It found that while communications and media brands did well on loyalty, nearly half ( 47% for communications, 48% for media) of respondents they would change provider for the right reason, including rewards, recommendations from friends and family, or the promise of better service.

Christine Landry, group chief executive, consumer & industrials, said: “We’re encouraged to see high loyalty rankings, especially relationships lasting more than three years, but without immediately improving digital experiences, brands are at risk, particularly in the competitive communications and media worlds. This is especially critical to attract and grow younger clientele and secure long-time customers.”

The State of Customer Experience 2017 survey, which questioned 6,000 people across the US, UK, Germany and The Netherlands in August – September 2017, looked at technology, communications and media.

The report found there was an 18% decline in customers believing their provider understands them – down from 49% in 2015 (when the survey was first conducted), to 40% in 2017. During this time, overall engagement also dropped 17%.

When contacting a brand, people prefer traditional ( 58%) to digital channels ( 42%) although overall digital channel use has increased 50% since 2015, driven by social media and on-device help apps.

The survey also found communications brands have 10 minutes or less across the majority of channels to resolve a customer’s question if they want to make a significant impact on satisfaction levels.