Post Office has “plummeted” from one of the most trusted brands by UK public to 135th in just 12 months – Savanta
Post Office has “plummeted” from 6th most trusted financial and insurance brand name by UK public to 135th in 12 months, following public outcry over the Horizon IT scandal
Post Office’s ‘trust’ rating used to be (83%) just two percentage points below Money Saving Expert (85%) in April 2023. Now Post Office’s trust rating (69%) is below Klarna (70%)
Data from polling company Savanta’s BrandVue platform comes ahead of former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ appearance at Horizon IT parliamentary inquiry on 22 May
Research suggests that in particular the Post Office is at risk of losing older people as customers – some of their core users
19 May 2024 – The Post Office has “plummeted” from the 6th most trusted financial, banking and insurance brand name by the UK public to 135th in just 12 months behind Klarna and Revolut, following public outcry over the Horizon IT scandal.
The Post Office’s ‘trust’ rating used to be (83%), just two percentage points below Money Saving Expert (85%) in April 2023. As of April 2024, the Post Office’s trust rating (69%) is now below Klarna (70%) and Revolut (71%).
The research from polling company Savanta’s BrandVue platform comes ahead of former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells’ appearance at Horizon IT parliamentary inquiry (22 May), and suggests that in particular the Post Office risks losing the custom over 50’s – some of their core customers.
Savanta’s analysis of BrandVue data from April 2023 to April 2024 – which surveys the public about thousands of brands on different metrics such as customer satisfaction, awareness and sentiment – suggests that the Post Office is at risk of losing one third of their over-50 customer base.
In May 2023, the Post Office had a 60% consideration share among over 50’s in the United Kingdom, defined as a potential customer ‘considering’ a brand’s product or services. As of April 2024, this has now dropped to 40%, a drop of around one third – the largest of any comparative company in Savanta’s BrandVue tracker.
John Laughton, Head of Product at Savanta says:
“The Post Office has always been one of the most trusted brands in Britain, but Savanta’s BrandVue intelligence platform shows just how affected the brand has been by the Horizon IT Scandal bursting into the public consciousness.”
“Our findings suggest that their biggest challenge is with their heartland of over 50’s. However, the legacy of the Post Office brand does give them the opportunity to rebuild, if they can reassure those core audiences and show willingness to improve, but there’s plenty of reputational work to do – we’ll be keeping a close eye on performance in the coming weeks.”
Savanta’s BrandVue market and brand intelligence platform has been running since 2017 and covers major sectors from financial services, charities and FMCG. BrandVue interviews over a million consumers ever year, covering over 2,500 UK brands.