Retaining telephone banking customers at Frontier Bank

Examines and reports the customer retention practices of Frontier Bank as it provides telephone banking services to business customers. Assesses whether those practices at Frontier Bank reflect extant theories, and whether extant theories can explain customer retention practice in this context. Reviews two theoretical discussions on customer retention, discusses telephone banking services, describes and analyses four retention practices of Frontier Bank, and identifies gaps in both practice and theory. The findings suggest, first, that managers at Frontier Bank applied very few of the prescriptions suggested by extant theories. Managers of similar telephone banking operations could benefit from applying extant customer retention theory in their businesses. Second, authors are too simplistic in assuming that extant theories on customer retention are applicable in any business situations. States that researchers should be cautious in offering generalized customer retention strategies and should consider developing models of customer retention which take account of variations in business context.