Consumer behaviour is changing. This is a fact that is highlighted by the latest edition of the South African Customer Experience Report (CX Report). Both big brands and small businesses experience this change and are equally vulnerable to it. But those who take the data seriously have the opportunity to change their fates.
The 2026 South African Customer Experience Report (CX Report) is an annual collaborative report compiled by marketing agency Rogerwilco, research company ovatoyou and customer experience advisory firm Julia Ahlfeldt CX Consulting. It combines the perspectives of 2 000 consumers and more than 50 business executives to provide a vital pulse-check on the relationship between local brands and the people they serve. This year marks the 8th edition and has revealed an interesting pattern amongst consumers who are increasingly feeling the pressure from a volatile economy.
Cost Is More Than Price
Consumers no longer make buying decisions based on brand-loyal preferences. Instead, as they tighten their belts, choice boils down to the option that has the lowest risk of a long-term effect on their budget. “Cost” for buyers is divided into four categories: convenience, reliability, human service and value.
- Convenience: Straightforward, easy to use, and simple to achieve goals.
- Reliability: Consistent delivery of customer needs, including accurate product pricing, availability, and fulfilling promises.
- Human service: Employees who are knowledgeable, approachable, and willing to take ownership of problems.
- Value: Determined by the balance between price, quality, convenience, and customer confidence.
When evaluating price, customers consider the full experience: whether the product or service was easy to obtain, readily available at the expected cost, supported by helpful staff, and consistent in quality while effectively fulfilling its intended purpose.
While consumers are doing this mental maths, the report emphasises that businesses need to align with what their customers find important.
“Brands have traditionally treated value largely as the price consumers pay at the till point,” says Charlie Stewart, Rogerwilco CEO and co-author. “By contrast, consumers increasingly calculate something much broader: price plus quality, reliability, convenience, time, effort and the likelihood of regret.
“A cheaper product that breaks quickly, a bargain that takes weeks to arrive or a service that becomes painful when something goes wrong can all represent poor value. The hidden friction effectively becomes an additional cost. That is why consumers are ‘doing the maths’ much more carefully before purchasing. They aren’t necessarily searching for the cheapest option; they are trying to avoid making an expensive mistake,” he explains.
The Shift Away from Loyalty
According to Stewart, loyalty doesn’t last forever. “In fact, it needs to be re-earned with every interaction. Consumers may prefer a brand, but that preference survives only while the product delivers on its promise, the experience remains easy, and the price continues to feel justified.”
He continues that more than half of consumers in their research have switched away from a brand they used regularly because of a poor experience. “Rather than meaning the brand no longer matters, it means brand equity can’t indefinitely compensate for friction, declining quality or broken promises. If trust becomes conditional on consistent proof, brands can earn loyalty by repeatedly demonstrating that staying with them remains the sensible, low-risk choice.”
However, an added dynamic to this intentional loyalty is how easily a brand can lose customers without understanding why. Where consumers decide to choose another brand because of a bad experience or reduced quality, the latest data suggests that they don’t even verbalise this choice anymore. Simply put, buyers don’t complain; they simply switch. This phenomenon is increasingly prevalent as fewer and fewer bad reviews exist, but customer counts drop too.
“The danger is confusing silence with satisfaction. In 2023, data from the South African Customer Experience report, which I co-authored with Julia Ahfeldt and Amanda Reekie, found that 50% of consumers said they would post publicly about a poor experience; this year that has fallen to just 24%. Yet 81% still experienced a negative interaction in the past year.
“52% say they simply stop supporting the business, and 55% have switched brands following a poor experience. In other words, dissatisfaction hasn’t disappeared – it has become less visible.
Brands experience a disconnect from not being able to address dissatisfaction while still working at client acquisition. “Customers increasingly seem to conclude that leaving is easier than complaining, so fewer bad reviews can actually mean brands are receiving fewer warnings before customers walk away.”
Feedback Must Actively Be Sought Out
As with all data, this report isn’t here to spell doom for all businesses and their ability to retain customers. Instead, it can be a powerful course corrector for those who are paying attention.
“Brands need to stop relying on what customers say and start paying much closer attention to what they do. Surveys, reviews and complaints remain useful, but they should be read in conjunction with behavioural signals such as purchase frequency, retention, churn, repeat visits, abandoned journeys and declining advocacy.”
Seeking out feedback is a good starting point, but customer behaviour must be viewed comprehensively.
“Our research found that almost half of consumers who receive a survey after a poor experience ignore the survey or rate the experience more generously than it deserves. The lesson is that sentiment is increasingly distributed across multiple signals. A CX dashboard should therefore combine feedback with actual customer behaviour.”
Stewart notes that the answer isn’t simply to send more surveys. “Brands need to make feedback feel worthwhile. Keep it short, ask at moments where the experience is still fresh, explain why you’re asking and, crucially, show customers that their feedback leads to action.
“People disengage when feedback feels like administrative theatre. It also helps to reduce the dependence on formal surveys by creating easier ways to respond through channels customers already use. And brands should remember that silence itself is data: if a previously engaged customer stops buying, visiting or responding, that behavioural change may be more revealing than another satisfaction score.”
The decisive factor is ultimately whether a brand is paying attention to its customers – both in feedback, but most importantly, in behaviour. Brands that stand out manage not only to retain customers but also to grow their customer base in an economy that spends discerningly.
Consumer behaviour is changing. This is a fact that is highlighted by the latest edition of the South African Customer Experience Report (CX Report). Both… Read More
