Customer loyalty still falling, despite tech rise

With the Sparks loyalty card launch set for next week, M&S boss Marc Bolland could do worse than study new consumer research which claims that long-term loyalty and customer engagement continues to decline.
Despite digital and data technology advances, 18% of consumers say they have not had a good customer experience recently.
The international study, conducted by Ovum and Opinium Research for Verint Systems, is based on a global survey of more than 18,000 consumers.
It found that 61% of customers have been with their current bank, grocery store, mobile phone, utilities, insurance or credit-card company for more than three years, although nearly a third (31%) of all respondents admit finding a cheaper alternative would prompt them to defect.
Meanwhile nearly a fifth (18%) say impolite, rude or uninterested staff would make them switch, withn 16% saying they would be prompted to go elsewhere if they had to make too much effort to get what they wanted.
Despite the rise of data-fuelled personalisation and targeted customer service, the research reveals some different perspectives.
Given that received wisdom dicates that personalisation is the holy grail, marketers might be surprised to find that only 52% like it when customer service is personalised to them and their interests, while others were less concerned about companies knowing their current mood and responding accordingly.