Acquiring a new customer costs five to seven times more than retaining an existing one. Yet most organizations spend the majority of their research budget understanding prospects, not the customers who already chose them. When retention starts slipping, the response is often tactical—a new loyalty program, a discount, a win-back campaign—without ever understanding why people are leaving or what would make them stay.
Understanding how to build customer loyalty requires more than tracking satisfaction scores. It demands research into what drives emotional connection, habitual purchase behaviour, and the kind of advocacy where customers recommend your brand to friends and colleagues. That is the work we do at Meraki Research.
We help companies move from reactive retention tactics to proactive loyalty strategies built on evidence. Our research uncovers the specific drivers of customer loyalty for your brand, your category, and your customer segments—so you invest in what actually works.
Our Approach: The Loyalty Driver Method™
Most loyalty research stops at "satisfied customers stay." That is not good enough. Satisfaction is table stakes. True loyalty is built on emotional connection, perceived values alignment, and experiences that exceed expectations. Our Loyalty Driver Method™ digs into the deeper mechanics.
Phase 1: Retention & Loyalty Diagnostic
We start by analysing your existing customer data—churn rates, repeat purchase patterns, loyalty program participation, support interactions, and satisfaction metrics. This diagnostic gives us a factual baseline: who is staying, who is leaving, and what the financial impact looks like.
We also benchmark against category norms. Is your retention rate genuinely low, or is it in line with industry averages? Context matters before we start prescribing solutions.
Phase 2: Loyalty Driver Research
This is the core of the engagement. We conduct primary research with your customers—both loyal advocates and recent defectors—to identify the specific factors driving loyalty and attrition.
Our research explores: - Rational drivers: product quality, price, convenience, reliability - Emotional drivers: trust, brand affinity, values alignment, sense of community - Behavioral drivers: habit formation, switching costs, loyalty program engagement - Social drivers: word of mouth behaviour, recommendations to friends, social proof
We use a combination of quantitative surveys (for measurement and segmentation) and qualitative interviews (for depth and nuance). The result is a ranked list of loyalty drivers specific to your business, weighted by their actual impact on retention and revenue.
Phase 3: Loyalty Segmentation
Not all loyal customers are loyal for the same reasons. We build a behavioral and attitudinal segmentation that distinguishes between:
- True loyalists — emotionally committed, high advocacy, resistant to competitive offers
- Habitual buyers — repeat purchasers driven by convenience rather than connection
- Deal seekers — engaged primarily through promotions and loyalty programs
- At-risk customers — currently active but showing early warning signals of defection
Each segment requires a different retention strategy. Investing in the wrong approach for the wrong segment wastes budget and can actually accelerate attrition.
Phase 4: Program & Experience Evaluation
If you have an existing customer loyalty program or loyalty programs, we evaluate their effectiveness through the lens of our research findings. Are they rewarding the right behaviours? Are they attracting the right segments? Are they building genuine loyalty or just subsidizing purchases that would have happened anyway?
We also assess the broader customer experience for loyalty impact, identifying which touchpoints and interactions have the greatest influence on long-term retention.
Phase 5: Loyalty Strategy & Recommendations
We synthesize everything into a loyalty strategy that addresses your specific drivers, segments, and business objectives. Recommendations span product and service improvements, customer experience enhancements, loyalty program optimisation (or redesign), and communication strategies that reinforce the emotional and rational bonds that keep customers committed.
When Customer Loyalty Research Is Right for You
This Service Is a Strong Fit When:
- Retention rates are declining and you do not fully understand why
- You are considering launching, redesigning, or sunsetting a loyalty program and want evidence to guide the decision
- Your brand faces increasing competitive pressure and you need to understand what differentiates loyal customers from switchers
- Leadership wants to quantify the financial value of loyalty and justify continued investment
- You suspect that different customer segments have fundamentally different loyalty drivers
This May Not Be the Right Fit When:
- You need loyalty program technology selection or implementation (we do research and strategy, not consulting on platforms)
- Your immediate need is a churn prediction model rather than understanding the drivers behind churn (though we can connect these)
- You are looking for a quick pulse survey rather than a comprehensive loyalty study
If your primary concern is understanding real-time customer sentiment, our Voice of Customer (VoC) Programs provide ongoing listening that complements loyalty research.
What We Deliver
Every loyalty research engagement produces actionable outputs designed for both strategic planning and tactical execution.
- Loyalty Driver Model — A quantified model showing which factors drive customer loyalty for your brand, ranked by impact on retention and revenue
- Loyalty Segmentation — Behavioral and attitudinal segments with profiles, sizing, and tailored retention strategies for each group
- Defector Analysis — Detailed research into why customers left, what could have prevented it, and where they went
- Program Effectiveness Assessment — Evaluation of existing loyalty programs, including participation analysis, ROI assessment, and redesign recommendations
- Retention Strategy Roadmap — Prioritized recommendations spanning product, experience, communication, and program improvements
- Executive Summary & Business Case — A concise presentation linking loyalty improvements to projected financial outcomes
Deliverables are provided in PowerPoint, PDF, and interactive formats. We also offer working sessions to translate findings into action plans with your cross-functional teams.
Industry Applications
Retail
Retail loyalty is under constant pressure from price transparency, marketplace competition, and shifting consumer expectations. We help retailers understand what drives loyalty beyond discounts—and whether their loyalty programs are building real connection or just training customers to wait for sales. Coalition programs and tiered reward structures are common areas of evaluation.
Financial Services
Bank and insurer switching costs have dropped significantly with digital onboarding. We research what keeps financial services customers loyal when switching is easy—and how to identify at-risk accounts before they leave.
Subscription & SaaS
Subscription businesses live and die by retention. We help SaaS and subscription brands understand the drivers of renewal, the triggers for cancellation, and how to build loyalty in a model where customers re-evaluate their commitment every billing cycle.
Consumer Packaged Goods
Brand loyalty in CPG faces constant pressure from private label, direct-to-consumer competitors, and shifting consumer values. We research what maintains brand preference at the shelf and in the cart.
Hospitality & Travel
Loyalty programs are ubiquitous in travel. We help hospitality brands understand whether their programs are driving genuine loyalty or simply matching competitive table stakes—and what experiences create the emotional connection that drives repeat bookings and referrals to friends.
Healthcare
Patient retention is increasingly important as healthcare becomes more consumer-driven. We research what drives patients to stay with a provider, switch to a competitor, or recommend a practise to people in their network.