Banks were forced to modernize their action plans and strategies in banking relationships so as not to lose their place in an increasingly competitive market due to the use of the internet. Relationship marketing arises in the banking context, due to the need to retain customers and not just because of the concern with attracting new customers. The sudden changes which affects society and the national and global economy mean that we must attribute increasing importance to relationships, loyalty and fidelity, and in the banking sector, the manager-client relationship requires some determinants such as loyalty, satisfaction, quality, and trust. The aim of this topic is to understand how the paradigm of relationship marketing in the banking sector has changed nowadays, considering the drastic change in the practices used by banks regarding their marketing and communication strategies, resulting of technological evolution. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, a qualitative methodology was used with semi-structured interviews.
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With the advent of social media, banks have found new ways to engage and boost their offerings with customers. Platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and Instagram allow you to create an engaging online presence, capable of creating curiosity, interest and later making there a need to know more about a certain subject or product that is advertised there. Not only do these interactions provide an additional channel for customer service, but they also offer the opportunity to broadcast messages, promote events, and get instant feedback.
The term marketing is commonly used by several organizations to synthesize a series of strategic actions, often focused simply on communication and advertising issues. (Maçães, 2017) states that Marketing should be seen as a management function in which all activities carried out are developed outside the limits of organizations, and that it is not limited only to Marketing managers, but related to all functional areas of companies. It also states that taking into account globalization and the constant change of the world, where selling and fixing goods is a task in which the difficulty progressively increases, Marketing is an extremely important discipline for organizations (Maçães, 2017).
Marketing turns out to be a management philosophy and a way of generating exchange relationships, in which companies have the duty to focus on the market, in order to satisfy their needs as much as possible, while allowing it to meet its objectives. This technique aims to achieve customer satisfaction to enhance consumption through an exchange relationship.
The banking sector has undergone a significant transformation in recent decades, driven by technological advancement and changes in consumer demands and expectations, as well as, more recently, the more massive and widespread use of online banking driven by the Covid19 pandemic. In this context, relationship marketing has emerged as a key strategy for banks, seeking to build deeper and more meaningful relationships with customers. This study explores the impact of relationship marketing on the banking industry, analyzing how this approach has shaped the customer experience across two distinct generations – Generation Y and Generation X, driving loyalty and influencing business practices.
While traditional or transactional marketing was considered a short-term approach, where the focus was only on the transaction at hand, the constant and permanent evolution gave rise to new strategies and models that met the needs of consumers (Simi et al., 2022). Since the banking sector consists of many specificities, and the marketing area is the basis for commercial action, the theme of relational marketing applied to the banking sector fits perfectly with the surrounding themes.
Relational marketing arises, in the banking context, from the need to retain customers and not only from the concern of attracting new customers. The sudden changes that infect society, the national and world economy, force us to give more and more importance to the relationship, loyalty, and fidelity, and in the banking sector, the manager-customer relationship requires some determinants such as loyalty, satisfaction, quality and trust. The competitiveness of the market and the accessibility of information have caused changes in the behavior of consumers who become increasingly demanding and less loyal to companies. For businesses, on the other hand, attracting new customers can be very expensive, which leads them to try to retain the customers they already have.
One of the changes that created the most impact and that has been shaping our daily lives since then, was technological evolution. Technology has given us the opportunity to grow and improve in all strategies. It is up to us, as a society, to follow this development and adapt to the new reality, learning how to apply these new strategies and what means to use. In a world increasingly driven by technology and with digital evolution occurring at a rapid pace, we must use all means to keep up.
When we talk about advances in technology, more specifically at the level of the internet, loyalty may not be the first thing that comes to mind (Reichheld and Schefter 2000), however, and according to the authors, loyalty should be on a fast path to extinction. As such, relationship marketing is now a prominent topic in the marketing literature. It relates to all marketing activities aimed at establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relationships (Morgan & Hunt, 1994). However, there is still a high concern about maintaining the long-lasting relationship with customers, as it is understood that this is where the future of an organization comes from.