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Merchants that found their service providers through a sales call or referral from a friend are less likely to stay with them than those that found them by other methods, such as professional organization referrals or through financial institutions, according to a recent Aite Group LLC report on merchant attrition. "Of merchants that had been with their merchant processor since inception, only 4% found their processor through a phone call, and 7% found their processor through a friend referral," writes Adil Moussa, Aite analyst and author of the report "Merchant Retention: Five Assumptions Put To The Test." Of merchants that switched merchant processors at least once, 33% found their provider through a sales call, and 15% found their provider through a friend referral, according to the report. This compares with 30% of merchants that have never switched providers and 31% of those that have switched at least once finding their processors through a professional organization referral. Overall, 48% of surveyed merchants have never switched processors since they began accepting card payments, according to the report. Boston-based Aite surveyed 160 U.S. merchants between May and August 2008 for the report.
