ClickFox Survey Finds Apple Continues to Lead in Customer Loyalty in Third Consecutive Year
Denver, CO (PRWEB) May 06, 2014 -- ClickFox, the pioneering leader in customer experience analytics, today announced findings from its third brand loyalty survey. The survey examines drivers of brand preferences and industries with the most loyal customers.
ClickFox research this year identified Apple as the top brand consumers can't live without for the third consecutive year. Amazon, Dell and Coca-Cola tied in a distant second to Apple as the most revered brands in the study. Starbucks, Google and Microsoft fell slightly from their top rankings in the 2013 ClickFox Loyalty Survey.
Customer Service and Loyalty across Industries
Consumers identified food and beverage (ranked first with 32 percent), retail stores (16 percent), PC/Tablet and Cell Phone Manufacturers (15 percent), and banking/credit card providers (10 percent) as the top brand categories to which they are most loyal. From ClickFox's 2013 research, some of the previous top industries including automakers (ranked 6th with 7 percent), hotel chains (ranked seventh with 6 percent) and airlines (ranked 10th with 4 percent) dropped considerably.
Again, research showed consumers strongly consider customer service and brand quality/image as the most influential factor when choosing loyalty to their brands (27 percent and 35 percent, respectively).
"It’s clear consumer purchasing decisions are influenced by brand image, quality and customer service. The brand and customer service are virtually inseparable. When a consumer is loyal to a brand, it’s about the overall experience, not just one purchase,” noted Joe Galvin, CMO and EVP at ClickFox. “Take Apple, they created the baseline in quality design, customer service, the experience and all of that drives the brand image. If one fails, it tarnishes the brand.”
On the other hand, respondents noted the least important aspects when determining brand loyalty are maintaining consumer privacy, lack of a loyalty program, convenience (easy to get), and corporate responsibility. While maintaining consumer privacy ranks low in priority, loyalties change abruptly if there is an actual data breach, according to ClickFox’s 2014 Consumer Behavior Survey.
Building Relationships with Consumers
The study notes consumers do not want to be contacted in person for information about a brand, special offers and upgrades. Instead consumers prefer to be emailed or texted (64 percent), receive direct mail (15 percent) and receive promotions via a website (8 percent). Clearly, consumers are seeking an omnichannel experience. Being contact in person is less personable and less preferred than through an automated service.
In the survey, respondents noted they desire personalized experiences when evaluating favored incentives and promotions. Thirty-two percent of respondents said targeted coupons based on previous purchase/service history would be most likely to persuade them while over half the respondents found loyalty rewards most influential in their purchasing decisions. Consumers wanted to be recognized for their loyalty and longevity with a brand, but ranked frequency of promotions as least important (16 percent).
Regarding finding help with a product or service, consumers interact via email or text (35 percent), through a website (33 percent) or on the phone (14 percent). This demonstrates that e-commerce should be a priority when developing branding. Companies need to look at their websites and social channels as their first impression, rather than a brick-and-mortar store.
ClickFox’s survey also showcases companies have one chance to make consumers fall in love with a product, service and/or brand. Consumers noted they decide when a brand becomes their favorite immediately after their first purchase or when the service begins (59 percent).
Methodology
The ClickFox 2014 Brand Loyalty Survey audited 309 consumers in April 2014 on brand loyalty. Respondents were 47 percent male and 53 percent female. The research evaluated a broad range of generational attitudes with 16 percent ages 18 to 29, 31 percent ages 30-44, 35 percent ages 45 to 60, and 18 percent ages 60 and up. Consumers polled included 25 percent earning under$50,000, 33 percent earning between $50,000 to $99,999, 12 percent earning $100,000 to $149,999, and 30 percent earning $150,000 or more annually per household.
Discover the results from the 2014 Brand Loyalty Survey here: http://www.clickfox.com/news-events/2014-clickfox-brand-loyalty-survey/
Additional ClickFox information is available at http://www.clickfox.com and on the ClickFox Customer Experience Analytics Blog at http://www.clickfox.com/blog . Join the team on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
About ClickFox
ClickFox is the market leader of a new breed of experience analytics software and solutions, analyzing behavior for more than 17.6 billion consumer journeys across every channel available to consumers. ClickFox with its CEA Platform provides a visually intuitive mapping of all customer interactions -- from IVR, retail, Web, and email to agent CRM desktops, mobile devices, interactive kiosks and more -- delivering unparalleled visibility into end-to-end customer journeys. Deployed by Fortune 500 enterprises, including some of the largest telecommunications companies and financial institutions, ClickFox has a proven track record of helping world-class service providers dramatically boost operational efficiency and profitability.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Danielle Maglione
Edelman for ClickFox
http://www..marketwire.com/mw/emailprcntct?id=ED7DF70DEBA2CC3A [Email Contact]
650-762-2958
Jeff Gossman, ClickFox, +1 (415) 595-1584, [email protected]
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