The Tenure-Based Customer Retention Model: A Cross-Cultural Validation

Abstract

International businesses and their marketing managers face complexity in the targeting of different customer groups in multiple countries, with different purchase histories and brand relationship tenures. Thus far, no customer retention model has been suggested to sufficiently reduce such complexity. To fill the gap, this study distinguishes three global customer groups—brand stayers, brand switchers, and category novices—which are differently prevalent in countries of various economic development. In particular, category novices have been a largely neglected segment for emerging markets. The study introduces the tenure-based customer retention model, which proposes the idiosyncratic effects of each group on the basis of tenure-based and attitudinal repurchase drivers. A large-scale consumer study (N = 53,744; 30 countries) cross-culturally validates the suggested model and reflects country-specific factors based on cultural dimensions instead of economic development. The findings broadly support the standardization of international marketing over different countries but not across different buyer segments. Consequently, the study offers insights into the communicative measures that can be used to globally address repurchase intent for each segment.