Financial Services Firms Sink To Their Lowest Rating Ever In Forrester's Annual Customer Advocacy Ranking

With angry and mistrustful customers stung by the worst financial crisis in more than half a century, US financial services firms fell to their lowest rating ever in the sixth annual Customer Advocacy ranking by Forrester Research, Inc. Perennial standouts USAA and State Farm Insurance remain the highest-rated companies, former high-flyers Vanguard and Edward Jones slipped, and full-service brokerage firms like Morgan Stanley skidded toward the bottom of the rankings. The survey of more than 5,000 households was conducted in the second half of 2008.

Customer advocacy is the perception on the part of customers that financial services firms do what's best for them, not just the firm's own bottom line. Forrester's on-going analysis demonstrates that customer advocacy drives retention and deepens customer relationships. Consumers who rate their firm high with regard to customer advocacy are more likely to save more, borrow more, and buy other products from that firm and are less likely to switch to another financial services company.

Forrester's 2009 Customer Advocacy rankings include more than 40 financial services firms. Only eight of these firms or independent representatives had more than half of their customers rate them high on customer advocacy:

--USAA
--Credit unions
--Independent financial advisors
--State Farm Insurance
--Independent insurance agents
--Progressive Casualty Insurance Company
--Regional or local banks
--GEICO