December 17, 2025
Report: Why Traditional Loyalty Metrics Are Losing Their Predictive Power for Finance Companies
The CXM festive advent calendar continues to reveal report after report about all things customer experience and loyalty, with no sign of a liqueur-filled chocolate.
The latest comes from US insight house Support EXP providing a new executive insight report, The CX Turning Point. It presents data collected over many years from 150,000 customer interactions across multiple channels and financial institutions.
With around 40% of Gen Z and 30% of millennials claiming they switch banks after one poor digital experience, finance houses need to be tracking risk indicators earlier.
Banking on Data Beyond NPS
The analysis reveals early loyalty-stability patterns that traditional sentiment metrics often fail to detect, especially when customer effort rises.
The findings suggest that while sentiment-based indicators such as Net Promoter Score (NPS) continue to offer valuable perspective, they may no longer reveal the earliest indicators of stability or risk in today’s faster, more digital environment.
“Loyalty didn’t disappear. Our visibility into it did,” said Rhonda Sheets, Founder and CEO of Support EXP. “Financial institutions now need earlier, clearer signals of customer stability. This research shows where those signals are actually forming.”
Fading CX Loyalty Insights Hurt Business
- Ease — not sentiment — more often aligns with early loyalty stability
Across the multi-year dataset, higher ease of doing business frequently corresponded with more stable likelihood-to-refer outcomes. When effort increased, early behavioral instability often appeared — even
for institutions performing in Excellent or World-Class NPS ranges (as defined by Bain & Company, co-developer of Net Promoter Score).
The earliest signs of loyalty stability — and early signs of potential growth — often appear in behavioral patterns long before they show up in traditional scorecards or financial results. - High NPS cannot consistently buffer the effects of friction
The analysis suggests that effort operates as an independent behavioural signal. When customers experience elevated effort, willingness-to-refer often declines, regardless of sentiment. - Younger customers react faster — and more sharply — to friction
The generational analysis reveals a pronounced divergence: Customers under 45 show steeper positive movement with ease and steeper declines with friction, reflecting faster and more fluid decision cycles.
The institutions that succeed in this next era will be those that interpret behaviour with precision,” Sheets added. “Executives want visibility into early lift, early leakage, and the earliest indicators of change. This report connects those dots.” - While sentiment remains important, many early shifts in customer behaviour originate in effort, not opinion — especially among younger customers whose expectations and reaction cycles differ from older segments.
Gaining Visibility to Drive Positive Change
By improving visibility into behavioural stability and friction signals, institutions will be better positioned to:
- Retain the rising generation
- Protect value and deepen relationships
- Strengthen competitive momentum
- Differentiate experience in a crowded market
You can read the full report here and tune into a executive strategic-view webinar in the new year. And with the ongoing customer crisis in banking, improved CX at all levels is a must for any institution.
