Achieve Customer Loyalty Research Articles

FFECT OF BRAND IMAGE ON CUSTOMER SATISFACTION & LOYALTY INTENTION AND THE ROLE OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BETWEEN BRAND IMAGE AND LOYALTY INTENTION: A STUDY IN CONTEXT OF COSMETIC PRODUCT

AbstractThe Purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of brand image benefit on customer satisfaction and Loyalty intention directly and indirectly based upon hypothetical model in the current study for a cosmetic brand (Fair lovely) at Gwalior (M.P) in India. The measures were reconstructed and re-standardized to make it suitable for the purpose of the study. Numbers of factors were identified through exploratory factor analysis for all the variables. The results of multiple regression revealed that there is a strong positive relationship between brand image and loyalty intention, While, the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty intention was found to be less weak. This indicates that there might be a mediation effect of customer satisfaction between brand image and loyalty intention. For evaluating the mediation effect Sobel test was applied and the result of the Sobel test was found to be positive. Hence, a mediating effect of customer satisfaction was found between Brand Image and Loyalty Intention. The measure of brand image was constituted of Functional, Social, Symbolic, experiential and appearance enhance. A survey was carried out on 200 respondents. The results also indicated that overall satisfaction does influence customers' loyalty which implies that marketers should focus on brand image benefits to achieve customer loyalty.

THE EFFECT OF RELATIONSHIP QUALITY ON CUSTOMER RETENTION AND WORD-OF- MOUTH COMMUNICATION: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON CUSTOMERS OF MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ' COMPANIES AT DAKAHLIA GOVERNORATE OF EGYPT

ABSTRACT Due to the more and more increased completion in today's business, many companies are required to build long-term profitable relationship with customers by increasing relationship quality (satisfaction, trust and commitment) to achieve customer loyalty (customer retention and word - of mouth communication. Therefore, relationship marketing has become more and more important since last decade of 20th.century, especially in service industry. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the effects of relationship quality on customer retention and word of mouth communication, by focusing on customers of Egyptian mobile telecommunications sector. According to literature review, an analytical model is developed as a guidance to test the relationship between the research variables. A quantitative method with deductive approach is chosen in this research. In order to collect primary data, a questionnaire is designed and randomly data have been collected from 400 customers of the three Egyptian mobile telecommunications companies (Mobinil, Vodafone and Etisalat Misr) in Dakahlia' Governorate, Egypt. The findings shows that the Egyptian companies within the service industry of mobile telecommunication can achieve word-of-mouth communication through customer satisfaction and trust. The study also finds that the features of customer satisfaction have a stronger positive effect on word-of-mouth communication than the features of trust. Keywords Relationship Quality; Customer Satisfaction; Trust; Customer Retention; Word-of-Mouth Communication; Egyptian Mobile Telecommunication

Changing Consumer Behavior Paradigms: Does Passenger Age Impact Factors Influencing MRT Usage?

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) services including metro and tram services are designed to convey large volumes of passengers, while tackling congestion and environmental concerns faced in large urban areas. However, MRT involves a major capital outlay, and in order to recoup their investment and to leverage the environmental benefits of MRT services, operators must determine novel approaches to motivate widespread use of the service. It is known that age often impacts consumer behavior, while many of the growing markets in Asia have a much younger demographic profile compared with western markets that could impact traditional models and accepted practices for achieving customer loyalty. In this regard, a conceptual model of consumer behavior in MRT services was tested using structural equation modeling based on age segmentation, with data collected from Dubai metro passengers. While service quality, corporate reputation and engagement were all determinants of perceived value for those over 30 years (p<0.05), for younger passengers (<30 years) only reputation was found to influence value. The overriding effect of reputation influencing consumer behavior, particularly for younger consumers, using the Dubai metro ran contrary to the traditional findings where quality has been the key determinant of value. The reasons and implications of the preponderant role of corporate reputation in visible services in a collectivist Asian culture are discussed and suggestions are made to motivate the enhanced use of metro services.

Effect of Customer Satisfaction on Brand Image &amp; Loyalty Intention : A Study of Cosmetic Product

The Purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of customer satisfaction on brand image and Loyalty intention directly and indirectly based upon hypothetical model in the current study for a cosmetic brand (Fair lovely) at Gwalior (M.P) in India. The measures were restandardized to make it suitable for the purpose of the study. Number of factors were identified through Exploratory factor analysis for all the variables. Structual Equation Modeling was used in the current study through AMOS 16. The results of SEM indicate that there is strong relationship between customer satisfaction and brand image. The result of SEM also indicates that there is strong relationship between Brand Image and Loyalty intention and the relationship between Customer satisfaction and Loyalty intention was found little weak. While the indirect relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty intention via brand image was found to be very strong. The measure of benefit of brand image was constituted of Functional, Social, Symbolic, experiential and appearance enhance. A survey was carried out using 250 respondents. The results also indicated that overall satisfaction does influence customers' loyalty which imply that marketers should focus on brand image benefits to achieve customer loyalty.

Loyalty program structure and consumers' perceptions of status: Feeling special in a grocery store?

Loyalty programs are business practices increasingly pursued by companies in order to achieve customer loyalty. Recent studies have focused on the relationship between loyalty program structures (i.e., number and size of hierarchical tiers) and status levels (i.e., exclusivity) perceived by members. The current study examines two potential moderators of this relationship between program structure and perceived status. Specifically, the aim of our research was to test whether loyalty program structure affects status perceptions in more and less exclusive industries, and among consumers with more and less positive attitudes toward loyalty programs.An experimental design based on different scenarios was used. Two industries and three loyalty program structures were examined. In the airline industry, which is higher in perceived exclusivity, perceived status in the top tier of the loyalty program increased as the number of customers in the top tier decreased and as the number of tiers increased. Notably, however, loyalty program structure had no effect on perceived status in the supermarket industry, which is lower in perceived exclusivity. Moreover, even in the airline industry, status effects were only observed among respondents with a positive attitude toward loyalty programs. Those with neutral or negative attitudes toward loyalty programs were unaffected by the structure of the loyalty program. Thus, the effect of loyalty program structure on consumers' perceived status varied systematically across industries and across individuals.

Relationship Marketing and Customer Loyalty: Evidence From the Ghanaian Luxury Hotel Industry

The study reports the impact of relationship marketing on customer loyalty in the luxury and first-class hotel industry. A questionnaire derived from the literature review was completed by 300 customers of luxury and first-class hotels in Ghana. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and multiple regression were used to test the impact of six key relationship marketing practices, namely competence, commitment, conflict handling, trust, communication, and relational bonds on customer loyalty. The findings suggest that all six relationship-marketing practices have a significant and positive effect on customer loyalty in the hotel industry in Ghana. Apart from extending knowledge on relationship marketing practices into a domain without much empirical work, the study also provides hotel managers with practical ways of implementing relationship-marketing strategies for achieving customer loyalty in Ghana.

How to Attain Customer Loyalty ? : A Framework with the Help of Viable System Model of Cybernatics

This study reveals the importance of customer loyalty and also mentions the factors and elements which lead to customer loyalty. Study gives the conclusion of this problem through viable system model (VSM) which gives us idea how to achieve customer loyalty. Practical Implication. This study is helpful for organizations and marketing managers to achieve the customer loyalty and over all organization goals. Purpose Purpose of the this study to reveal the importance of customer loyalty and give the solution through VSM

ROLE OF BRANDING IN ACHIEVING CUSTOMER LOYALTY

A 'brand' is a set of expectations that the customer has about the product. When the customer gets reliable and satisfactory experience about the expectations from the product it results in the loyalty of the customer towards 'brand'. The strength of the 'successful brand' is directly proportional to the expectations of the customer about it and it has various attributes like Customer Desire, Relevance, Pricing Strategy, Positioning, and Consistency etc. Brand Building is a process which is continuous and requires repeated recharging. It is very important for achieving Customer Loyalty because it is extremely dangerous and absolutely wrong to presume that “Once a Customer is always a Customer.” Even a single negative experience is enough to make the customer to change over to a competitive brand. Branding is an indispensible activity of any organization. At the customer end it reduces the risk of the customer and eases his or her purchase decisions. Branding involves Rejuvenation which helps in acquiring and maintaining Loyalty. Branding and Customer Loyalty are two different but connected aspects of Marketing. Brand building requires full support of all possible marketing activities whereas customer loyalty or loyal customer does the marketing functions in the way of “mouth publicity” of a 'brand'.

Evaluating Loyalty Constructs Among Hotel Reward Program Members Using eWom

Electronic word-of-mouth has become a driving force for hospitality businesses. Achieving customer loyalty is a primary goal of hospitality businesses, and reward programs are one mechanism for doing so. Customer-based communication channels have the potential to undermine or support these efforts. This study investigated attitudes toward hotel loyalty programs among members of flyertalk.com, a forum for frequent travelers. A content analysis of 1,519 comments from members of five major hotel programs was conducted. The core categories that emerged were program experience, value, process, obtaining status, company-created communication, customer-created communication, and defection motivators and inhibitors. A paradigm model indicated that communication is the most important loyalty antecedent, and that all antecedents influence loyalty via the program experience. The emergent relationships suggest that managers should actively monitor online channels and take action to correct issues that cause member frustration and dissatisfaction. Otherwise, these problems can escalate through the rapid spread of electronic word-of-mouth.

浅析我国大型超市的服务竞争策略

随着我国改革开放的不断深化以及全球经济一体化发展的趋势，我国的大型超市面临着国内和国际企业的双重竞争。科技的迅猛发展使得产品的差距越来越小，传统的营销策略实践活动越来越难以维护顾客忠诚，实现企业预期的营销目标。我国的大型超市如何在众多的竞争对手当中脱颖而出，服务就成为企业制胜的有力武器。当代的消费者追求的不仅仅是买到东西，更重要的是一种购物体验。超市如何通过提供各种个性化的服务来提高顾客满意程度实现顾客忠诚，从而巩固企业的市场份额，提高企业的核心竞争力就显得尤为重要。本文通过分析影响大型超市消费者满意程度的因素，着重分析了超市服务对消费者满意的影响，系统分析了我国大型超市在服务方面存在的问题，并结合我国消费者的特点针对我国大型超市在服务方面存在的各种问题提出了一套完整的，具有针对性的可行性的解决方案。 With the deepening of China’s opening-up and global economic integration, China’s large supermarkets are faced with competition from both internal and external companies. What’s more, rapid development of science and technology makes smaller product differentiation. As a result, traditional marketing strategies and practice activities have more difficulties in maintaining customer loyalty and achieving the expected business marketing goals. How do China’s large supermarkets stand out among competitors? Consumer service has become a powerful weapon for winning business. Contemporary consumers expect not only to buy something, more important, but to seek a shopping satisfaction. Therefore, in order to enhance customer satisfaction, achieve customer loyalty, consolidate market share and improve the core competitiveness of enterprises, a variety of personalized services offered by China’s large supermarkets are particularly important. By analyzing impact factors on consumer satisfaction, especially supermarkets’ services on consumer satisfaction, exploring the existing problems of large supermarkets’ services, and integrating the consumer’s characteristics, this paper proposes targeted and practical solutions for various problems which existed on China’s large supermarket services.

Designing and pre-testing a questionnaire for two-wheeler services

The sale of two-wheelers in India has shown a remarkable growth in the last decade. This unprecedented growth has also necessitated for the manufacturers to offer better services to sustain the growth, achieve customer loyalty and enhance users’ reliance on the vehicle. An attempt is made in this paper to understand the activities of the two-wheeler service stations and to assess customer satisfaction of the services. A questionnaire has been designed for the purpose which is subjected to pre-testing with a sample size of ten. There is a remarkable change in the phrasing of the questions and the structure of the questionnaire after the pre-test. This was done to enhance the readability as well as to make the questionnaire more focused to its target group. The pre-test also revealed the need for additional studies to capture the realities of two-wheeler service stations in India.

The influence of corporate social responsibility and price fairness on customer behaviour: evidence from the financial sector

This paper explores how customers' perceptions of firms' corporate social responsibility (CSR) and fairness in their pricing strategy determine customers' behaviour as users of financial services. Specifically it proposes a model where CSR and price fairness positively determine customer loyalty through satisfaction and commitment. It also proposes that the entity's social responsibility actions influence customers' price fairness evaluations. To test this model, structural equation modelling is employed on a sample of 300 customers of banks and savings banks. Results show that both CSR and price fairness contribute to achieving customer loyalty, also confirming the roles of satisfaction and commitment as mediating variables. In addition, it is also shown that CSR influences customer perceptions of price fairness, in such a way that customers perceive that socially oriented firms are also fairer in their pricing strategies. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

The Devil Wears Prada or Zara: A Revelation into Customer Perceived Value of Luxury and Mass Fashion Brands*

Abstract

Customer participation in the service process: a model and research propositions

The purpose of this study is to explore the antecedents, components and outcomes of customer participation in the service process. In this paper, a conceptual framework and model were developed from the literature to help in understanding customer participation in the service process. The paper attempts to provide a foundation for future research by developing research propositions and constructing an integrated framework that includes the antecedents and consequences of customer participation in the service process. The research provides insights into ensuring and facilitating customer participation in the service stages for service firms and service providers. Service firms can achieve customer loyalty and perceived service productivity by having its customers participate in the service process.

The Close Relationship Strategy – Corporate brand development in banking

The purpose of the paper is to analyze how different dimensions of the relationship between banks and small to medium-sized enterprises (SME) influence the SMEs’ loyalty towards the banks. A survey was administered to 1024 CEOs of Swedish SMEs. In the questionnaire, a number of aspects of the relationship with the bank were examined, especially how banks contribute to the development of the SMEs, and how this affects the SMEs’ loyalty. This paper posits The Close Relationship Strategy, which implies that by being more active in the relationship, banks could create more satisfied and loyal SME customers. The study has relevance for banks that are trying to develop their corporate brands through a closer relationship with SMEs. The paper provides a framework for understanding how banks can achieve customer loyalty and develop their brands by focusing on important aspects of the relationship with their SME customers. This study provides important insights into SMEs’ perceptions of their banks’ capacity to deliver meaningful advice, and how a positive relationship can create more loyal customers.

Development of an integrated model of a business excellence system

In the era of a new century, high utilisation of technology and the Internet has caused dramatic changes in the market environment and business management. Therefore, industries will have to adopt many management systems or tools, especially the prevailing management systems. But they often encounter many problems in the implementation of these systems individually. It is needed to integrate these systems for the organisations to energise excellent performance. The aim of this paper is to develop an integrated business excellence system that incorporates total quality management (TQM), the Six Sigma programme, and other management methods or tools. The system is based on the frameworks of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and the European Quality Award (EQA). Because the aim of implementing a business excellence system such as this is to achieve customer loyalty and excellent corporate performance, an integrated performance management system – incorporating strategic planning, Balanced Scorecard, and Hoshin management – is also developed and embedded in the integrated business excellence system presented here.

A transactional approach to customer loyalty in the hotel industry

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which a transactional marketing approach can generate customer loyalty in a hotel brand.Design/methodology/approachThe paper provides a review of the paradigm shift from transactional marketing to relationship marketing, in the services marketing literature. The inductive research used a qualitative approach, with multiple techniques including non‐participant observation in several hotels; in‐depth interviews with hotel managers; and telephone interviews with hotel customers in the UK.FindingsThe findings suggest that a transactional approach to marketing can be an effective strategy for hotels, which target niche segments with highly differentiated offers at competitive prices. It was found that this approach can create significant customer loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe case study approach and focused sample mean that attempts to generalize the findings should be taken with care. Furthermore, this study does not attempt to measure the effectiveness of transactional marketing on customer loyalty; it reports findings from a qualitative study carried out to explore marketing practices in a small sample of hotels.Practical implicationsFor practitioners, the paper suggests that transactional marketing and relationship marketing can be seen as complementary marketing strategies.Originality/valueThe paper provides novel insights into hotel culture, hotel/customer relationships, hotel service customization and customer loyalty. The paper challenges the received view that transactional marketing is less appropriate than relationship marketing in achieving customer loyalty in hotel branded operations.

Estimation of Loyalty Programmes from Customers’ Point of View: Cases of Three Retail Store Chains

Long-term relationships between organization and customers and their loyalty become the most significant assumption of nowadays business success. To achieve customer loyalty and enhance it loyalty programmes are created and implemented. It gains special importance in those fields of activities where competition is strong and supply is standard. But loyalty programme by itself does not guarantee success. Whether it reaches organization’s aims first of all depends on the main thing if the programme is beneficial to its participants. The article deals with how loyalty programmes are estimated by Maxima, Iki and Norfos mažmena retail store chains’ customers. In the first part of the article concept of customer loyalty, essence of loyalty programme and how its value is perceived by customer are analyzed in theoretical level; in the second part – results of Maxima, Iki and Norfos mažmena retail store chains’ loyalty programme content analysis and questionnaire investigation of customers are presented. Research shows that Maxima, Iki and Norfos mažmena retail store chains’ loyalty programmes are closed; basis of reward (most often financial) is amount of points which depend on how much money customers spend on buying goods. Similar forms of investigated retail store chains’ loyalty programmes do not create special attractiveness which would stimulate customers to be loyal to certain retail store chain. Results of questionnaire investigation prove hypothesis that through discounts investigated retail store chains’ loyalty programmes more stimulate sales than enhance loyalty. Most respondents point that participation in loyalty programmes is beneficial financially but none of them mentioned getting emotional or social value. It means that loyalty of programme participants is rational, so it can be not long-term. Almost one third of respondents states that declared benefit of loyalty programme is bigger than a real one. Possibility of retail store chains’ loyalty programmes to grow loyal behaviour is doubted because only half of respondents buy in the store in which they have loyalty card. Almost one third of respondents has loyalty cards of two-three retail store chains; most of them do their shopping not far from their living/work place or where goods are cheaper. Just a little bit more than a third of Maxima LT and Iki retail store chains’ loyalty programmes participants are satisfied by the services they get but only half of them have intent to recommend these programmes to people they know. Value of loyalty programmes is doubtful even to the respondents who do not participate in any investigated programme while investigation was in progress. Loyalty programmes orientated into sales stimulation and offered by retail store chains lose their attractiveness in the eyes of a customer. It means that to attract independent customers and even more important “to tie” them, retail store chains need a lot of organizational efforts and financial resources. All of that will increase costs of creating and implementing loyalty programmes, that is why retail store chains should choose another type of loyalty programme or look for new instruments to enhance loyalty.

Can banks improve customer relationships with high quality online services?

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to explore the impact of online service quality on the level of customer delight and on the development of customer relationships.Design/methodology/approachA self‐complete survey was used to collect data from a convenience sample of 200 Australian respondents who use online banking. Factor analysis and structural equation modelling were used to test the proposed model of relationships.FindingsOnline service quality has no impact on customer delight, e‐trust or the development of stronger relationships with customers. It does have a relationship to e‐loyalty. However, the “efficiency” dimension of online service quality is related to e‐trust and also indirectly to relationship strength through e‐trust. The “personal need” and “site organization” dimensions of online service quality are related to e‐loyalty, with “personal needs” exhibiting the strongest impact. Customer delight has no relationship to online service quality, nor e‐trust, relationship strength or e‐loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizability is the main issue. Further research is required to confirm results and examine the identified lack of association between customer delight and e‐loyalty. Further exploration of all scales is recommended. Online service quality is not a sufficient method for retaining customers through relationship building and does not result in delighting customers.Practical implicationsOnline service quality is not enough to develop strong relationships with bank customers. Banks can achieve customer loyalty through attending to their personal needs in online situations as well as providing a well organized site. Alternatively, if banks wish to develop strong relationships with customers, they must provide user‐friendly and efficient websites while also developing trust in the website. Relationship building and e‐loyalty appears to represent different things to different customers. Therefore, online service quality alone is not a sufficient means of building strong relationships and retaining customers.Originality/valueResults provide important insights into the impact of online service quality on relationship building with customers. Also online service quality for banks appears different to other previously researched retail settings and has different associated outcomes.

Communication system keeps Hewlett Packard employees in the loop

Millions of pounds a year are saved by “UK plc” through increased efficiency in using technology to address customer queries, but it is probably losing an even larger sum by failing to monitor and measure the performance of the people using that technology, says Russell Bradshaw, research consultant with Lorien Customer Focus (LCF), a market‐research and training consultancy specializing in helping clients to maximize the value of the customer‐supplier relationship, and achieve customer loyalty.