Alphabet has earned some negative press this year — from thousands of layoffs to regulatory challenges — but people keep on using Google, Gmail and Chrome anyway.
The tech giant has the most loyal customers in the country, according to a recent report from DesignRush, a B2B firm that analyzes and ranks professional agencies. The company's "Customer Loyalty Index" evaluated Fortune 100 companies across a series of six metrics, excluding 40 companies that lacked sufficient data or didn't interact directly with customers.
Those metrics: company finances, average rating and volume of customer reviews, social media following and engagement, customer service-related Google searches, popularity ratings from market research firm YouGov, and net promoter score (NPS), which is based on the likelihood that a customer will recommend a brand or service to their friends.
Here are the ten brands with the highest customer loyalty, according to the ranking:
- Alphabet (Google)
- Lowe's
- Intel Corporation
- Apple
- The Coca-Cola Company
- PepsiCo
- Amazon
- The Allstate Corporation
- Microsoft
- Johnson & Johnson
Alphabet's top spot was driven by its NPS, customer reviews, and YouGov ratings, the report noted: "Google's average customer review is 3.1 stars [at the beginning of August], the second highest among the Fortune 100. Over half of its 6,000-plus reviews are five stars. Google's 73% popularity rating, according to YouGov, is the second-highest in the study."
Lowe's, which ranked No. 2 overall, led all companies in YouGov ratings with a 75% popularity score, 5% more than its largest competitor, Home Depot. The No. 3 company, semiconductor giant Intel, featured "some of the lowest volumes of customer service and complaint-related searches," said the report.
Apple, which checked in at No. 4, has long been known for having a cult-like fanbase, but "surprisingly" suffered in the customer service department, the report said. That means people searched online more for Apple-related support questions than most other Fortune 100 companies, DesignRush added.
In total, four big tech companies often seen as competitors — Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft — all made the top 10 list. Social media giant Meta, which is also in the Fortune 100, did not.
Among non-tech companies, two direct competitors checked in right next to each other: Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, at Nos. 5 and 6.
Coca-Cola "has some of the most satisfied customers, with some of the fewest customer service and complaint-related searches," said the report. PepsiCo topped Coca-Cola on NPS scores and social media engagement.
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