A survey conducted by the Brand Keys Loyalty Engagement Index shows that Dunkin' Donuts customers are the most loyal in the crowded coffee category. This is the sixth straight year Dunkin' Donuts has ranked on top.
The Massachusetts-based company beat out Starbucks, McDonald's and Tim Hortons.
The Golden Arches, however, tied with Subway to top the quick-service restaurants' category, followed by Wendy's, KFC, Burger King, Hardee's, Quiznos and Taco Bell.
The 16th annual national survey conducted by brand loyalty and engagement consultancy Brand Keys identifies brands that are best able to engage consumers by meeting or exceeding their expectations, therefore creating loyalty.
Brand Keys' Customer Loyalty Engagement Index recognizes the brands that receive the highest loyalty and engagement assessments and surpass competitors for "delighting" customers.
Coffee category
In the coffee category, consumer preferences were based on consistently meeting customer expectations for taste, quality, service and brand value.
"The search for delight by the consumer comes down to a simple equation: understanding customer expectations, their desire for brand value, and packaging the two via the brand and product experience offered to customers. It's that last part that's difficult, and Dunkin' has continued to manage the brand, and the experience to meet customer desires – six years in a row," said Robert Passikoff, founder and president, Brand Keys.
According to The NPD Group/CREST, Dunkin' Donuts serves more than 1 billion cups of hot and iced coffee every year.
The brand also finished on top for the packaged coffee category, tying with Starbucks. The two beat out Green Mountain, Folgers/Peets/Allegro (tie), Maxwell House/Chock Full 'O Nuts/Seattle's Best (tie), Caribou/LavAzza/Eight O'Clock/Milestone (tie); Nescafe, and Yuban.
"We are truly honored to have earned Brand Keys' top ranking for coffee customer loyalty for six years running. This recognition speaks both to the renowned quality of our Dunkin' Donuts coffee and to the incredible dedication of our franchisees who work to provide our guests with an outstanding experience every day of the year," said John Costello, Chief Global Marketing and Innovation Officer at Dunkin' Brands.
Restaurants category
For the 29 brands tracked in Brand Keys' broader restaurants category, attributes relating to "healthy choices" and "brand value" exerted the strongest impact on customer decision-making, category expectations and engagement. Brands that were the best at creating this "customer delight" were:
- Domino's
- Dunkin' Donuts
- McDonald's
- Papa John's
- Ruby Tuesday
- Subway
"Consumer expectations have been accelerating for some time," Passikoff said. "Many pundits have looked at the pressures of price and drew the erroneous conclusion that brands have lost their value. Quite the opposite is true: Real brands are more valuable than ever."
He added that brands that lack "meaningful differentiation" are the most affected by economic and behavioral shifts.
"Given the levels of commoditization we've witness in product/services and pricing/promotion strategies, it's no surprise consumers are looking to strong brands to offer a difference. Consumers know the brands, know what they do, and know what they're willing to pay," Passikoff said.
Pizza and casual dining
Besides coffee and QSR, Brand Keys also measured the top pizza brands for customer loyalty, and the top casual dining brands (among other categories such as gasoline, hotels, insurance, online retailers, search engines and smartphones).
In the pizza category, the top brands were:
- Domino's/Papa John's (tied)
- Pizza Hut
- Godfather's
- Round Table
- Chuck E. Cheese's
- Little Caesars
For casual dining, Ruby Tuesday came out on top, followed by Outback, Chili's, Olive Garden, IHOP/Red Lobster (tie), TGI Friday's and Hooters/Applebee's (tie).
Also of note, soft drink consumers are most loyal to Coca-Cola, with Diet Coke on top of the lower-calorie category.
Sam Adams and Coors have the most loyal beer drinking fans. Patron is the favorite among tequila fans, while Grey Goose is the top vodka.
Customer loyalty is strong for the following packaged ice cream retailers, in order: Haagen Dazs/Ben & Jerry's (tie), Breyers, Blue Bell, Turkey Hill/Starbucks, Edy's, Dove/Dreyer's (tie).
Finally, social networking consumers gravitate to Facebook the most. This is followed, in order, by YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, GooglePlus, MySpace, Yelp, Four Square, Flickr and Quora.
For the 2012 survey, nearly 50,000 consumers, ages 18 to 65, were interviewed.
Read more about trends and statistics.
