Efficacy of Facebook in Resolving Customer Complaints in the Banking Sector: a Case Study of Cooperative Bank of Kenya

Abstract

Cooperative Bank deals with a wide number of publics physically and virtually. The bank strive to ensure that they continuously enhance their customer relations in order to retain and attract new customers. Facebook provides a platform where the bank can interact with the customers to improve the relationships. The general objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of Facebook in resolving customer complaints in the banking sector, with a case study of Cooperative Bank of Kenya. The specific objectives were to determine whether complaints raised were addressed comprehensively, how the customer experience was during the problem-solving process, whether the process involved the customer and to determine any security concerns resulting from the complaints raised on the Facebook platform. The study was guided by James Gunigs’ Excellence theory, which talks about the value of public relations and its focus on improving relationships in an organization. The target population consisted of every individual who had raised a complaint on the Official Cooperative Bank of Kenya page during the study period 1st September 2021 to 31st December 2021. The total number of the target population was 2964 complaints. Slovins’ formula was used to get a sample size of 352 samples. The research employed evaluative design and had a mixed method approach. Data was collected through surveys via questionnaires. The research used descriptive and regression analysis to analyze quantitative data then presented the findings in tables, and graphical forms. The research used SPSS version 20. Qualitative data was analyzed through content analysis and presented in narratives form. The research finding indicates that an organization that is keen on handling customer complaints in a way that they involve and listen to the customers during the complaint handling process, exhaustively handle the issues at stake while maintaining a great experience and professionalism while taking care of the security concerns of the customer is vital in ensuring better customer satisfaction and eventual retention of this customers as well as the opportunity to be referred for more business .The research findings indicate that the customers highly value a platform that is able to address all their complaints conclusively. The research found out that the customers whose issues were not fully addressed were reluctant to recommend the bank to other people. An organization keen on effectively handling customer problems should ensure that all the measures are put in place to strengthen the customer relationship. The study recommends that the bank should beef up its network and increase the speed of service.