The customer experience quality of U.S. investment firms has stalled since last year—only a few individual brands showed respectable gains, while a similar number slipped, leading to stagnant growth this year, according to Forrester‘s U.S. 2017 Customer Experience Index.
Based on a survey of nearly 120,000 U.S. online adult consumers, the CX Index measures and ranks more than 300 U.S. brands across 21 industries to identify how well a brand’s customer experience strengthens the loyalty of its customers. Of the 315 U.S. brands ranked in 2017, 23 direct or discount brokerage and full-service investment firm brands were analyzed to determine how customers perceive their experiences and how CX drives loyalty.
Key findings include:
The brands that ranked highest in the investment firm categories held their number one ranking for the third year in a row
USAA led all direct brokerage firms and Edward Jones was named the top-ranked full-service firm.
Customer service is the most vital driver category for both direct brokerage and full-service investment firms
Meanwhile, brands’ improving drivers related to prices and fees will reap the fewest benefits since many customers select their investment firm based on cost. Therefore, great customer service and other experience-focused activities have a stronger impact on loyalty because customers take lower prices and fees for granted.
Negative emotions such as annoyance, disappointment and frustration will drive customers away and affect revenue
Only 15 percent of direct brokerage customers who feel these emotions plan to stay with the brand, and that number drops to 11 percent for full-service investment firm customers—one of the lowest percentages of any industry.
“To drive revenue, it is critical for brands to understand which positive emotions drive customer loyalty,” said Forrester chief research and product officer Cliff Condon, in a news release. “For example, appreciation, respect and value are top emotions that impact loyalty when it comes to full-service firms. Our data shows that of those who feel valued, 84 percent plan to increase their spending—showing a direct correlation between customer loyalty driving business growth.”
Forrester’s CX Index is the most complete and powerful CX tool in the market today. The CX Index gives businesses a deep and actionable understanding of the quality of their customers’ experiences, competitive benchmark data so that business and technology leaders know how they stack up against their peers, and the ability to model the improvements that will have the biggest impact on revenue.
