Executive Summary

When analyzing the internal records of the Sampath bank, the market share of the e-banking category has been declining over the past few years. Further analyses suggested that this was due to the increased customer churn rate. E-banking as a product category experiences a rapid growth both locally and globally due to the increased internet penetration levels. Under promising current market conditions, this sudden downturn got the attention of the senior management. Finally it has been suggested to review the current customer retention strategy to identify the possible reasons to this dilemma.
This report has been prepared to analyze the above mentioned customer retention crisis. It consists of 3 major parts
• Marketing audit
• Marketing plan
• Evaluation report
An extensive marketing audit has been carried out to identify the main symptoms of this dilemma. Both internal and external environmental aspects have been adequately covered throughout the audit process. A special attention was given to analyze the customer perceptions and attitudes towards the current service offerings. A strong PESTEL analysis, competitor analysis, gap analysis, strategy audit etc have been carried out to understand the reasons behind the increasing customer churn rates. After the analysis it was identified that lower customer repurchasing has resulted in increasing customer churn rates. Apart from that several gaps have been identified in the areas such as marketing strategy, mix strategies and customer service levels.
Hence in order to reduce the customer churn rate, a marketing plan has been produced with some major recommendations to strengthen the customer retention strategy. The marketing plan is prepared for 3 years (medium term) as technological aspects related to e-banking category change on a daily basis. Establishing marketing objectives and assessing marketing strategies with models like porter’s generic strategies, ansoff’s growth matrix and bowmen’s strategic clock was crucial in solving the current dilemma in the customer retention strategy. In order to implement the proposed strategies, major changes to the marketing mix elements have been suggested. Finally implementation, monitoring and controlling part was discussed by giving special considerations to the resource implications and change management.
Final part of the report contains the evaluation report which evaluates the marketing planning process in relevant to the Samapath bank. First it describes the benefits and challenges faced when implementing the marketing plan. Then it describes the requirement of the marketing audit and the challenges faced in gathering the information. Next it evaluates the Segmentation, targeting and positioning approach of the Sampath bank and the needed improvements of the marketing mix to achieve desired positioning. Finally it evaluates the potential challenges that can be occurred when implementing the marketing plan and explains the relevant strategies to overcome those challenges.