Moving the customer loyalty needle

Participants at the event represented a vast array of B2B and B2C industries including financial services, consumer packaged goods, energy utilities, telecommunications, and technology. For companies working with customer satisfaction and loyalty strategies every day, a number of very real concerns were addressed. Dr Crosby clarified the following:

In his summary, Dr Crosby also stressed the need for management to make some strides. "Customer Loyalty as an holistic practice takes a long time. The number of hygiene factors affecting loyalty is astounding, and understanding all of them takes time. One cannot expect this to happen quickly." He added that despite this, "it is possible to start researching loyalty as it applies to each unique company and using that information to put plans into place for the wider strategy."

So what does Crosby suggest to corporate executives focusing on a customer loyalty strategy to grow their business? "Use an index to measure loyalty. Select loyalty measurement items based on the behaviours you strategically want to influence. Statistically verify that the items reflect loyalty. Use the index as your Key Performance Indicator. Avoid net scores."

"If it were simple, everyone would be doing it well," concludes Crosby. "There's no one silver bullet."

Synovate South Africa are the leading customer loyalty trackers in South Africa. Based in Bryanston, Johannesburg for the last 16 years, Synovate (formerly know as Proactive Insight) has actively helped blue chip companies increase their customer loyalty.

"We are delighted that Dr Crosby could share his vision and thought leadership to ensure that our clients appreciate the role of brand and emotional appeal in driving customer loyalty," said Jon Salters, Managing Director of Synovate sub-Saharan Africa.