Word of Mouth Marketing and the Impact on Banks’ Portfolio of Clients: Research at the Main Banks in the Central Region of Romania

This paper’s purpose is to illustrate the impact of word of mouth advertising on a Banks’ portfolio of clients and ultimately how that impacts the banks’ portfolio. This research was based upon a quantitative marketing survey carried out in the Central Region of Romania using online questionnaires. The research has three objectives. Firstly, to assess how likely an individual is to recommend their main bank to acquaintances or friends (Net Promoter Score) and the reasons why they don’t recommend their main bank. Secondly, to determine how likely it is that a client would consider using the services and products of their main bank in the future (Future Intention). Thirdly to determine how satisfied clients are with their main bank generally (General Satisfaction). Although there are many international researches on the quality of services, none of them highlights the methodology of Net Promoter Score on the local banking sector and how loyalty can be built. This study also offers a hierarchy of the banks from Central Region based on NPS score. The findings of the research show that only 48% of clients are loyal to their main bank. They are direct promoters of the brands in the market and spread their great experiences on daily dialogs. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, said: “If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful†.