Acquiring a new customer costs five to twenty-five times more than retaining an existing one. A loyal customer spends 67% more than a new one. Yet 44% of companies still focus on acquisition and only 16% on retention. This gap is one of the most clearly visible lost business opportunities today. That is because a loyal customer is not a “self-evident phenomenon”; they are an asset that requires attention, understanding, and recognition.

Rewarded or punished?

The world has developed the concept of a “loyalty penalty” – a penalty for being loyal. A British consumer organization has calculated that loyal customers lose roughly 4 billion pounds a year across five sectors: telecommunications, banking, mortgages, insurance, and broadband. Eight out of ten customers pay a higher price to at least one service provider precisely because they have stayed on as long-term customers (1*). New customers get better prices, while loyal ones pay for their choice to stay. Such a penalty is disproportionate and hits precisely the most vulnerable, in particular older people, the group of customers for whom switching is technically more difficult. In fact, this practice erodes customer trust and directly limits the business potential associated with long-term relationships.

The numbers don’t lie; indifference is costly

The research findings are harsh: a 5% increase in customer retention can raise profits by 25 to 95% (2*). The probability of selling to an existing customer is 60 to 70%; for a new customer it is only 5 to 20%. Loyal customers are five times more likely to forgive mistakes and four times more likely to recommend a brand to friends. The main reason people nevertheless stop doing business with a brand they were loyal to is usually not a change in price, but the feeling of “not being noticed” (3*).

Crisis as a catalyst for truth

The quality of a relationship is best illuminated not in everyday interactions, but in the moments when something goes wrong. It is precisely then that a loyal customer observes whether I am treated as a person who has encountered an emergency, or as a fraudster trying to “scheme” something. Research demonstrates an interesting paradox: a successfully resolved problem can strengthen loyalty more than the absence of any problem, but only if the customer senses fair compensation, a fast process, and a genuinely human attitude (4*). A poor response to a loyal customer in a crisis situation can cost more than years of marketing investment.

How to research loyal customers’ true needs

Loyal customers know and feel your brand better than you do yourself; they have a long-term relationship with it. That is why customers’ true needs and expectations cannot be identified through standardized surveys. They are revealed specifically in qualitative research, which makes it possible to capture real experience and to uncover what quantitative data cannot reflect. In Berg Research’s practice, we most often carry out:

• In-depth interviews or discussions with loyal customers – studying their changing needs, unspoken expectations, hopes, and concerns. We examine the experience stories after which a customer’s attitude either solidifies or begins to change. It is precisely these moments that reveal where loyalty and trust are reinforced or lost.
• Service experience audit, or customer journey mapping – following the real customer experience step by step in order to find the places where they get confused in communication, are unaware of their options or of the stages of the service, are unsure how to act, or do not understand where to look for information. Every such weak moment in the service process costs the company time, customer trust, and money

Such research reveals what the numbers do not tell: emotional upheavals, unspoken expectations, the silence that actually means “I will not come back”, and the specific weak stages in the service process that slip by unnoticed in everyday business but cause losses for it (5*).

Start with a single question

Loyal customers are not a “self-evident phenomenon”; they are an asset that deserves regular research, understanding, and relationship development. Start with a simple question: where exactly in our service process is a loyal customer currently losing trust, time, or the feeling of being seen? Berg Research helps identify this gap by researching the customer service experience in depth and in detail, pinpointing the service stages that could be improved. Investing in loyal-customer research and in improving the service process is a deliberate step closer to repeat purchases, profit, and positive customer reviews.

(1*) Citizens Advice. (2018). Super-complaint to the Competition and Markets Authority on the loyalty penalty. Citizens Advice. https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/loyalty-penalty-super-complaint Competition and Markets Authority. (2018). Tackling the loyalty penalty: Response to a super-complaint made by Citizens Advice. CMA. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5c194665e5274a4685bfbafa/response_to_super_complaint_pdf.pdf
(2*) Reichheld, F. F., & Sasser, W. E., Jr. (1990). Zero defections: Quality comes to services. Harvard Business Review, 68(5), 105–111. https://hbr.org/1990/09/zero-defections-quality-comes-to-services
(3*) NewVoiceMedia. (2018). Serial switchers strike again. NewVoiceMedia. https://www.newvoicemedia.com/en-us/resources/serial-switchers-strikes-again-us
(4*) Smith, A. K., Bolton, R. N., & Wagner, J. (1999). A model of customer satisfaction with service encounters involving failure and recovery. Journal of Marketing Research, 36(3), 356–372. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224379903600305 Hart, C. W. L., Heskett, J. L., & Sasser, W. E., Jr. (1990). The profitable art of service recovery. Harvard Business Review, 68(4), 148–156. https://hbr.org/1990/07/the-profitable-art-of-service-recovery
(5*) Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), 327–358. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061470

Today, customers are looking for something more than price and quality in a service. They are looking for a relationship that respects their time, freedom, and individuality.

Five values that decide the choice today

The latest global research paints a clear picture: 84% of customers say that, when choosing a brand for themselves, the feeling of being seen as a living person rather than an impersonal customer number is critically important (1*). 73% expect a brand to authentically reflect their personal needs (2*). Today’s relevant consumer values, in a few words:

• Flexibility – the ability to change plans, cancel, and adjust the service without penalties or unnecessary bureaucracy. Customers already know, and are no longer surprised, that everyday life changes very rapidly, and they therefore expect the service to be able to adapt to changes in the rhythm of their life.
• Freedom – the ability to choose, compare, and also end the relationship without unnecessary obstacles. The paradox is that customers who feel free are more likely to stay, while those who feel trapped wait for the moment when they can end the relationship.
• Respectful relationships – the feeling of being treated as a person, with my own story, rather than as a line of data in a CRM system. People expect an attitude free of arrogance, suspicion, and hidden traps that say “read the fine print”.
• Empathy – in a moment of crisis, what matters most to the customer is that someone responds to them and is able to speak in an appropriate tone; how quickly a form to fill in is sent is of little importance. 75% of customers primarily expect humanity (3*).
• Personalization that respects privacy – the service adapts to my needs but does not put my data at risk. Avoiding a clear answer about how data is used is today interpreted as deception.

Values should not be guessed, but researched

Current values cannot be uncovered with a five-point survey scale. They are latent, because people find it difficult to express them directly in words without hiding behind socially “correct” answers. Values are revealed in stories of experience, in crisis situations, and in dialogue. The key takeaway from Accenture Life Trends 2025 is that the dynamics of trust are changing faster than ever, and companies that rely on outdated data run a high risk of “falling out of the current context” (4*). This instability of trust is closely linked to geopolitical uncertainty: the war in Ukraine, economic sanctions, inflation, and flows of disinformation force people to constantly reassess whom to trust and why. In a changing environment, values are not static; they dynamically realign depending on the sense of security, which is why even data collected a year ago no longer reflects consumers’ true attitudes today.

In Berg Research’s practice, these layers are uncovered through qualitative research methods: in-depth interviews and discussion groups with questions such as “why is this important to you?”, which gradually move from the rational features of a service toward deeper values. The autoethnography method makes it possible to capture consumers’ experience stories and real behavioral practices as clearly as possible, identifying how people actually use a service rather than merely listening to stories about what is used (5*).

Why this is a business decision

Today, values transform and change faster than products. What was a competitive advantage five years ago, for example fast service, is already the minimum today. The cornerstone of competitiveness has become how a service respects the customer’s freedom and time. Companies that regularly research the true values of their target audience build their brand with confidence, based on data, rather than relying on guesswork.

(1*) Salesforce. (2024). State of the connected customer (7th ed.). Salesforce Research. https://www.salesforce.com/en-us/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/documents/research/State-of-the-Connected-Customer.pdf
Corrected: the 2024 edition with ~16,585 respondents is the 7th edition (not the 6th). The 6th edition was published in 2023.
(2*) Edelman. (2025). 2025 Edelman trust barometer special report: Brand trust, from we to me. Edelman. https://www.edelman.com/trust/2025/trust-barometer/special-report-brands
(3*) PwC. (2018). Experience is everything: Here’s how to get it right (Consumer Intelligence Series). PwC. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/future-of-customer-experience.html
Note: the original study (15,000 respondents, 12 countries) was published in 2018. If you wish to keep 2023 as the access year, add: “Retrieved 2023”.
(4*) Accenture. (2024). Accenture life trends 2025. Accenture. https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/accenture-com/document-3/Accenture-LifeTrends2025-Report.pdf
(5*) Flanagan, J. C. (1954). The critical incident technique. Psychological Bulletin, 51(4), 327–358. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0061470

Between what people say in questionnaires and what actually drives their choices, there is almost always a gap. This very gap is the everyday challenge of marketing and communications professionals. In a Dove global study across ten countries, only 2% of women described themselves as beautiful (1*). This is one of many confirmations that a brand’s image lives in emotions, associations, and relationships. These layers cannot be uncovered by asking directly.

Why direct questions don’t reveal a brand’s true image

Research shows that consumers form real relationships with brands: with trust, closeness, and attachment, much as they do with people (2*). These relationships form in the subconscious. Roughly 95% of purchase decisions are made unconsciously, which is difficult to put into words (3*). That is why the question “Why did you choose this brand?” usually elicits a filtered, rationalized answer, what a person thinks would be the “right” thing to say, rather than what truly drives them.

Projective techniques: how to dig deeper than the “right” answers

Projective techniques are qualitative research tools that allow a person to speak not directly about themselves, but through symbols, images, or a third person. In this way they say what would be difficult or uncomfortable to express directly. In Berg Research’s practice, we most often use four approaches that complement one another:

• Word association test reveals subconscious connections; for example, when asked about a bank, a customer may spontaneously react with “queue” or “father”, outlining the emotional field around the brand.
• Brand personification (“If this brand were a person, what would they be like? Where would they work? What would they wear?”) reveals the brand’s archetype, social distance, and tone of communication.
• Incomplete sentences and the third-person technique (“People who buy X are usually…”) make it possible to express what respondents themselves would find uncomfortable to admit about status or the motives behind their choices.
• Metaphor elicitation technique (ZMET) — a week before the interview, the respondent selects 8–12 images that express their feelings about the brand. For example, in such a study Coca-Cola emerged as a “symbol of celebration and belonging”, which became the basis for the brand’s global communication.

What this data tells us about emotional attachment, trust, and premium appeal

International research shows that emotional attachment to a brand, for example warmth, affection, connection, is something quite different from simple satisfaction, and it is precisely this that better predicts what a customer will actually do (4*). Emotionally attached customers are 52% more valuable than those who simply use the brand, because they buy more often, stay longer, and are more willing to recommend it to others (5*). Global brand studies likewise confirm the link between premium appeal and emotion: for brands to which customers are emotionally attached, they are willing to pay on average 37% more (6*). These layers, such as emotional warmth, trust, willingness to pay a premium price, and openness to long-term relationships, are not reached by rational questions. It is precisely projective techniques that help uncover them and turn them into the foundation of communication and positioning.

How to interpret: principles that turn data into strategy

The interpretation of projective data is not literal. It is a process in which the researcher looks for symbols and themes that recur across several people’s stories, coding and verifying them step by step (7*). One essential principle: the meaning of a symbol must not be assigned by the researcher alone; it is always the respondent who helps explain it (8*). For the results to be sufficiently reliable, projective techniques are best combined with in-depth interviews and, where needed, with quantitative verification. In real examples it works like this: the Dove global study finding that only 2% of women call themselves beautiful became the basis for the strategic “Real Beauty” mission, while LEGO discovered that children want mastery rather than simple entertainment, and a return to the core value of the building brick helped it regain its market position.

The benefit to business

Researching a brand’s image with projective techniques is not a cost item, but an investment in long-term competitiveness. It answers questions that customers themselves cannot answer directly: why they choose this brand, what they expect from the relationship, what they are willing to pay more for, and what makes them open to long-term cooperation. It is precisely this data that gives company management well-founded arguments for communication and positioning decisions, not guesses, but a measurable emotional map on which to build the brand’s future.

(1*) Etcoff, N., Orbach, S., Scott, J., D’Agostino, H. (2004). The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report. Dove/Unilever.
(2*) Fournier, S. (1998). Consumers and Their Brands: Developing Relationship Theory in Consumer Research. Journal of Consumer Research, 24(4), 343–373.
(3*) Zaltman, G. (2003). How Customers Think: Essential Insights into the Mind of the Market. Harvard Business School Press.
(4*) Park, C. W., MacInnis, D. J., Priester, J., Eisingerich, A. B., Iacobucci, D. (2010). Brand Attachment and Brand Attitude Strength. Journal of Marketing, 74(6), 1–17.
(5*) Magids, S., Zorfas, A., Leemon, D. (2015). The New Science of Customer Emotions. Harvard Business Review, November 2015.
(6*) Kantar BrandZ (2024). Most Valuable Global Brands Report. Kantar.
(7*) Braun, V., Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.
(8*) Gordon, W., Langmaid, R. (1988). Qualitative Market Research: A Practitioner’s and Buyer’s Guide. Gower.

Traditional analytics tools often provide only surface-level statistics, such as how frequently a brand is mentioned. However, they do not always capture the emotional tone, conversational context, or audience sentiment – all of which are critical for effective reputation management. Today, companies must be able to respond quickly, both to emerging market opportunities and to potential early warning signs of crises. For this reason, online conversation monitoring and sentiment analysis have become an integral part of marketing, reputation management, and customer service strategies. This approach enables organisations not only to monitor activity in real time, but also to act proactively and make precise, data-driven decisions and tactical adjustments.

What Is SentiOne – A Technical Perspective

SentiOne is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform that combines social listening, online data analytics, and customer service automation through conversational AI. It helps organisations not only monitor online mentions and reactions, but also interpret, analyse, and transform them into actionable, data-driven decisions.

1. SentiOne Listen – Online Listening and Analytics

SentiOne Listen is a module designed for comprehensive monitoring of a brand and its digital presence. It enables organisations to:

• monitor hundreds of millions of publicly available online sources – from social media platforms to forum discussions, blogs, and other publicly accessible digital content;
• analyse sentiment and emotions related to a brand, product, industry, or broader societal topics;
• track trends and topic development over time, offering historical insights alongside real-time analysis, including access to up to two years of historical mention data;
• automatically generate reports, customise them to specific needs, and receive alerts about potential reputational risks;
• gain deeper feedback on both brand performance and competitor activity, allowing for a more detailed understanding of strengths, weaknesses, and positioning opportunities.

The platform also provides advanced audience insights, such as geographic distribution, demographics, and the identification of influential individuals who shape and drive public conversations. This level of analytical depth allows organisations to understand not only what is being said about them, but also why and by whom.

Why This Information Matters for Businesses

1.Reputation Protection and Development

In today’s environment, a company’s reputation can change within hours. A single negative post with broad reach can escalate into a reputational crisis if it is not detected and addressed in time. SentiOne enables real-time signal detection and alerts organisations to potential issues before they develop into larger crises. This significantly reduces risk and allows companies to proactively protect and strengthen their brand image.

2.Understanding Customer Perception and Market Dynamics

Digital listening makes it possible to capture customer opinions and emotions in real time. This insight helps organisations not only improve products and services, but also tailor marketing communications more precisely, based on the actual sentiment and needs of their target audience.

3.Efficient and Responsive Customer Service

Even for companies with outstanding products, high-quality customer service remains a decisive competitive advantage. With AI-powered automation, organisations can be present wherever their customers are — across social media, chat, and voice channels. This approach reduces service costs while increasing customer loyalty by delivering a fast, consistent, and professional customer experience.

The platform is already used by both international brands and local companies to enhance reputation, increase brand visibility, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Next Steps

If you want to keep your finger on the pulse of your brand’s reputation, understand customer needs in real time, and automate communication through AI-driven solutions, contact us – we will help you achieve the results that matter most for your business.

Learn more about SentiOne: www.sentione.com