Key Insights from SAP Emarsys Research on Consumer and B2B Loyalty Convergence

Highlights:

  • 52% of US consumers switch brands after a single bad experience
  • 95% of B2B buyers report supplier’s AI use positively impacts loyalty
  • 67% of buyers switched suppliers due to lack of innovation
  • 70% of B2B loyalty is “default loyalty” – staying due to switching friction
  • True loyalty requires real-time personalization and emotional engagement beyond transactions

The Fragility of Loyalty: Why Experiences Matter Deeply to Customers

Whether we’re talking B2C customer experiences or B2B customer experiences, loyalty plays a significant role in business success. Loyal customers buy again, they buy more, and they refer their favorite brands to others without hesitation. The stark reality is that customers care less about the price they pay for things than how a relationship with a brand makes them feel.

What matters to customers is simple. They care about things like: Did they take care of me? Do I feel valued? Did the experience feel personalized? Do I trust the brand? Did they make it easy to get help when I needed it or did I have to jump through a million hoops to get to the solution I sought? Did the experience make me feel like the brand respects me and values my “investment” in them? Is what I’m paying this company worth it?

In both the B2C and B2B sectors, customers are asking these questions on a daily basis, and they have high expectations from the companies they do business with. In today’s fast-paced, internet-driven world, the risk of commoditization is real; people quickly forget what they bought and who they bought it from unless brands deliver value in every interaction. That includes interactions with the brand, your people, and your systems.

I love this topic: exploring human behavior and unpacking why experiences matter so deeply to consumers has been a career passion. That’s why I was thrilled to have Sara Richter, CMO of SAP Emarsys, join me on our Experiences Matters podcast for a conversation about loyalty, the convergence of consumer and business loyalty and what that means, and the opportunities that exist for brands that embed loyalty at the very core of their business operations.

You can watch the full video interview here:

The Research: Customer Loyalty and B2B Buyer Loyalty

SAP Emarsys recently published two studies on loyalty: The Customer Loyalty Index 2025, which looks at how to turn customer engagement into lasting loyalty, and the B2B Buyer Loyalty Index 2025, which explores reimagining buyer relationships to unlock loyalty-led growth. In my conversation with Sara, we explored insights from both reports, some of which might surprise you. For instance, while 73% of US consumers claim brand loyalty, a whopping 52% shared they will switch after just one negative experience. This paradox represents one of the most significant challenges facing organizations today, and it’s reshaping how businesses must approach customer relationships in both B2C and B2B contexts. Some other findings from the SAP research include:

  • 95% of B2B buyers report suppliers’ AI use positively impacts loyalty
  • 67% of buyers switched suppliers due to lack of innovation
  • 70% of B2B loyalty is “default loyalty” — staying due to switching friction
  • True loyalty requires real-time personalization and emotional engagement beyond transactions

The Loyalty Illusion: Why “Loyal” Customers Aren’t Really Loyal

During the course of our conversation, Sara identified what she calls “the loyalty illusion” in today’s market. “Loyalty is enormously widespread, but it’s quite thin,” Richter explains. “It really doesn’t stand for much friction.” The research reveals that loyalty today is conditional on every single interaction, with each touchpoint representing both an opportunity to strengthen relationships and a risk of destroying them entirely.

The challenge intensifies when you factor in price sensitivity. The research shows 57% of consumers will switch if a cheaper option exists, creating a perfect storm where brands must deliver exceptional experiences while remaining price competitive. Adding to this complexity is the rise of “trend loyalty” — customers jumping on viral products and trending items without developing lasting brand connections.

The Convergence: B2B Buyers Now Expect B2C Experiences

I wasn’t at all surprised by the findings from SAP Emarsys’s B2B Buyer Loyalty Index on how dramatically business buyer expectations have converged with consumer expectations. We have been seeing this for some time now as consumers have become familiar with researching and making personal purchase decisions online, B2B buyers are doing the very same thing. SAP’s research reveals that 74% of B2B buyers claim loyalty, yet 70% exhibit what Richter calls “default loyalty” — often staying with vendors not out of satisfaction, but because switching is too difficult. I don’t know about you, but I can think of a few vendors I personally do business with that I’d love to bail on, but the onerous process of switching has kept me in place. For me, this is true of both B2C relationships I have and B2B relationships. I’m guessing you might have similar experiences.

Sara nailed this when she said: “Why should I be surprised if I’m engaging with you from a B2B standpoint, that you’re going to have different expectations of me than you would if I was a B2C brand? You expect your communication and your experience to be seamless on both sides. You expect the level of service to be the same.” That is absolutely correct; consumer expectations are high and patience when they are not met is relatively non-existent.

The stakes are high here: 67% of B2B buyers report they have switched suppliers due to lack of innovation, and 70% switched because things were “too hard” with insufficient support. These findings demolish any notion that business relationships are somehow immune to the same friction points that plague consumer relationships.

From Transactional to Emotional: The AI Imperative

The research makes clear that transactional relationships, no matter how operationally sound, cannot create lasting loyalty. “A transaction is a moment in time,” Richter notes. “There’s nothing emotional about that.” The difference between a vendor who only appears at renewal time and one who consistently demonstrates understanding and value is the difference between a relationship destined to fail and one positioned for growth.

This is where AI becomes non-negotiable. The research shows 95% of B2B buyers report that a supplier’s use of AI positively impacts their loyalty, sometimes whether they realize it or not. That’s because AI’s role isn’t just about automation — it’s about enabling real-time, personalized engagement at scale and that’s what’s needed to compete effectively today. “You can’t activate your data at scale without AI, you just can’t,” Richter emphasizes. “It’s impossible for marketers, for brands to do that.”

The Path Forward: Real-Time Personalization as Business Strategy

The convergence of B2B and B2C loyalty expectations means brands can no longer afford separate strategies for different audiences. Customers, whether buying mascara or enterprise software, expect to be known, valued, and engaged with consistently across every channel and touchpoint.

Success requires three critical elements: unified data across the entire enterprise, AI-powered activation of that data in real-time, and a fundamental commitment to viewing loyalty not as a program but as a business growth strategy. Brands that understand loyalty as a living relationship earned moment by moment will not only build trust but gain significant competitive advantage in an increasingly commoditized marketplace.

As Richter concludes: “There’s no way that you are successful in personalization or successful in loyalty in the next few years without putting AI to work for you. I think that’s a baseline, absolute baseline.”

This is one of my absolute most favorite topics and sectors to cover, and I so enjoyed my conversation with Sara. I encourage you to download the SAP Emarsys research studies, which you will find here:

Customer Loyalty Index 2025, Global Edition

B2B Buyer Loyalty Index 2025, Global Edition

 

This article was originally published on LinkedIn.

 

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Welcome to the Engagement Era: Why Brand Loyalty Is More Fragile — and More Valuable — Than Ever