Christmas is nearly upon us and with it, the biggest shopping weeks of the year. Business is picking up, but behind the scenes, things may not be so rosy for telecoms and retail companies.

Customer service is lacking in most major consumer industries. This, according to research undertaken by Oracle leads to a decrease in brand loyalty.

Danny Rippon, CRM business solutions director at Oracle, says, “Our report has made one thing absolutely clear: getting customer experience right can help increase revenue and win customers away from competing organizations."

Though customers have an ever-widening array of means of communication with companies, interaction on the corporate side is sub-par according to 1,400 people polled across Europe.

Over 80% of respondents say it requires too much effort to get in touch with customer service teams. Shockingly, 70% of shoppers abandon a company when faced with poor customer service, 64% of which turn to competing brands. In Britain, 90% of respondents are willing to pay more for good customer service.

The results of the survey point to a correlation between brand loyalty and effective customer service, particularly in communication with the consumer. It points particularly to social media as an area of improvement in achieving a better customer experience and improving brand reputation and loyalty.