USAA tops the 2017 Advocacy Rankings, emerging as the most likely to be recommended by its customers from a list of 1,500 brands, per new YouGov data. USAA moved up from the #3 spot the last time these rankings were released in December 2016, overtaking a couple of brands that fell out of the top 10.
The Advocacy Rankings measure customers’ likelihood to recommend 1,500 major brands. Scores are determined by asking respondents if they would recommend a brand to a friend or colleague or would tell a friend or colleague to avoid the brand. The results are then filtered for adults 18 and older who are customers of the brand. These scores can range from -100 to 100, with a 0 score indicating a neutral position.
With a high score of 76.2, USAA distanced itself from the pack. Indeed, Band-Aid, the second-ranked with a score of 72.8, was closer to the 9th-ranked brand than to USAA.
USAA has previously been ranked one of the most trusted brands in America and the company offering the best web experience in the US.
Netflix, Amazon Also Crack the Top 10
The YouGov rankings offer more plaudits for a couple of brands that have seen their share of them of late.
Coming in 3rd in the advocacy rankings was Amazon.com – with Amazon Prime in the 7th spot. Previously, Amazon has been ranked:
- The third-most valuable brand in the US;
- The third-most “relevant” brand in the US;
- The most “authentic” brand in the US;
- The 8th-best for Millennial word-of-mouth; and
- The #1 brand for customer loyalty.
Netflix – the 5th-ranked brand for consumer advocacy – also appears on several of the same lists, leading Amazon for Millennials’ word-of-mouth.
Also within the top 10 for consumer advocacy, among others, are John Deere (#4), Wegman’s (#8) and Merrell (#9). Wegmans is the best perceived company in the US for social responsibility, according to the Harris Poll, and the second-ranked (behind Amazon) for corporate reputation.
Most Improved in Advocacy
The most improved brands this year generally started at relatively low levels of advocacy, though only two began with negative scores (0 is considered neutral).
Fiat, the 4th-most improved, enjoyed a lift from a score of -9.9, but still remains in the red at -1.9. Spectrum, though, improved from a negative score (-4.0) to a slightly positive advocacy rating (3.7).
The most improved overall was Janus, up by more than 10 points to 29.5. Travelzoo, while at the bottom of the list of the most improved, jumped to the highest advocacy rating of that list, at 52.3.
Finally, perhaps a sign of a turnaround for Volkswagen? It was the 9th-most improved in advocacy, up 7 points to a score of 15.4. Previous research from The Harris Poll also indicated that it has recovered some of its reputation after having fallen from a “very good” score to a “very poor” rating in early 2016 following its emissions crisis of late 2015.
The full list of top advocacy improvers can be accessed here.
About the Data: The data was collected between November 1, 2016 and October 31, 2017, on brands that had been tracked for at least 6 months with a minimum customer sample size of 500.
