The battle for customer loyalty

Customer loyalty is vital but is
becoming increasingly illusive in the US and UK financial services
industries reveals a study by Thunderhead, a UK-based business
communications systems developer. Alarmingly, Thunderhead found
that only 17 percent of respondents feel a sense of loyalty to
their insurance provider and an even lower 16 percent to their
bank.

Also of concern is that 61 percent of consumers surveyed are
considering switching insurance providers in the next 12
months.

The remainder of respondents were not certain if they would switch
providers during the period.

“Maintaining customer loyalty continues to be a key issue for our
banking and insurance clients,” said Thunderhead’s CEO Glen
Manchester.

“Customers have never had higher service expectations and have come
to expect today’s providers to communicate with them across the
range of devices they use in their daily lives,” he added.

Highlighting shortcomings in communications with customers,
Thunderhead’s study also revealed that only 26 percent of
respondents felt their insurer or bank sent them personalised
communications that were immediately relevant to their needs.
Thunderhead also found that proliferation of mobile devices, the
internet and social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook
is having a profound impact on how customers want to receive
communications.

Notably, 76 percent of those surveyed said they would like the
option to receive communications via email while only half wanted
to continue receiving any communications from their insurer or bank
via the post. There is also what Thunderhead termed “a rapidly
emerging segment” that is also interested in having messages and
new product offers delivered to social networking sites such as
MySpace and FaceBook.

“Gone are the days when financial providers can rely on bank
tellers and brokers to build relationships with the customer,”
observed Manchester. He continued that to build and maintain
customer loyalty ensuring personal, relevant and timely
communications with each individual customer via a number of
different channels is critical.

“Customer engagement and multi-channel communications must be a top
business priority for banks and insurance providers,” concluded
Manchester.