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1. Introduction
The service sector, specifically the banking industry, is constantly evolving; customers are increasingly unpredictable and service delivery is transforming. In fact, electronic commerce and the internet have brought radical changes to the banking sector ([30] Colgate et al. , 2005; [38] Durkin and Howcroft, 2003), such as the arrival of purely virtual institutions (e.g. ING Direct) and new online banking services (e.g. virtual checks, peer-to-peer, wire transfers, account consolidation) ([73] Pratte et al. , 2004). These changes have lead financial institutions to focus on finding ways of developing lasting beneficial relationships with their customers ([84] Theron and Terblanche, 2010).
The number of internet users around the world in 2011 was estimated at about 2.2 billion (273 million in North America), an increase of over 528 percent between 2000 and 2011 ([56] Internet World Stats, 2011). Online banking represents the largest transactional sector on the web ([20] CEFRIO, 2011). For example, 78 percent of Canadian internet users carry out online banking transactions ([57] Ipsos Reid, 2012).
Moreover, the profile of online banking customers changes with demographic variables such as age, occupation and education level. For example, in Quebec (Canada), the 18-44 age group - especially those aged between 25 and 44 - are the main users of online banking, along with those whose family income exceeds $80,000 per year and those with university degrees ([20] CEFRIO, 2011).
Determining web customer profiles has become imperative for businesses to improve targeting marketing efforts and ensure their proper implementation.
At the same time, relationship marketing, which has become an extremely popular research and marketing practice during the last quarter century, has also evolved because of e-commerce. The relationship approach, which seeks to establish privileged long-term relationships with its customers, is particularly suited to the service industry ([11] Berry, 2002; [48] Grönroos, 1994; [65] Morgan and Hunt, 1994; [71] Palmatier et al. , 2006; [87] Vargo and Lusch, 2004). It is important that companies develop relationship-based strategies in the service industry where competition is strong ([74] Rajaobelina and Bergeron, 2009), demand is stable and product differentiation is challenging ([77] Ricard and Perrien, 1999). Many agree that a relationship marketing strategy that incorporates web technologies can create a competitive advantage for a business ([1] Allan and Chudry, 2000;...