According to new research from ACCENT Marketing Services, the key to repeat customers is personalized communication from brands after purchases. ACCENT Marketing Services LLC, a provider of multi-channel customer engagement solutions, announced findings from its 2014 Survey "Beyond the Point of Purchase - A Look at Behaviors that Build Brand Loyalists."

ACCENT Marketing's findings align with Forrester's expectations that organizations will explore the power of proactive pre-purchase and post-purchase engagements as a major marketing trend in 2014. Key findings in the report released today also include:

• Nearly half of consumers interact with brands after a purchase
• 86 percent of consumers say that it's important to have a positive experience after making a purchase
• Word of mouth marketing is still critical with 79 percent of consumers telling family and friends when they have had a great experience with a brand
• 93 percent of consumers claim that a positive response or special offer can help restore the company's reputation after a bad experience
• Brands can't solely focus on mobile for interaction post-purchase. Only 26 percent have used their phone to contact a company through mobile app with a service question after making a purchase

"As consumers continue to evolve, we are seeing a significant shift in what CMOs are focusing on," said David Norton, EVP Customer Analytics and Insights at MDC Partners and Chairman ACCENT Marketing Services. "Their focus used to be solely on customer acquisition. CMOs today need to spend time to understand and engage customers across the entire lifecycle, not only pre-purchase. What our research has uncovered is that when CMOs consider the entire lifecycle, they can maximize return on investment."

To better understand the habits of today's changing and empowered consumers, ACCENT Marketing surveyed more than 1,000 consumers throughout the United States. The company looked at how consumers prefer to communicate with brands before and after purchases, what drives brand reputation, and the role of the post-purchase brand relationship.

For more on the findings of the 2014 "Beyond the Point of Purchase – A look at Behaviors that Build Brand Loyalists", download the full report at: http://www.accentonline.com/survey