Customer churn rates are higher than ever, and businesses haven't figured out how to stop the bleeding. New CRMGuru research points to the cause: Although businesses say they are devoted to loyalty, their management systems and budgets don't back that up.

Loyalty experts agree it is more cost effective to retain customers than to acquire them, but, based on numerous interviews and two surveys, CRMGuru found that few companies have strong programs in place. And those that do may be focusing on the wrong things. From a recent CRMGuru survey, we learned that even though more than 70 percent of customers say poor service caused them to take their business elsewhere, business managers believe price to be a prime factor for defection.