Emirates tops the 2020 YouGov BrandIndex Customer Loyalty Rankings in the UAE

Dubai’s flag carrier airline remains the brand with the most loyal customers in the country

YouGov Customer Loyalty Rankings 2020 reveals that Emirates is the brand with the most loyal customers in the UAE, as measured by reconsideration scores amongst customers of the brand, with a Loyalty score of 88.6.

YouGov BrandIndex measures the public’s perception of brands on a daily basis across a range of metrics. The Customer Loyalty rankings are compiled using the Consideration score amongst the brands’ own Current Customers.

After Emirates, Etihad also features in the top 10 at fifth spot with no change in ranking from the previous year. Despite the extended period of not being able to fly with these brands, loyalty towards the brand has remained strong for both carriers.

Within the top 10, the biggest movers were Lurpak, a new entry at tenth up from fifteenth last year, and Dettol, up to sixth this year from tenth last year. With the Global pandemic hitting, we have also seen staple products like Almarai and McVities consolidate their positions in the loyalty rankings.

Popular handset brands, iPhone and Samsung Galaxy remain high in terms of loyalty with customers not showing a change in reconsideration rates despite their status as luxury items in the midst of a tough economic climate. This will be reassuring as both handset brand’s flagship products have announced/released their latest iterations relatively recently.

YouGov BrandIndex has also released the ten “most improved” brands of the past year- brands that have registered the largest improvement to their loyalty score in the past year. Majid Al Futtaim is the “most improved” brand of the past year, with a rise of +9.6 points to its Loyalty score. Al Futtaim Group is the second-best improved, with a change in score of 8.6 points.

Leisure destinations such as Saadiyat Island and Yas Island Abu Dhabi have also seen a notable uplift in their loyalty score, more notably around the time when Yas Island was announced as the host destination of UFC as Fight Island. Consumer brands like Mirinda, Fanta and Cheetos also make an appearance in the list of improvers highlighting the role of familiar FMCG power brands in maintaining comfort through periods of prolonged lockdown and social distancing.

flyDubai and Acer are other brands that complete the list of the most improved brands of 2020 in terms of loyalty as measured by Reconsideration rates.

Methodology

The 736 brands in YouGov BrandIndex were ranked using the Consideration score amongst the brands’ own Current Customers. By looking at what proportion of a brand’s own customers would consider their own brand the next time they are in the market, we can understand how loyal a brand’s customers are.

The Loyalty Rankings show the brands with the highest Consideration score amongst their own customers between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020. The Loyalty Improvers chart ranks the brands with the highest increase in Consideration amongst own customers, comparing the scores for this year and the prior 12 month period (September 1, 2018 and August 31, 2019). To be included, the year over year variance must be positive.

All Loyalty scores listed have been rounded to a single decimal place; however, we have used additional precision to assign ranks.

All brands must be tracked for at least 6 months to be included in the rankings and must have been tracked for at least 6 months in the prior year’s period (as well as being currently tracked) to appear in the movers tables.