16. It is inferred that customers of e-crm services are satisfied due to time savings. 17. Majority (85.23 per cent) of the who have opinion about e-crm services are secured. 18. The statement numbers 2, 4, 5, 7, 11, 12, 16, 22 and 23 about the e-crm services should be concentrated more and should be improved. Suggestions of the study The following suggestions are offered to improve e-crm services in Virudhunagar District: 1. Majority of the customers have savings accounts only. Therefore the banks should explain the various products and services to their customers so that customers can enjoy more and more benefits. 2. The customers are visiting the banks less than two times per week. The banks should motivate their customers about full utilisation of e-crm services offered by the bank. 3. Some customers are not aware of the CRM services offered by the bank. So the banks should take effective steps to explain the benefits of CRM to their customers. 4. Some customers feel that the e-crm services are not secured. The primary duty of the banks is to create confidence amongst their customer about e-crm services. 5. The banks should properly maintain the web pages. 6. The bank s web site should be allowed unrestricted access to all financial information. 7. Links should be problem free, accurate and the pages should download quickly. 8. Personalisation of bank s site for customers personal requirements. 9. The bank authority should take care of the customer queries and meet customer s personal needs. Conclusion Today banks must distinguish themselves by meeting the needs of their customers better than their competitors. Banks should prepare a separate e-crm strategy to acquire more and more new customers and retain those customers for a longer period. There is a general agreement that a basic banking e-crm strategy for creating competitive advantage is the delivery of high service quality. Therefore, by giving better service and product, definitely the banks can taste the success. This paper makes an attempt to understand the needs and expectation of the customer towards the e-crm services. Dr M. Selvakumar is assistant professor at Post Graduate and Research Department of Commerce, Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College, Sivakasi, while E.L. Ramar is assistant professor at Department of Commerce, Rajapalayam Rajus College, Rajapalayam 32 FACTS FOR YOU December 2013