Brand loyalty highest in financial services
CONSUMERS’ loyalty to brands they use or visit frequently is highest in the financial services sector, research suggests.
Loyalty to financial services brands was highest in all nine of the countries surveyed, coming ahead of retail, automotive and telecom brands.
In the UK, 53 per cent of consumers are loyal to financial services brands, compared with 47 per cent who are loyal to automotive and telecom brands and 41 per cent who are loyal to retail brands, Capgemini’s Digital Transformation Institute found.
However, UK financial services consumers are the least loyal of all the nationalities polled. Loyalty is highest in France and Italy at 74 per cent, followed by the US and Brazil at 73 per cent.
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The survey of 9,213 consumers also revealed that 51 per cent of financial services consumers are “emotionally engaged”, dropping to 44 per cent of those in the UK.
Emotions were found to have the strongest impact in driving consumer loyalty, above rational factors and brand values.
But the report said consumers with high emotional engagement still believe rational factors and brand values are important, which means a balancing act is needed.
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Overall, 82 per cent of consumers with high emotional engagement would always buy the brand they are loyal to, compared with 38 per cent of those with low emotional engagement.
“Decoding human emotions will ensure that brands have a better understanding of their consumers, leading to building deep-seeded engagement and long-term loyalty with them,” Kees Jacobs, consumer goods and retail lead at Capgemini, said.
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