Why Retention Deserves More Attention

There's a conversation happening in marketing teams across sectors that face churn on a regular basis, of ‘how do we bring in more new customers?’

It's a fair question, and acquisition does matter. But somewhere along the way, the balance has tipped, and the customers you have already are starting to get a lot less attention.

Want the full picture on what's driving customer retention in energy and telecoms?

Stop the Switch, our latest report from MBA Group published in partnership with the DMA, covers why customers leave, what keeps them loyal, and what the data from over 1,700 analysed campaigns tells us about what's actually working. Download it below.

According to the DMA's Customer Engagement Skills Census 2025, just 14% of utilities and telecoms marketers reported an increase in customer loyalty over the past year. Meanwhile, 39% said it had declined. Plus, retention campaigns that genuinely strengthen loyalty generate four times more business effects than the average campaign, the kind of outcomes that matter at board level: profit, market share, shareholder value.

So why is it that the industry's instinct continues to be to go and get more customers?

Part of it is cultural. New customers are quantifiable. Their numbers show up in dashboards, feature in quarterly reviews, and feel like momentum. Whereas with retention, there's no specific moment to point to when someone simply stays. But the cost of losing customers adds up quickly. The average customer in energy or telecoms is worth between £1,500 and £3,000 over five years, and most don't become profitable until eight to fourteen months into the relationship. Losing them early actually erases the investment already made to win them in the first place.

Communication is What Retention Depends On

When you look at why customers actually leave, the trigger is rarely one catastrophic moment. More often it's a slow accumulation of interactions that fail to connect, like receiving a bill they didn't understand, a price rise notice that landed without context, or a renewal communication that reads generic rather than personal.

The DMA research points to "voltage moments": the touchpoints in a customer journey where loyalty is either reinforced or quietly starts to erode. These are the moments that don't always feel high stakes from the inside, but land very differently with the customer on the receiving end. Get them right, and you deepen the relationship. Get them wrong, and you've nudged someone who wasn't planning to leave into opening a comparison site.

This is where personalised video becomes a genuinely important retention tool, and where it has the power to make a measurable difference for providers.

Brands need to match the reality of how people prefer to consume information. The data shows that 76% of people lose interest in text-heavy content, and 91% say they prefer visual communication (Canva, 2025). In sectors where the communications being sent are often complex, such as bills, tariff changes, contract renewals, or usage summaries, how they are formatted becomes crucial. Most of the traditional style communications being sent to customers is exactly the kind they've told us they don't engage with.

Personalised video addresses this directly. When a customer receives a video built around their actual data, their usage over the past quarter, their specific tariff, how long they've been a customer, or what their options look like at renewal, the experience is instantly elevated from a standard letter or email. They're not reading generic information and trying to work out whether any of it applies to them. They're watching something that was built for their specific situation, and that shift in how the communication lands has a real effect on how they feel about their provider, and whether they stick around.

The Moments Where It Matters Most

Renewals:

A renewal communication is a high-stakes moment. The customer is being asked to make an active decision about whether to stay, often at a point when they're most likely to be looking at what else is available. A video that's personalised to what they've actually used, what they've spent, and what their best options are going forward connects with a customer much more than standard messages. It reduces the cognitive effort of a decision that, when it feels complicated or impersonal, tends to push people towards switching simply because it feels like the easier option.

Price changes:

Research shows that any notification about a price increase now triggers immediate switching research in a significant proportion of customers. But the research also tells us that how the increase is communicated matters just as much. A video that explains why the change is happening, puts it in context, shows what the customer is actually getting for their money, and gives them clear and easy next steps lands very differently to a letter written primarily to satisfy a compliance requirement.

Billing:

Billing queries are consistently one of the top drivers of inbound contact centre volume, and a lot of those calls happen because a customer received a bill, couldn't work out what it meant, and reached for the phone. A personalised video bill that walks someone through what they've used, flags anything unusual, and explains any changes removes a lot of that friction before it turns into frustration. It also reduces the cost to serve, which matters when you're thinking about the economics of retention.

Service updates and infrastructure changes:

FTTP rollouts, smart meter installations, and network upgrades are moments that can feel disruptive to customers even when they're positive developments. A short, personalised video that explains what's happening and what it means for that specific customer turns a potential point of anxiety into a clear demonstration.

Across all of these touchpoints, the underlying dynamic is the same. Customers who feel informed and understood are far less likely to go looking for alternatives. The communication itself becomes part of the value the provider is delivering and is a signal that the customer's loyalty is recognised.

There's More to the Picture

Personalised video is one piece of a broader retention strategy, and communication is just one of several areas where the right approach makes a meaningful difference to whether customers stay or go. The full picture is more complex, and more interesting.

Our latest report, Stop the Switch, published by MBA Group in partnership with the DMA, covers why customers switch, what keeps them loyal, and includes real-world case studies from providers who've made retention work. It draws on data analysis of over 1,700 DMA award-entered campaigns, and includes exclusive insights from a roundtable discussion hosted in partnership with the DMA, featuring senior leaders from across utilities, telecoms, and insurance.