40,000 customers walked in.
We read every word
they left behind.
What do customers actually think when they walk out of an SNB AlAhli branch? What makes them leave a five-star review or a one-star warning? This report reads every review, maps every district, and surfaces the patterns that aggregate scores hide. Built by Public Pixel using verified Google Maps data.
Data-driven insights into how customers experience SNB AlAhli across every corner of Riyadh
This is not a survey. It is not an NPS score. It is an analysis of what real customers chose to write unprompted, unfiltered after visiting an SNB AlAhli branch, ATM, or QuickPay location anywhere in Riyadh. Every review was collected, cleaned, translated where necessary, and run through a structured analytical framework built by Public Pixel.
The result is a complete picture of the network's perception district by district, channel by channel, month by month. Where the bank is winning customer loyalty. Where it is quietly losing it. And what the data suggests should happen next.
The Three Faces
SNB AlAhli operates three distinct customer touchpoints in Riyadh. Each carries a different score, a different volume, and a different relationship with the people who use it.
The primary customer touchpoint. Branches carry the highest review volume and the strongest response rate in the network. When branches perform, the network performs.
The largest channel by location count yet the lowest scoring. 182 ATMs represent 60% of all physical touchpoints in Riyadh, but receive almost no management attention. Only 9.4% of ATM reviews receive any response.
The highest-scoring channel with the highest review density per location 193 reviews per site versus 261 per branch and just 6 per ATM. QuickPay customers are engaged, satisfied, and vocal. The lowest priority channel is delivering the best results.
The ATM gap is the most important number in this network. SNB has 182 ATM locations in Riyadh more than branches and QuickPay combined yet scores 0.62 points below branches and 0.77 below QuickPay. The machine most customers encounter daily is dragging the network's perception downward silently.
The Polarisation
This is not a satisfaction curve. It is a canyon. Customers go to five stars or one star almost nothing in between.
The middle of the scale has collapsed. Customers do not leave average feedback they either had a great experience or a terrible one. This eliminates the concept of a neutral customer. Every interaction becomes a decision point between advocate and detractor.
3,613 one-star reviews is not a rounding error. It represents a distinct population of customers who felt strongly enough to open Google Maps and warn others. At an average of 10 reviews per day across the network, that is nearly a full year of daily damage concentrated, visible, and publicly searchable.
In a typical retail bank review dataset, 10-15% of reviews land in the 2, 3, or 4-star range the zone where customers are ambivalent. SNB AlAhli's middle is 2.2%. That is not a distribution. It is a binary. Customers are either advocates or detractors with almost no one in between.
A polarised base is fragile. The 86.4% five-star majority inflates the headline average and masks the severity of the one-star minority. A single operational failure a broken ATM cluster, a poorly managed branch can shift the visible score faster than any improvement programme can recover it.
The Employee Is the Brand
When customers leave five stars, most of the time they are praising a specific person not a bank.
7,884 out of 22,680 five-star reviews with text these customers returned to Google specifically to praise someone
"The employee, Faisal Al-Tamimi, is very polite and helpful. Thank you very much."
"One of the best banks. All employees have very high morals, especially Ayman, the cashier."
"Professor Ayman is very excellent. A distinguished employee who truly represents the bank."
"We are honored by this bank's staff, their politeness and their high-class treatment."
SNB AlAhli's brand perception is not built by marketing it is built one employee interaction at a time. The best branches are not the ones with the best location. They are the ones with the best frontline staff. This is the highest-leverage point for improvement in the entire network.
The Complaint Map
3,613 one-star reviews decoded. Every complaint fits into one of seven categories. Here is what Riyadh's customers are actually angry about.
Staff behaviour dominates all other complaint categories combined. It accounts for more negative reviews than waiting time, ATM failures, account issues, poor service, phone support, and wrong hours all together. This is not a technology problem. It is a people management problem.
1,705 reviews specifically mention how a staff member treated them rudeness, dismissiveness, refusal to help, or being ignored entirely. These are not abstract complaints about "service quality." They are named moments. The customer remembers exactly what happened and chose to document it.
826 reviews cite excessive waiting as the primary frustration. Section 05 of this report shows the full picture customers documenting waits of 2, 3, even 72 hours. Waiting time is not just an operational inconvenience. At this scale, it becomes a reputational signal that the bank does not value the customer's time.
416 reviews mention a broken, out-of-service, or cash-depleted ATM. Given that 182 ATMs represent 60% of SNB's physical footprint in Riyadh, a broken machine is often the only SNB touchpoint in that area. There is no branch to fall back on. The customer leaves with nothing and writes about it.
330 reviews describe a failed transaction, blocked account, or transfer problem. These are high-stakes complaints customers are not frustrated about atmosphere or wait times, they are frustrated because something went wrong with their money. This category drives the angriest, most detailed reviews in the dataset.
238 customers left a Google Maps review specifically to complain about the phone support experience. This is notable they visited a physical location, could not resolve their issue, and then could not resolve it by phone either. The review is not just about one channel. It is about a system that failed them twice.
136 reviews describe arriving at a branch that was unexpectedly closed, or finding that listed hours on Google Maps did not match reality. This is a fixable problem updating business hours on Google Maps costs nothing. Yet it continues to generate reviews, because it has not been addressed.
The Wait Time in Numbers
Customers don't just say "I waited a long time." They say exactly how long. These are the numbers they put in writing.
"The system is down for 24 hours. Just close the branch and save us the trip."
"I visited the branch to activate my frozen account and they told me they submitted a request it has been 72 hours with no update."
"ATM not working for 3 days. Withdraw machine not open 24 hours security closes the door at night."
These are not vague complaints they are time-stamped service failures. When a customer takes the time to write "24 hours" or "72 hours" in a review, they are not frustrated. They are documenting. This is evidence-level feedback that the bank has access to and has not acted on.
The Response Failure
SNB AlAhli responded to 39.6% of all reviews. But where those responses went and how they were written reveals a strategy that rewards fans and abandons critics.
The bank is thanking fans and ignoring critics. For every 100 angry customers who left a one-star review, 86 received no response. The 14 who did almost certainly received the same copy-paste template as everyone else. This is the most immediately actionable finding in the entire report.
A 39.6% response rate sounds reasonable in isolation. But it is not evenly distributed. Branches receive 45.5% response rate. ATMs receive 9.4%. QuickPay receives 2.9%. The headline number conceals three completely different management realities happening inside the same network.
Of the 3,613 one-star reviews, 3,106 received no reply. Each one is a public record visible to anyone searching for SNB AlAhli on Google Maps. Prospective customers read them. Competitors read them. Every unanswered complaint is an open wound in the brand's public profile.
96.9% of all responses are copy-paste. One message was sent 4,222 times word for word. Customers who received it can see the same reply on hundreds of other reviews. It signals that no one read their complaint. A template is not a response. It is a confirmation that the complaint was ignored with extra steps.
Responding to a negative review does not erase it. But it changes how future readers interpret it. A specific, human reply even two sentences signals that the bank listens and acts. This is the lowest-cost, highest-visibility reputation improvement available to SNB AlAhli right now.
In May 2024, SNB AlAhli achieved a 91.8% response rate the only month in the dataset where responses approached comprehensiveness. The data shows the capability exists. The question is why it was applied for one month and then abandoned. Consistency, not campaigns, is what builds reputation.
Current response behaviour prioritises 5-star reviews at 3x the rate of 1-star reviews. This is the reverse of what reputation management requires. Five-star customers are already loyal. One-star customers are publicly frustrated and actively warning others. The response strategy should be rebuilt around critics first.
The Silent 24
Across the entire network, 24 branches have never responded to a single review. Not once. Together they hold 1,314 reviews and complete silence from the bank.
| # | Branch | District | Rev. | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Quick Pay | Al Muruj | 431 | 4.81 |
| 02 | SNB AlAhli | Badr | 282 | 3.84 |
| 03 | SNB AlAhli | Ghirnatah | 163 | 4.86 |
| 04 | SNB AlAhli | An Namudhajiyah | 74 | 4.65 |
| 05 | SNB AlAhli ATM | An Nasim Al Gharbi | 49 | 4.47 |
| 06 | SNB AlAhli | An Nasim Al Gharbi | 30 | 3.97 |
| 07 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Al Wurud | 26 | 3.58 |
| 08 | SNB AlAhli | Dhahrat Laban | 23 | 3.43 |
| 09 | SNB AlAhli | As Saadah | 22 | 5.00 |
| 10 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Al Amal | 21 | 3.90 |
| 11 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Al Qadisiyyah | 20 | 5.00 |
| 12 | SNB AlAhli ATM | As Saadah | 18 | 5.00 |
| # | Branch | District | Rev. | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Badr | 17 | 3.41 |
| 14 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Ar Rawabi | 16 | 3.94 |
| 15 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Dhahrat Al Badi'ah | 15 | 3.60 |
| 16 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Al Fayha | 15 | 3.40 |
| 17 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Hijratlaban | 14 | 4.71 |
| 18 | SNB AlAhli ATM | At Taawun | 13 | 3.77 |
| 19 | SNB AlAhli | Al Aarid | 13 | 4.77 |
| 20 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Alyasmin | 11 | 3.91 |
| 21 | SNB AlWessam Lounge | Hittin | 11 | 1.36 |
| 22 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Qurtubah | 10 | 2.80 |
| 23 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Thulaim | 10 | 2.20 |
| 24 | SNB AlAhli ATM | Alyasmin (2) | 10 | 3.00 |
Some silent branches score 5.00★. They don't respond because they don't think they need to. Others score 1.36★. They don't respond because no one is assigned. Both are wrong. Silence at 5.00★ is a missed loyalty opportunity. Silence at 1.36★ is public abandonment.
431 customers left feedback on a QuickPay kiosk. Every single one was met with complete silence. The most-reviewed invisible location in the network.
The worst-rated silent branch in the entire network. 11 customers averaged 1.36 stars. Not one received an acknowledgement, an apology, or a single word back.
Silence is a response. When a customer leaves a review at the worst branch in your network and hears nothing back, they don't wonder if it was missed. They conclude that SNB already knows and doesn't care. The 24 silent branches are not an oversight. They are a visible, public, permanent signal of abandonment.
The District Divide
107 districts across Riyadh. Not all of them experience the same bank. Where you live determines the quality of service you receive.
A 1.04-point gap separates the best district from the worst. Districts like Ar Rahmaniyyah and An Narjis, with multiple locations and hundreds of reviews, represent systematic underperformance. This cannot be attributed to one branch or one bad day. It is a district-wide pattern.
The District Heat Map
Every district in Riyadh, colored by customer experience. Yellow means customers leave happy. Purple means they don't.
Across Riyadh's districts, most of the network performs well at the aggregate level but district averages mask what's happening inside individual branches. A district can appear yellow while hiding a branch scoring below 3.0★. Read this map alongside the branch-level map to see the full picture.
The May Anomaly
Every month follows a predictable pattern. Then May 2024 happened.
In May 2024, SNB received 6,067 reviews approximately 6× the normal monthly volume. The average score was 4.90. The response rate jumped to 91.8%. And 20.2% of those reviews had no text just a star rating. These four signals together indicate a coordinated review campaign, not organic customer feedback.
The Calendar Effect
Customer satisfaction does not stay constant across the week or the year. Customer satisfaction shifts predictably across the week and the year tied to specific days and months.
Saturday is a predictable service failure. Only 689 reviews on Saturdays the lowest volume day yet the worst average score. Customers coming in on weekends encounter understaffed branches and longer waits. December follows the same logic: high demand, reduced capacity, predictable decline. Both are fixable with scheduling.
The Leaderboard
304 locations. Not all of them perform the same. These are the branches setting the standard and the ones that need the most attention.
| Branch | Type | District | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | King Saud Univ. | 5.00 | 50 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Al Olaya | 4.97 | 87 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Ad Dhubbat | 4.97 | 37 |
| QuickPay - SNB | QP | Ghirnatah | 4.90 | 640 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Al Qadisiyyah | 4.87 | 90 |
| SNB ALAhli | Bank | Al Wadi | 4.87 | 213 |
| Branch | Type | District | Score | Reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Dhahrat Laban | 3.43 | 23 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Ar Rahmaniyyah | 3.50 | 318 |
| SNB AlAhli ATM | ATM | Al Wurud | 3.58 | 26 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | Badr | 3.84 | 282 |
| SNB AlAhli | Bank | An Narjis | 3.84 | 477 |
| QuickPay | QP | Al Munsiyah | 3.94 | 179 |
The gap between best and worst branch is 1.57 points. The Ar Rahmaniyyah branch alone has 318 reviews at 3.50 hundreds of people experiencing a below-average SNB. The performance of a single branch shapes the perception of an entire district.
The Decline Map
The 4.51 network average hides a structural crisis. When you track each branch from its first review to its most recent, a single pattern dominates.
What improving branches have in common: They all started low and recovered suggesting a management or staffing change was made. Al Malqa ATM went from 3.39 to 4.58. That kind of recovery is possible. It just requires someone deciding to act.
The 4.51 network average is not a stable number it is a declining one. 71.8% of branches are on a downward trajectory. The branches that started highest have often fallen the furthest. Al Mansourah opened at 4.95 and now sits at 3.46. Jarir opened at 4.89 and now sits at 3.39. These were not always bad branches. Something changed and no one responded.
The Year That Changed
The network average of 4.51 is a snapshot. When you separate the data by year, a different story emerges one that tells you not where SNB is today, but where it is heading.
Three consecutive months of decline within 2026 alone. January to March drops 0.60 points in 10 weeks. March is partial. Our data closes March 7, 2026.
The 4.51 network average is a historical average, not a current one. When you strip out the May 2024 campaign and read the data year by year, SNB dropped 0.35 points between 2024 and 2025 across nearly 24,000 reviews. The 2026 early signal continues in the same direction. The all-time average is being held up by a strong 2024 that included a coordinated review campaign. The underlying trend is downward.
What the Words Say
The language customers choose reveals more than the star they give. These are the most common words across 26,436 English-language reviews.
Satisfied customers use words of people and emotion. Excellent, helpful, professional, thank you, polite. Dissatisfied customers use words of systems and time. Waiting, hours, worst, broken, refused. The emotional core of every one-star review is not about a broken machine or a slow process it is about being made to feel unimportant.
The Language of Customers
SNB AlAhli's customer base speaks more languages than the bank might expect. And satisfaction levels differ dramatically by language group.
Expat customers are consistently more satisfied than Saudi customers. This is a finding no marketing brief would have surfaced. It suggests that either the baseline expectations of non-Saudi customers differ, or the service experience for simpler transactions is genuinely smoother. Either way there is a gap in how the bank serves its primary domestic customer base.
The Reviewer Profile
Who actually leaves reviews? Understanding the reviewer changes how you interpret the score.
"There are no waiting chairs for women, or at least someone to organize the women standing and the men sitting, occupying all the chairs and we stand in line."
"I went to the women's section and they said there wasn't one only one woman was there. She said she'd help if there was time."
This is not a small gap. A 1.27-point gap between women's and the broader network experience combined with a below-average response rate of 26.6% signals a segment of customers that is being systematically underserved and largely ignored when they speak up.
The Loyalty Signal
2,335 customers didn't just visit one branch. They visited multiple and kept reviewing. Their scores tell a different story from first-time visitors.
reviewers
reviewers
Customers who visited multiple branches rate SNB 0.18 points lower than those who visited only once. The more of the network they see, the more critical they become.
who know the network best
Customers who visit more branches give lower scores — not dramatically, but consistently. Multi-branch reviewers average 4.36★ versus 4.54★ for single-visit customers. A 0.18-point gap across 2,335 reviewers is a pattern, not a coincidence. The top reviewers in this section still rate SNB positively but their scores drift downward the more branches they experience. They are not describing one bad branch. They are describing a network.
The Network Map
304 locations across Riyadh. Every branch, ATM, and QuickPay outlet color-coded by performance. Click any pin to see the full picture.
Strategic Findings
Twelve findings. Twelve actions. Everything the data says, translated into decisions that can be made tomorrow morning.