Methodology

How We Quantified Customer Centricity

The Customer Centricity Index was created by Bloomberg Media in collaboration with Salesforce using a factor analysis conducted on data sourced from the Bloomberg Brand Accelerator, a proprietary survey. The survey results are based on self-reported brand perceptions of an externally sourced sample of Business Decision Makers 40+ in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia.

The Customer Centricity Index and Customer Centricity score is not an endorsement from either Salesforce or Bloomberg Media of any brands or companies in the index and does not constitute independent editorial content from Bloomberg Media or Bloomberg L.P.

About the Bloomberg Brand Accelerator

The Bloomberg Brand Accelerator surveys Business Decision Makers and Affluent Individuals sourced by Market Probe International Inc.

The purpose of the study is to measure the underlying market perceptions that contribute to a brand’s future potential among important audiences. These foundational constructs have been shown to correlate to financial and social media metrics. In addition to measuring the core drivers of a brand’s health, the study collects an additional 40+ perceptual measures that can be used to improve a brand’s communication and media strategies.

Respondent include several groups: Financial Decision Makers (director level and above), Corporate Decision Makers (C-suite, President, Owner, VP/SVP in companies with over 100 employees), Affluent consumers (annual household income over $150,000 and in market equivalents) and High Net Worth professionals (over $1 million in liquid assets and in market equivalents). Respondents were identified from lists utilized by the research supplier. Respondents are not Bloomberg employees nor screened to be consumers of Bloomberg content.

Four survey waves have been conducted in the U.S. since 2017. The study expanded to Europe in 2020 with studies in the U.K., Germany and France and to APAC in 2021 with studies in Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and SE Asia market blend. To date, more than 15,000 respondents have been surveyed and 700 brands measured worldwide.

Determining the Customer Centricity Ranking

The sample used for this analysis was composed of Business Decision Makers. The total sample for the analysis includes 2,533 BDMs in the U.S., 3,764 BDMs in Europe and 1,855 BDMs in APAC. 250 brands measured in the U.S. with 200 respondent ratings per brand, 180 brands measured in Europe with 500 respondent ratings per brand (150 per country) and 100 brands measured in the APAC region with 400  respondents ratings per brand (100 per country).  Brand studies typically see 50–75 respondents rating each brand as a sufficient sample size; this study has more respondents rating each brand, for added stability and confidence.

Bloomberg Media conducted a factor analysis (a data reduction technique) to identify the most important underlying perceptual measures across 250+ brands in six key sectors: Communications, Consumer Technology, Financial Services, Health, Manufacturing and Retail.

The analysis identified a “Customer Centricity” factor that was important to Business Decision Maker respondents. It elevated six attribute measures.  We added two additional attributes to form a Customer Centricity Index composite. The eight attribute composite was used to identify the top 100 brands in the U.S. and top 25 in both Europe and the APAC region, with the highest Customer Centricity percentile scores.