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Market Probe Press Releases
Press Releases - Market Probe’s press releases are listed below in order of posting date. Please click on the date of the release to view.

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November 07, 2011 - Market Probe Adds To Its Strength In Financial Services And Pharmaceutical Market Research Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  November 7, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Adds To Its Strength In Financial Services And Pharmaceutical Market Research

Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a Milwaukee-based global marketing research and consulting company, recently announced the acquisition of Richard Day Research Inc., Evanston, Illinois. RDR is a highly respected custom market research firm specializing in Financial Services and Pharmaceutical research. RDR President and Founder, Dr. Richard Day, is the former President of CASRO, and he presently Co-Chairs their Government Affairs Committee.

When asked about the acquisition, Day said: “Market Probe provides business solutions to the world’s largest banks, pharmaceutical companies and other industries.  We believe that its global presence along with its advanced technology will benefit our clients as well as our staff.  Their acquisition of RDR brings us access to systems, technologies, advanced analytic solutions and innovations that a larger company like Market Probe offers.  For example, they have a very sophisticated reporting dashboard offering advanced tracking survey technology. Our clients will still receive the attentive service, flexibility and customized solutions that the RDR team has always provided.”

According to Dr. T.R. Rao, the President and CEO of Market Probe, this acquisition fulfills an important strategic goal for the company.  Rao said: “With this acquisition, we have significantly strengthened our position as a global leader in Financial Services and Pharmaceutical market research. Being a global company with a presence on all continents, we are now in a better situation to service the needs of global firms in these sectors. Market Probe values RDR as a well-run business with long-time client relationships. We look forward to introducing our latest findings and industry innovations, including our SHARE+ Advocacy model to the RDR team and their clients.”

Market Probe
In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to various industry sectors for more than 25 years.

October 13, 2011 - Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leader in the Technology Sector Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  October 3, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leader in the Technology Sector

Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a global research firm, completed the advocacy profiles of companies in the competitive sectors of retail banking, life insurance, auto insurance, mobile services, cable services, retail stores and enterprise technology.  The results for the technology sector are based on a sample of over 1,000 IT senior decision makers at U.S. companies with over 100 employees. They evaluated their primary technology services providers across a range of solutions including cloud, converged infrastructure, hardware, software and services.  Google wins Market Probe’s Advocacy honors among worldwide technology brands in the highly competitive market for technology solutions.

Advocates are the most involved customers of a brand. They have strong emotional connections with their brand and are also the strongest supporters of the brand in their online and offline communications.  Advocates are loyal to their brand, buy more products from their brand and contribute to new client growth.

“In today’s hyper-linked world, Advocacy, which measures customer involvement, is the most relevant metric beyond satisfaction, loyalty and NPS,” says Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO, Market Probe. “Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance.”

The advocacy profiles were developed using Market Probe’s proprietary SHARE+ customer advocacy framework that measures customers’ favorability, future consideration and downstream communication behavior. The Advocacy Ladder developed by Market Probe classifies customers into four segments: Alienated, Ambivalent, Allegiant or Advocate for a particular business. It is based on various questions asked of customers regarding their favorability, future consideration and evidence of word-of-mouth regarding a particular brand or business. SHARE+ enables prioritization of action items to optimize advocacy and loyalty, and minimize alienation. It has application to any customer segment in virtually any industry.

Market Probe
In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to various industry sectors for more than 25 years.

www.marketprobe.com
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October 03, 2011 - Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leaders in the Life and Auto Insurance Sectors Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  October 3, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leaders in the Life and Auto Insurance Sectors

Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a global research firm, completed the advocacy profiles of companies in the competitive sectors of retail banking, life insurance, auto insurance, mobile services, cable services, retail stores, and business to business services like enterprise technology. The results of the insurance sector are based on a national sample of 1,600 plus households who evaluated their primary insurance carrier for life and auto.  USAA wins the advocacy honor in the highly competitive auto insurance sector, and State Farm is the winner in the life insurance sector.

Advocates are the most involved customers of a brand. They have strong emotional connections with their brand and are also the strongest supporters of the brand in their online and offline communications.  Advocates are loyal to their brand, buy more products from their brand and contribute to new client growth.

“In today’s hyper-linked world, Advocacy, which measures customer involvement in the brand, is the most relevant metric beyond satisfaction, loyalty and NPS,” says Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO, Market Probe. “Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance.”

The advocacy profiles were developed using Market Probe’s proprietary SHARE+ program that measures customers’ favorability, future consideration and downstream communication behavior. The research model identifies customers on an Advocacy Ladder as Advocates, Allegiants, Ambivalents and Alienated. SHARE+ enables prioritization of action items to optimize advocacy and minimize alienation. It has application to any customer segment in virtually any industry.

Market Probe In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to the financial services industry for more than 25 years.

www.marketprobe.com
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September 26, 2011 - Market Probe Announces Asia Pacific and China Winners of 2011 Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 26, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Announces Asia Pacific and China Winners of 2011 Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor
The second annual survey also found that banks with higher levels of Customer Advocacy had higher levels of new customer acquisition, sales and retention


Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a global research firm, announced the names of the retail banks that posted the highest levels of Customer Advocacy in the Asia Pacific, China and Korea region in 2011, based on the firm’s survey of the largest banking institutions.

“The Asia Pacific winners were Citibank in Singapore and Korea, and Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong. The China winners were Everbright Bank, Industrial Bank and China Merchants Bank,” reported Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO, Market Probe. “These banks posted the highest levels of Customer Advocacy in their respective regions from retail customers who considered these institutions to be their primary banks.”  Earlier this month, Market Probe announced the four regional winners in the U.S., PNC Bank, Harris Bank, SunTrust and Bank of the West.

The results were based on national surveys of households who rated their primary bank in these different countries. Consumers were asked about their attitudes that reflected the depth of their favorable opinions about their primary bank and sharing of positive and negative comments about their banking experiences both online and offline.  The Retail Monitor was established to compare the top brands on their advocacy profiles.

Rao says that Customer Advocacy is the most relevant metric that captures the degree of customers’ relationships with their banks. Advocates have the highest form of customer involvement with a brand or business. Advocates are the best customers, rooted in strong attitudes and positive experiences. They stay with brands or, in this case, banks, in good and bad times, put them first for future purchases, and provide strong vocal support by way of positive mentions. “Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance,” adds Rao.

The Advocacy Ladder developed by Market Probe classifies customers into four segments: Alienated, Ambivalent, Allegiant or is an Advocate for a particular business. It is based on various questions asked of customers regarding their favorability, future consideration and evidence of word-of-mouth regarding a particular brand or business.

Results of these surveys for participating banks are available upon request.

Market Probe In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to the financial services industry for more than 25 years.

www.marketprobe.com
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September 21, 2011 - Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leaders in the Mobile and Cable Services Sectors Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  September 21, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Announces Advocacy Leaders in the Mobile and Cable Services Sectors

Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a global research firm, completed the advocacy profiles of companies in the competitive sectors of retail banking, life insurance, auto insurance, mobile services, cable services, retail stores and business to business services like enterprise technology.  The results of the mobile services sector is based on a national sample of 1300 plus households who evaluated their primary providers of mobile services and cable TV services. Among the emerging pre-paid service market, Tracfone emerged as the advocacy leader. Among the traditional post-pay service market, T-Mobile is the advocacy leader. DirecTV wins Market Probe’s Advocacy honors among national brands in the highly competitive market for cable TV services.

Advocates are the most involved customers of a brand. They have strong emotional connections with their brand and are also the strongest supporters of the brand in their online and offline communications.  Advocates are loyal to their brand, buy more products from their brand and contribute to new client growth.

“In today’s hyper-linked world, Advocacy, which measures customer involvement, is the most relevant metric beyond satisfaction, loyalty and NPS,” says Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO, Market Probe. “Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance.”

The advocacy profiles were developed using Market Probe’s proprietary SHARE+ customer advocacy framework that measures customers’ favorability, future consideration and downstream communication behavior. The research model identifies customers on an Advocacy Ladder as Advocates, Allegiants, Ambivalents and Alienated. SHARE+ enables prioritization of action items to optimize advocacy and loyalty, and minimize alienation. It has application to any customer segment in virtually any industry.

Market Probe
In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to various industry sectors for more than 25 years.

www.marketprobe.com
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August 31, 2011 - Market Probe Announces the Regional Winners of 2011 Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  August 31, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

Market Probe Announces the Regional Winners of 2011 Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor
The second annual survey also found that banks with higher levels of Customer Advocacy had higher levels of new customer acquisition, sales and retention


Milwaukee, WI – Market Probe, a global research firm, announced the names of the four banks that posted the highest levels of Customer Advocacy in their respective regions in 2011, based on the firm’s survey of the 20 largest U.S. banking institutions.

“The regional winners were PNC in the Eastern region, SunTrust in the Southern region, Harris in the Central region, and Bank of the West in the Western region,” reported Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO, Market Probe. “These four banks posted the highest Customer Advocacy scores in their respective regions from retail customers who considered these institutions to be their primary banks. It is the second year that SunTrust has received top rank in its region.”

Market Probe will recognize the 2011 regional winners at the BAI Branch 2.0 Symposium at BAI Retail Delivery 2011 at McCormick Place in Chicago on Monday, October 10th. Market Probe is pleased to be sponsoring this premier banking industry forum and private winners’ reception that evening.

The results were based on a June 2011 national survey of over 3,600 households who rated their primary bank. Consumers were asked about their attitudes that reflected the depth of their relationship with their primary bank, sharing of positive and negative comments about their banking experiences and recent account activity with the bank.  The Retail Monitor was established to compare the top 20 brands on their advocacy profiles.

Rao says that Customer Advocacy is the most relevant metric that captures the degree of customers’ relationships with their banks. Advocates have the highest form of customer involvement with a brand or business. Advocates are the best customers, rooted in strong attitudes and positive experiences. They stay with brands or, in this case, banks, in good and bad times, put them first for future purchases, and provide strong vocal support by way of positive mentions. “Advocacy offers the most direct linkage to explaining and measuring business performance,” adds Rao.

The Advocacy Ladder developed by Market Probe classifies customers into four segments: Alienated, Ambivalent, Allegiant or is an Advocate for a particular business. It is based on various questions asked of customers regarding their favorability, future consideration and evidence of word-of-mouth regarding a particular brand or business.

Next survey scheduled
Market Probe will conduct the next Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor in May of 2012.

Market Probe
In addition to our corporate headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, we have offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone. We are listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and have been providing business solutions to the financial services industry for more than 25 years.

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July 11, 2011 - First ‘How To’ Book on Leveraging Customer Advocacy in a New, Holistic Marketing Environment Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

First ‘How To’ Book on Leveraging Customer Advocacy in a New, Holistic Marketing Environment

Customer decision-making has become affected by wholly new factors (such as social word of mouth and brand passion). In his new book, The Customer Advocate and The Customer Saboteur, Dr. Michael Lowenstein, CMC, provides actionable insights into how to influence customer perceptions and loyalty behavior in today’s ‘trust’ environment.

Dr. Lowenstein, Executive Vice President of Market Probe, a global market research and consulting organization, also identifies how to minimize, or even eliminate, customer indifference, alienation, and sabotage, now that individual consumer voices are such a critical leveraging factor in decision-making influence, dominating the customary filters of traditional media and ‘push’ marketing.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. The publication early next month of the path finding new business book The Customer Advocate and The Customer Saboteur, by ASQ Quality Press, chronicles a major sea change in the brand decision-influencing impact of consumers’ free-flowing offline and online conversations.

Michael Lowenstein, Ph.D., CMC, the book’s author and expert on stakeholder behavior,  recognizes the enormous shift that has taken place in marketing - going from a largely ‘push’ method (where print and electronic media advertising and editorial content represent messages the company wishes to convey) to a ‘pull’ and relationship-building approach (where the brand essence and perception, the attitudes of employees, customer support transactions and experiences,  and peer-to-peer communication) create more open interaction  with the company.

Surveys of customers indicate the traditional messaging media and non-customized content, especially when they are the dominant form of communication with b2b and b2c consumers, are passé.   Customers no longer believe or trust canned or commoditized messaging, nor do they find it engaging, transparent or authentic.  Instead, informal word-of-mouth is now considered the most reliable, credible, and relevant source of ideas and information.

“Companies will need to make significant adjustments from traditional marketing approaches in this highly competitive marketing arena where customers expect personalized experiences and collaborative, supportive communication and engagement,” says Lowenstein.

With such a seismic shift in perspective and behavior, businesses can indeed leverage behavior and influence customers to become strong brand advocates, thereby gaining an impassioned unpaid sales force for their products and services.  But, it won’t be done the old- fashioned way.

“Customer advocacy isn’t just a research technique,” Lowenstein maintains. “It’s a holistic approach to customer management, involving strategic initiatives, the corporate culture, products, employees, brand positioning and messaging, sales, and customer service experiences.”

What IS Customer Advocacy?
Advocacy represents the highest level of a customer’s brand commitment and involvement achievable: interaction with suppliers on an individual and emotional level well past the typical functional, passive relationship between supplier and customer.   It is having consumers proactively and voluntarily convey, offline and online, their experiences to friends, relatives and colleagues.  Advocacy is not merely a different spin on how to gather insights about factors behind customer purchase, referral and communication behavior.  Importantly, it is also built on trust through real, authentic experiences and brand favorability.

The investment in this retooling is worth it, both in terms of strategic relationship-building and financial return.  Lowenstein shows how powerful informal peer-to-peer communication, combined with brand perception, can be in today’s more open marketplace. He provides data and case studies which emphatically link customer advocacy to increased revenue and profit generation.


“Creating customer advocacy … can make a huge profit impact on any marketing initiative and the overall enterprise, irrespective of size or industry.”


Jeanne Bliss, the noted customer experience expert and co-founder of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA), says that “Michael Lowenstein's book gives readers dedicated to company growth through customer advocacy the specifics and tools to earn the right to (customer) endorsements."


In his book, Lowenstein also points out typical drivers of customer apathy and even alienation.  “Any breakdown in functional or service value delivery will potentially undermine trust and cause consumer dissatisfaction and disaffection, often impairing continued relationships,” Lowenstein says. “This is when customers can become ambivalent, even negative, and can undermine a supplier's image, reputation, and sales.”

In this 350 page book, Dr. Lowenstein makes a persuasive argument for rethinking customer loyalty in today’s environment of open dialogue and ready discovery of corporate performance shortfalls. He turns the table on ‘business as usual’ and provides tangible ways to create die-hard advocates for any organization, virtually irrespective of size or industry. 

Advance praise for the new book The Customer Advocate and The Customer Saboteur by Dr. Michael Lowenstein, CMC:  “Michael Lowenstein offers excellent insights and methods any business can apply to achieve high customer advocacy from its customer base.”

Professor Philip Kotler, Northwestern University


The book is purchasable at the ASQ bookstore, accessible here: http://bit.ly/advorsab


Market Probe, Inc.

Market Probe, Inc. is a global market research firm specializing in full-service strategic guidance and stakeholder solutions. The corporate headquarters is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the USA, with full-service research offices throughout the US and in Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, UAE, India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and additional strategic partnerships globally.  For information, please visit www.marketprobe.com.



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April 08, 2011 - Market Probe Announces New Managing Director of Asia Pacific Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 7, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

MARKET PROBE ANNOUNCES NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR OF ASIA PACIFIC
Market Probe is poised to strengthen customer advocacy research in Asia Pacific region with its new director, Saji Kumar

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, USA – Market Probe, the global customer research organization, recently announced that its new managing director for Asia Pacific will be Saji Kumar.  Mr. Kumar is an experienced research, brand, and advocacy consultant with over twenty years of pertinent, global experience.  He was involved in most of the key building initiatives in 2010, and, with his new assignment, he will be able to consolidate Market Probe’s Asia Pacific presence so the company can continue to lead customer and brand advocacy research in the region.

Given the potential power of the developing markets in Asia Pacific, Mr. Kumar was excited to have the opportunity to direct operations there.  “The Asia Pacific market is one which is characterized by extraordinary growth potential,” he said, “and this has increased clients’ demand for consumer insights. As the region continues to grow in scale and economic importance, I am very confident of our ability to deliver the research insights that our clients in the Financial, Telecoms, Technology, Travel and Tourism and Automotive industries will need to stay ahead of the game and continue to build market share.”

“Asia Pacific is a critical growth region for Market Probe and an increasingly important part of our global business strategy,” he continued.  “With our thought leadership in the areas of brand and customer advocacy, we are well positioned to meet the research needs of our clients.”

Thought Leadership In B2B Customer Advocacy
Mr. Kumar’s recent promotion underscored his thought leadership in customer advocacy, especially in the B2B sector. In a recent white paper entitled “Does Customer Advocacy Exist In B2B?” Saji Kumar and others explore the crucial, actionable areas of customer advocacy development, which lead to quantifiable business successes.  After extensive surveys and analyses, the team of writers showed that certain factors influence decision makers more than others, and optimizing an approach must take these into account.  They conclude that “due to the critical nature of touchpoints, performance, brand perception, and relationships in B2B, advocacy may well be more important in this arena than in the business to consumer world.”

Customer Advocacy Aids The Travel & Hospitality Industries in Asia Pacific
At a recent global conference for customer advocacy in Chicago, Mr. Kumar discussed the effect that Market Probe’s customer advocacy work has had on that pivotal region.  “We feel that advocacy is a medium where we can actually help these companies understand the customers they’re looking for and market precisely to them.” www.marketprobe.com/mpcltreport

He went on to describe a recent conference that Market Probe held in Singapore. The conference was a huge success.  The 50 or so companies that participated were looking for a unique way of targeting their customers, and they found what they were looking for with Market Probe’s help.  “This advocacy framework has really come on as a different tool to help us market our research strategy across the region,” he said.

TR Rao, CEO of Market Probe, describes Market Probe’s approach to customer advocacy this way: “Advocacy is a new concept in customer satisfaction research. We are operating in a new society where there is a declining trust in large brands. And people trust more each other than what the manufacturers say. ‘Advocacy’ deals with that head on.  We’re saying: you need to know who your advocates are, you need to know how many advocates you have, and you need to engage them to promote your own brand.” 

Using Market Probe’s SHARE+ customer advocacy research framework, clients are able to classify their customer base into four groups on an advocacy ladder—the most effective segmentation scheme in the industry.   With this research in hand, clients can begin to take action to move customers up the advocacy ladder, drastically improving overall business performance.

Mr. Kumar Brings 20 Years of Diverse Global Experience To The Position
Saji Kumar is highly qualified for the new position, with over 20 years of diverse global industry and consulting experience.  His current focus is on developing cutting-edge solutions in the areas of customer and brand advocacy in order to impact market share.  Before joining Market Probe in 2010, Mr. Kumar held senior research positions with companies such as IPSOS, TNS, Millward-Brown, and the Gallup Organization.  He has developed his unique global perspective and acute cultural acumen by working with a broad range of high-profile clients in countries as diverse as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Korea, China, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Market Probe, Inc.
Market Probe, Inc. is a global market research firm specializing in full-service strategic guidance and stakeholder solutions. The corporate headquarters is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the USA, with full-service research offices throughout the US and in Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, UAE, India, Bahrain, Hong Kong, Singapore and China, and additional strategic partnerships globally.  For information, please visit www.marketprobe.com.








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March 04, 2011 - Market Probe Announces the Winners of 2010 UK Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor Print

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 4, 2011

Contact:
Jack Jefferson, Market Probe, 414-778-6000 or j.jefferson@marketprobe.com

MARKET PROBE ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS OF 2010 UK RETAIL BANKING  CUSTOMER ADVOCACY MONITOR
Survey also found that banks with higher levels of Customer Advocacy had higher levels of new customer acquisition, sales and retention

LONDON, UK – Market Probe, a global research firm, announces the names of the two banks that posted the highest levels of Customer Advocacy in their respective groups in 2010, based on the firm’s survey of the 10 largest U.K. retail banking institutions.

“The group winners are Barclays of the ‘Big Four’ and Nationwide for the ‘other’ retail banking institutions,” reported John Gilbert, Director of Research, Market Probe UK. “These two banks posted the highest Customer Advocacy scores in their respective groups from retail customers who considered these institutions to be their primary banks.”

The results were based on an August 2010 national survey in which consumers were asked to rate the bank they considered to be their primary bank. Approximately 300-400 consumers rated each of the 10 largest U.K. retail banks. The UK study also sampled consumers who consider a “Direct Bank” as their primary bank.  Consumers were asked how many positive referrals they had recently made to others about their primary bank, and about their attitudes that reflected the positive depth of their relationship with their primary bank. Customer Advocacy is a new contemporary metric that measures the degree of customer identification.  

The UK Retail Banking Advocacy Monitor established that these banks have achieved the highest levels of identification with their customers, contributing to strong organic growth and customer loyalty.  “Direct Banks, as a group, achieved high Advocacy rates comparable to the two individual group leaders.  Market Probe will explore this segment further in the next study,” adds Mr. Gilbert.

Dr. TR Rao, President and CEO of Market Probe, says that “advocacy occurs when a customer is fiercely loyal to the company so that they not only spend as much as they can with it, but they also speak highly of their trust and experiences to others via face-to-face contact, phone, email, blogs and social media.”  Dr. Rao adds, “Those businesses that engage their Advocates and reduce their Alienated customers will enjoy significant financial benefits.”

Market Probe’s Advocacy framework measures whether a customer feels Alienated, Ambivalent, Allegiant or is an Advocate for a particular business. It is based on various questions asked of customers regarding their favorability, recommendation, future consideration and evidence of positive/negative referrals regarding a particular company.  Advocacy is directly linked to desired business outcomes, and the framework can accommodate action planning to improve Advocacy.

USA Bank Advocacy Results
A similar study was conducted covering the top 15 banks in the United States.  Earlier this year, Market Probe announced four regional winners among the US retail banks based on their National Advocacy Monitor, which are: Wells Fargo, SunTrust, TD Bank and KeyBank.

Next survey scheduled
Market Probe will conduct the next UK Retail Banking Customer Advocacy Monitor in August of 2011.

Market Probe

Headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Market Probe has offices throughout the United States and in Canada, Belgium, France, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, India, Bahrain, Singapore, Hong Kong and China with in-house facilities for field services by Web and phone.  Market Probe is listed among the Honomichl Top 50 US Research Firms and has been providing business solutions to the financial services industry for over 25 years.

In addition to the UK, Market Probe has sponsored Advocacy studies for Retail Banking in the USA, Latin America, and Asia.

For information, please visit www.marketprobe.com or contact Jack Jefferson, Manager of Marketing Communications at Market Probe at 414-778-6000.

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