The key role of employees in making customers more loyal: The case of Discount Bank, Israel

Details the key role of employees in improving customer loyalty at Discount Bank, Israel.

Explains why strategic change was needed at the bank and how its management settled on the concept of direct banking relationships as the foundation for the reforms.

Describes the three levels of loyalty that managers identified – first creating good feelings toward the bank, then moving towards satisfied and finally appreciative clients – and explains the steps that managers took to achieve these levels of loyalty in practice.

Reveals that the strategy helped the bank to recruit more than 300,000 new customers in three years.

Highlights how service organizations can benefit from drawing customers into a close relationship with their employees.

Claims that direct banking relationships are new in the financial‐services sector.