Capillary launches 2026 loyalty report on rational and emotional drivers

Capillary Technologies has released its Balanced Loyalty Quotient Report 2026, a US study of nearly 13,500 consumers and 26,642 brand evaluations across 54 brands. The report debuts at Captivate 2026 in Nashville and aims to show how both functional and emotional factors shape customer loyalty.

Why it matters: - The report gives brands a fuller view of loyalty by separating what customers do from why customers stay. - Capillary says the framework can help companies spot loyalty that is durable, purely functional or vulnerable to competitors. - The study is intended to guide loyalty strategy with both benchmark data and practical implications.

What happened: - Capillary Technologies announced the Balanced Loyalty Quotient Report 2026 on September 10, 2026. - The US study covers nearly 13,500 consumers, 26,642 individual brand evaluations and 54 leading brands. - The report will make its public debut at Captivate 2026 in Nashville. - Loyalty leaders attending the event will get the first look at the full brand rankings, category benchmarks and seven defining findings from the research.

The details: - The Balanced Loyalty Quotient, or BLQ, measures loyalty across two independent dimensions: Rational Loyalty and Emotional Loyalty. - Rational Quotient, or RQ, covers value, convenience, utility, ease and rewards. - Emotional Quotient, or EQ, covers trust, recognition, connection, affinity and brand identification. - Capillary says the framework is designed to show not only whether customers stay, return or recommend, but what drives that behavior. - Don Smith, Ph.D., Capillary’s chief global consulting officer, said behavior alone does not always show how customers truly feel. - Traditional measures such as transactions, satisfaction, repeat purchase and NPS can show signals of loyalty, but they do not always explain why customers remain loyal. - Capillary says two customers can show the same spend and frequency while having very different relationships with a brand. - One customer may stay because of value, convenience or rewards. - Another may stay because of trust, recognition, affinity or a stronger sense of connection. - The report says RQ and EQ together help brands determine whether loyalty is balanced, mostly functional, emotionally strengthened or exposed to disruption. - The full report will be released after its Captivate debut. - A registration link is available for people who want early access to the report: Register your interest.

Between the lines: - The report reflects a shift from measuring loyalty as a single outcome to measuring it as a mix of behavioral and emotional forces. - That approach could matter for brands that rely on repeat purchase but do not know whether loyalty is built on price, habit or real attachment. - By tying the launch to Captivate 2026, Capillary is using the conference to frame BLQ as a strategic planning tool rather than just a research product.

What's next: - Capillary will release the full Balanced Loyalty Quotient Report 2026 after the Captivate 2026 debut. - Attendees at Captivate will be the first to see the complete rankings, benchmarks and findings. - Brands can register interest now to receive the report when it becomes available.

The bottom line: - Capillary is pushing a more nuanced loyalty metric that combines hard behavior with emotional attachment, and the company is using a large US study to back that case.