Even though the banking industry across the globe has undergone tremendous transformations especially digitalisation, research has barely kept pace with these changes especially as it has to do with marketing communication strategies. Thus, this paper examined how customers’ perceptions of banks marketing communication tools influence customer loyalty. 313 valid responses were obtained from Nigerian bank customers through a survey questionnaire. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) procedure was utilised to examine the measurement model and test the research hypotheses. The results indicate that elements of bank marketing communication including advertising, sales promotion, public relations and personal selling are significant predictors of customer loyalty, but direct marketing is not. This study has implications for the update of marketing communication and formulation of customer loyalty policy in commercial banks in Nigeria and other emerging economies with similar business and economic history. The contributions of the study were discussed.

Introduction

Banks are the most important savings mobilisation and financial resource allocation institution in every economy. Modern economies depend on a thriving financial system which is believed to account for around 20% of the GDP [45]. Hard numbers show that three financial services sectors including retail banking generate approximately $6.6 trillion in global financial annual revenue and has tended to grow at a 6% over the preceding decade [40]. Therefore, the quest to keep to the promise of making the banking industry the engine of every economy has made the banking industry across the globe to witness tremendous transformation because the industry has become highly complex and competitive whilst the services and products offered by banks slightly differ, making differentiation difficult [5]. In Nigeria in particular, the impact of the Internet economy and digitalisation in the banking industry is seen in the increased move to retail banking and use of e-banking channels. This has further led to improvements in financial inclusion. Thus, without innovative services, financial services providers especially banks can rarely thrive. This might be why Barnes and Howlett [4] earlier argued that customers of financial services are unlikely to be overly impressed by core product attributes when all companies are providing similar offerings because many of such services are parity offerings. One of the key strategies that financial services firms especially banks can employ to distinctively set themselves apart from competitors is well articulated marketing communication programmes that match the current developments in the banking sector. However, a recent research by Mintel shows that while smart financial services firms are increasingly investing in marketing communication, significant others are still stuck in their traditional spending habits which is far from suitable for delivering scintillating experiences to consumers of financial services nor winning over new ones [32]. Worst still, research has barely kept pace with the recent developments in the banking sector. It has been argued that customer-centric communications capabilities aided by social media lead to customer loyalty [44]. Additionally, good communication quality, which is timely, relevant, and reliable can facilitate customer loyalty [37]. However, there is limited research on how the marketing communication tools influence marketing outcomes especially customer loyalty.