When you’re pinching pennies, like most Americans are these days, it’s a lot easier to move from a more expensive laundry detergent to a lower-priced brand — even if you’ve been a dedicated consumer of the first brand for an extended period of time.

A new report from Catalina Marketing’s Pointer Media Network shows that brand loyalty is being thrown out the window by consumers, according to Business Insider — at the same time that Brand Keys' latest ranking of customer loyalty and brands finds that passion can outstrip even the most frugal of consumer impulses.

To be sure, the studies cover different points in time. The Catalina study parses the choices of 32 million consumers and about 685 brands in 2007 and 2008, finding that “52% of ‘high-loyal consumers’ — those who bought 70% or more of goods from the same brand in a year — started buying more from a competitor the following year or left the brand entirely,” Business Insider reports.

“The concern is that consumers who switch will build new brand rituals and allegiances that endure far beyond the recession,” Pointer Media said, the site reports.Continue reading...

When Tony Vernon, the president of Kraft Foods North America, told analysts this week that "we must work even harder at customer and consumer delight," he was mirroring the results of the latest "Customer Loyalty Index." 

According to the 2011 Customer Loyalty Index issued by the customer loyalty consultancy, Brand Keys, today's consumers are looking for the best total experience when they interact with a brand.

Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder, says, "Consumers want meaningful innovation that results in a higher level of experience. Satisfaction has never been more cost-of-entry; delight is the new differentiator."Continue reading...