This document provides an overview of a research study examining how customer relationship management (CRM) contributes to increased customer loyalty, using Multichoice Nigeria as a case study. The document includes an abstract, introduction covering the background and justification of the study, and a literature review on key topics like CRM, customer loyalty, and the role of technology in CRM. It also outlines the research methodology used, which includes interviews with Multichoice employees and surveys of subscribers to understand perceptions of service delivery. The findings suggest CRM approaches like delivering value to customers and using technology for customer interactions contribute to subscriber satisfaction and loyalty at Multichoice Nigeria.
This document discusses key concepts in service marketing. It defines a service as any intangible act or performance offered by one party to another. Services have four main characteristics: intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. Service marketing focuses on building relationships and delivering value. It is important for service companies to consider people, processes, physical evidence, and image when developing their marketing strategies. Service quality is determined by reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. Firms must work to reduce gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service.
This document summarizes key concepts from a textbook on e-commerce business models. It discusses different types of business models for B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) e-commerce, including portals, e-tailers, content providers, transaction brokers, market creators, service providers, and community providers for B2C. For B2B it discusses e-distributors, e-procurement, exchanges, industry consortia, and private industrial networks. It also discusses how the internet impacts industry value chains, firm value chains, and business strategy.
This document discusses the micro-environment of online marketplaces and its implications for digital marketing strategy. It defines the micro-environment as the actors and their interactions that influence how an organization responds in its marketplace. It also examines how customers, competitors, suppliers, and intermediaries shape the immediate trading environment and issues organizations should consider regarding these groups in their digital marketing. The document also explores various models of online consumer behavior and the impact of the internet on traditional marketing channels.
Viral marketing uses social networks to spread brand awareness analogous to how viruses spread. It often uses funny videos or games on the internet but can also be used in other media. It aims to increase sales and brand positioning through messages spreading exponentially among users like word-of-mouth. Common viral marketing techniques include blogs, social media, emails, videos and games. While it can be cheap and spread a name widely, viral campaigns also have short lifespans and low success rates. The Vodafone ZooZoo ads are an example of a highly successful viral campaign in India that increased subscriptions through amusing animated characters.
Physical evidence in services includes the tangible components that customers interact with during service delivery, such as facilities, equipment, and materials. The environment where the service is delivered is called the "servicescape" and influences customer and employee behaviors. Servicescapes can be designed to facilitate service delivery, differentiate a provider in the market, and impact customer perceptions through qualities like ambience and cleanliness.
Service blueprinting is a tool used to design or redesign services by mapping customer experiences and the service system. It provides a visual representation of both frontstage and backstage customer contact points and roles of employees. The key components of a blueprint include mapping customer actions and points of contact, frontstage and backstage employee actions, and support processes. To develop a blueprint, one identifies the service process, customer segment, maps the process from the customer perspective, employee/technology actions, and links support functions. Benefits include facilitating innovation, recognizing roles and dependencies, and designing critical customer touchpoints.
As companies are spending large amount of investment on the advertisement because they want to keep their product at the top of the customer’s mind. Advertisement has proven to be a successful tool for the communication but companies are still in the confusion that what kind of ingredients should be there and how do these advertisements will help to change the consumer buying behavior
The Role of Green Marketing and its effect on Consumers
This project is mainly focused on analyzing the purchasing behavior of consumers regarding green products and the awareness among consumers about green marketing.
The document provides an overview of consumer behaviour and consumer research. It defines consumer behaviour as the study of how individuals make decisions to spend resources on consumption-related items. Consumer research involves systematically gathering and analyzing data to understand consumer thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. There are various types of consumer research methods, including surveys, experiments, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Understanding consumer behaviour helps marketers make better strategic decisions and predict how consumers will react to marketing cues.
This is the service blueprint of Columbia Asia Hospital, Mysore. This was created as part of an academic project. This shows how the service is being delivered in a typical hospital
Online consumer decision making involves a multi-step process where consumers use the internet to research products and services, compare options, and make purchases. Key factors that influence online shopping behavior include convenience, available information and reviews, and price selection. However, disadvantages like security concerns, lack of hands-on inspection, and incomplete cost disclosure can dissuade some consumers. In India, the growing internet user base and increased social media usage indicates many consumers are becoming accustomed to using the internet and researching products online as part of their decision making process.
This document discusses e-commerce and its evolution. It defines e-commerce as the use of the internet and web to conduct business transactions digitally. Key points made include:
- E-commerce differs from e-business in that e-commerce involves a commercial transaction, while e-business is digital enablement within a firm.
- Features of e-commerce include ubiquity, global reach, interactivity, and personalization.
- E-commerce has evolved through three stages - innovation, consolidation, and current reinvention through social media and web 2.0.
- Major limitations include access to technology and overcoming social/cultural barriers to digital shopping.
- Common revenue models for
Customer relationship management (CRM) involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support. The key aspects of CRM include understanding customer needs, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reducing costs by resolving complaints efficiently. CRM systems aim to understand current and potential customers in order to maximize their lifetime value. Operational CRM provides support for front-office customer interactions while analytical CRM analyzes customer data to understand behavior. Collaborative CRM enhances collaboration with customers and partners. Measuring customer satisfaction is important for retaining customers and improving business performance.
Collaborative commerce allows for electronic collaboration between business partners and organizational employees through a joint online platform. Companies like AirBnB and Uber create businesses through unused inventory, like AirBnB allowing individuals to earn revenue from unused living spaces. AirBnB specifically started in 2008 and disrupted the hospitality sector by allowing users to book rooms and flats from individuals worldwide, appealing to younger generations. It creates a win-win situation for both those lending and borrowing spaces.
This document outlines an introduction to e-business and e-commerce. It defines key terms like e-business and e-commerce and discusses the opportunities and challenges of managing e-business. Examples are provided of companies that have transformed through e-business like Google. Drivers for adoption like increased efficiency and barriers like costs are examined. The relationship between e-commerce, e-business and technologies like intranets is explored.
Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customers loyalty .
A survey research on the impact of Customer Attraction , Customer retention, Customer satisfaction programs on Customers loyalty. In Asaba, Delta State, NIgeria .
This document discusses customer relationship management (CRM) and its benefits. It defines CRM as integrating all customer interactions through various channels to provide end-to-end customer management. CRM requires organizational change and information/application support. It should have consistent, repeatable processes. Customers want more value, responsiveness and flexibility for less aggravation. CRM helps increase customer retention and profitability by understanding customers. Technology like data warehousing enables CRM by providing customer insights.
This document summarizes a dissertation proposal on evaluating strategic leadership practices and their impact on organizational performance in Pakistan's small and medium enterprises. The proposal outlines the background, aims, objectives, and organization of the dissertation research. Specifically, it will examine current strategic leadership practices in pharmaceutical SMEs in Pakistan, compare them to effective practices identified in literature, and analyze their influence on organizational performance.
This document discusses cause-related marketing (CRM) and consumer perceptions of brands associated with causes. It defines CRM and explains why companies engage in CRM campaigns. It also outlines consumer perceptions of CRM, including that certain demographics like women and younger people are more favorable towards CRM. Additionally, it discusses CRM initiatives in India and notes that Indian consumers place more importance on a company's national origin when associated with a cause.
This document summarizes an investigation into the key components of Dutton Gregory's customer relationship management (CRM) system. It includes background information on Dutton Gregory as a small to medium sized law firm in the UK. The main problem identified is that the current client database is disorganized with duplicates and incomplete information. The research aims to identify the 4 key components causing issues and make recommendations to improve the database's efficiency. This will allow for more effective client communication and marketing.
Dissertation - The impact of CRM on Brand Awareness - T11400989
This document summarizes a study on the impact of cause-related marketing on brand awareness, specifically for Cargills Agriculture and Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka. The study found that the bank's brand awareness was lower than competitors due to a lack of strategic marketing initiatives. The aim is to determine if cause-related marketing can strengthen brand awareness. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with bank customers. The results showed a positive relationship between cause-related marketing and brand awareness, indicating that cause-related marketing can increase business performance and market share when combined with corporate social responsibility initiatives.
This document provides an overview of relationship marketing and customer relationship management (CRM). It discusses the meaning and scope of relationship marketing, including its focus on building internal and external relationships with key stakeholders. It also outlines the evolution of relationship marketing approaches over time from direct mail to loyalty marketing. The document then covers characteristics of relationship marketing like being a business strategy, involving two-way relationships, and being customized. It also discusses types of customer relationships, fundamental CRM concepts, and strategies for planning and implementing relationship marketing and CRM programs.
The document provides an overview of the B2B Marketing & CRM course including course content, assessments, and considerations. The course covers topics such as industrial marketing environment, buyer behavior, marketing research, advertising, pricing, distribution, selling, key account management, CRM strategies, and customer relationship management. It also defines B2B marketing, discusses the need for B2B marketing, features, functions, areas of application, characteristics, buying motives, and differences between industrial and consumer marketing.
The document discusses social customer relationship management (CRM). It defines social CRM as monitoring, engaging, and managing conversations and relationships with customers and influencers across digital channels. It outlines key business objectives for social CRM like fostering dialogue and promoting advocacy. It also discusses frameworks for listening to customers, engaging with them, and taking action based on insights. Finally, it provides examples of planning workshops and use cases to help organizations develop social CRM strategies and processes.
This document discusses how brands can create mass movements by fulfilling human needs and offering a promise of a better future. It notes that Apple plays to needs of beauty and self-actualization by allowing creative expression through its tools. Apple promotes this unique benefit and supports user groups to inspire others to see its advantages. It also offers Genius Bars and creates a legion of loyal fans with the hope of being more creative.
CRM refers to Customer Relationship Management, which is a strategy used by companies to optimize value from customer relationships. It involves acquiring, retaining, and partnering with customers to create value for both the company and customer. CRM uses technologies like databases, customer analytics, and customer service to understand customer needs and provide personalized customer experiences across sales, marketing, and service channels. The goal is to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and lifetime value.
Role of Customer Relationship Management in retail sector (CSR)
This document provides an overview of Tesco's implementation of customer relationship management (CRM). It discusses how Tesco has transformed from a buyer-led organization to a customer-focused group through strategic CRM programs and technologies. This includes introducing a loyalty card program in 1995 that helped Tesco better understand customer preferences and tailor its offerings. Tesco also pioneered online grocery shopping, allowing customers to customize orders and delivery. Through CRM, Tesco has achieved over £1 billion in annual profits and maintains its position as the largest grocer in the UK.
This document summarizes key points from a book about building customer loyalty. Chapter 1 discusses why customer loyalty is important for businesses today, noting that loyal customers are worth more and it is more expensive to acquire new customers than retain existing ones. It also outlines rewards for providing great customer service like increased spending and penalties for poor service like lost customers. Chapter 2 explains that shared values are more important than engagement for building brand loyalty, and that customers are loyal to beliefs and causes rather than just businesses. It provides examples of brands that have cultivated loyalty by taking strong stances on issues.
Everybody's talkin': what consumers are saying about your mobile CRM and cust...
The DMA Mobile and Connected Council Research Hub will present new insights into the role of mobile in customer loyalty and CRM programmes. Our expert panel will share their own experiences and best practices to ensure you leave with clear, actionable ideas to improve your brand-customer relationships.
Our industry speakers include:
Barclaycard - Using mobile in consumer relationships
Martin Miller, Head of Product and Innovation (Mobile)
Textlocal - Using mobile to develop B2B relationships
Jason Palgrave-Jones, Business Development & Client Services Director
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry, such as banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, brokerages, and investment funds. There are two main types of financial services - fund or asset-based services, and fee-based services. Fund-based services involve raising funds through deposits, debt, or equity and investing those funds by lending or purchasing securities. These include services like leasing, housing finance, credit cards, venture capital, factoring, forfeiting, and bill discounting. Fee-based services involve earning income through fees, commissions, or brokerage on services like issue management, advisory, credit ratings, mutual funds, securitization, and stock broking.
Overview Of Effective CRM Implementation And Operation
The document provides an overview of effective customer relationship management (CRM) implementation and operation. It discusses key aspects of CRM including customer analysis and segmentation, implementation approaches, activity-based costing, data mining, and technology components. The document emphasizes balancing a focus on internal cost reductions with improving the external customer experience to maximize long-term customer value and profitability.
This document provides an overview of an experience management unit at Victoria University. It includes details about the unit convenor, workshops and lectures, and assessments. The key topics covered are customer relationship management (CRM) and experience management, including definitions and examples. Group activities are also outlined that involve discussing CRM and experience management case studies.
MBA Projects, synopsis, and synopsis of various regular as well as distance learning undergraduate and postgraduate courses for various institutions like SMU – Sikkim Manipal University, SMUDE, AIMA, AMITY, IGNOU, SCDL, JAMIA, AMU, JHU etc.
This research report summarizes a study on customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking sector. The report outlines the objectives to examine the importance and impact of CRM on customer satisfaction. It will analyze customer perceptions of CRM technologies used by banks and offer suggestions. A questionnaire using a Likert scale will collect data on products, call centers, transaction speeds and other factors from premium customers of selected commercial banks. The findings will help understand customer responses to technologies and drawbacks affecting satisfaction levels.
1. The document discusses a summer internship project on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) conducted by two students at Angel Broking Ltd from May to June 2009 under the guidance of their faculty member.
2. It provides an introduction to CRM, including its history and importance in helping companies manage customer relationships through databases, marketing campaigns, and individualized customer interactions.
3. The project involved analyzing Angel Broking's CRM practices through secondary research, a SWOT analysis of the brokerage industry, and data collected during the students' internship regarding customer satisfaction, training programs, and opportunities for improvement.
1. The document discusses customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking sector. It notes that banks have shifted their focus from transaction volume to developing long-term customer relationships through personalized marketing, service, and products.
2. CRM allows banks to better understand their customers through collecting and analyzing customer data from various interactions. This helps banks provide customized service, retain existing customers, and cross-sell additional products.
3. Implementing an effective CRM strategy is important for banks to increase customer loyalty and lifetime value. Long-term customer relationships are beneficial for both customers and banks.
The document discusses how customer relationship management (CRM) can help leisure operators sustain and increase customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty during difficult economic times. It analyzes a study of six leisure operators that found CRM provided benefits by building long-term customer relationships. Effective CRM requires an integrated approach involving customer data collection and analysis, business process changes to improve customer experience, and employee training. The document also identifies gaps in how leisure operators currently apply CRM and opportunities to better measure customer lifetime value.
Customer is a king and Customers are the mainly focused in making new marketing strategy. In the banking field a unique relationship exists between the customers and the bank. But because of various reasons like lack of training ,new technology literacy, financial targets, risk of failure etc., some banks are still following the traditional ways of marketing and another hand some are making attempts to adapt CRM. It is with this background, the researcher has made a modest attempt towards the idea that CRM can be adapted uniformly in the banking industry for betterment of Banking Services. Understanding on Customer Relationship Management is always a concern among the service providers especially banks. Banks makes their own way of managing their relationships new and existing customers. The aim of this paper is to examine the Customer Relationship Management as a new methodology looks forward to identify and attract consumers through the process of developing relationships (business - customer). The methodology of the CRM aims to maintain customer satisfaction and increase consumer loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to study the importance of CRM systems and in-depth knowledge of methods and management techniques customer relationships.
The main issue of this study is that CRM has become a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon that is ridden by various factors. Due to this complexity, a number of different variables have been used to measure CRM which investigated by several prior studies. However, most of businesses need to know and look at the particular measures and dimensions of the CRM that have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty, which would enrich the business' performance, especially with the increase in competition as well as lack of differentiation in providing a service. This paper aimed to review literature on CRM and to identify its impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The studies are analyzed on the basis of some general characteristics and variables that significantly enhance CRM and its influence on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. For this purpose, we investigate the existing literature on the impact of CRM on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty along with its spread among publications to identify the potential development in the field.
This document provides an overview of customer relationship management (CRM). It defines CRM as a comprehensive approach for creating, maintaining, and expanding customer relationships. The document discusses categorizing customers to better understand and serve them. It also covers using customer data and tools to capture information to implement a CRM strategy. Finally, the document lists some key factors for successful CRM implementation and provides some case studies.
This document discusses successful customer relationship management (CRM) projects and measures. It defines CRM and identifies key elements and modules. The document outlines factors for successful CRM strategies, implementations, and organizational changes. These include having a clear customer-focused strategy, integrating technology and processes, and transforming the organization to be customer-centric. The document also discusses various customer-focused measures that can indicate CRM project success, such as customer lifetime value, retention rates, and profitability.
This document discusses a survey of executives about modern customer service. Key findings include:
- 88% of executives think they offer modern customer service, and 75% think they perform better than peers. However, customer service is a strategic goal for only 38% of companies.
- Companies see customer service primarily as a way to retain existing customers rather than a strategic differentiator.
- While companies are adopting new technologies, many still feel most comfortable with traditional channels. Barriers to new channels include cost and integration challenges.
- Knowledge management is the top investment area as only 35% of organizations currently deploy this capability.
Customer relationship management in banking sector
Driven by challenges on competition, rising customer expectation and shrinking
margins, banks have been using technology to reduce cost. Apart from competitive
environment, there has been deregulation as to rate of interest, technology intensive
delivery channel like Internet Banking, Tele Banking, Mobile banking and Automated
Teller Machines (ATMs) etc have created a multiple choice to user of the bank. The
banking business is becoming more and more complex with the changes emanating from
the liberalization and globalization. For a new bank, customer creation is important, but
an established bank it is the retention is much more efficient and cost effective
mechanism.
Customer Relationship Management Unit-1 IMBA Osmania University
EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
CRM-Definition, emergence of CRM practice, factors responsible for CRM growth, CRM Process, framework of CRM, Benefits of CRM, Types of CRM, Scope of CRM, Customer Profitability, Future Trends in CRM, CRM and Cost-Benefit Analysis, CRM and Relationship Marketing, Customer Relationship Management Unit-1 IMBA Osmania University
Advance technology and globalization has lead to competition so fierce never before.
Due to this intense competitive environment has shown a paradigm shift from transaction model to the relationship model where the focus is on long term customer satisfaction rather than short term profit acquiring by the business.
So, keeping your existing customer satisfied and maximizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) have significant importance than acquiring new customer.
In marketing, customer lifetime value (CLV), lifetime customer value (LCV), or lifetime value (LTV) is the net present value of the cash flows attributed to the relationship with a customer.
The use of customer lifetime value as a marketing metric tends to place greater emphasis on customer service and long-term customer satisfaction, rather than on maximizing short-term sales.
The concept of CLV helps the marketer to analyze the cost of acquiring , servicing and retaining a certain set of customer in the market
This document discusses relationship marketing and customer care in modern business organizations. It begins by explaining how customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty have become critical for business survival given increased competition. Relationship marketing and effective customer relationship management strategies can help organizations develop mutually beneficial relationships with customers. The document then examines the role of customer care and relationship marketing in building trust, satisfaction and lifetime customer value. It recommends that organizations understand customer desires, deliver excellent service, implement quality customer relationship strategies and foster a customer-centric culture to enhance loyalty and profitability.
Why Your Best Salesperson May Be a Customer Support Rep
This document discusses how customer support organizations can be transformed into sales channels by focusing on providing a positive customer experience. It proposes that support teams should prioritize resolving issues on the first call to increase customer satisfaction and retention. The document also describes a customer care transformation framework that uses customer usage data and feedback to identify and fix recurring problems, empowering agents and customers to resolve issues themselves through self-service tools. This framework aims to transform dissatisfied customers into advocates by resolving the root causes of their issues.
A Study on Customer Satisfaction in Automobile Industry wi.docx
A Study on Customer Satisfaction in
Automobile Industry within Saudi Arabia
RESEARCH DISSERTATION
Submitted in fulfillment of the partial requirement for the award of degree of
master of business administration
By
Fuad Abdullah Salem Hasan
Student ID: 150007035
Under the Supervision of
DR. FARRUKH RAFIQ AHMAD
COLLEGE OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL
SCIENCES
SAUDI ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY
2018
DECLARATION
I, declare that the work on which this dissertation is based, hereby submitted to the University of
Saudi Electronic University, for the degree of Master of Business Administration, has not
previously been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other university.
Student Name: Fuad Abdullah Salem Hasan
Student number: 150007035
Date of Submission: 12/04/2018
Abstract
This paper is a study on customer satisfaction in Automobile industry within Saudi
Arabia. It provides a general sight of the concept of customer satisfaction and goes more
particularity to discuss the concept of customer satisfaction from an Automobile perspective.
Because this study argues that achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction for an
organization is a multifaceted success, it tries to discuss each area that can impact the
organizational overall customer satisfaction from a management perspective and tried also to
reveal how each area affects the consumer‟s satisfaction from his point of view. The study aims
to benefit both Automobile consumers and the Automobile companies in Saudi Arabia through
providing a better understanding of the customers preferences and consumers behaving toward
the Automobile products and service that are available in the marketplace and their needs that are
not available products in order to supply what the consumers need so their need will be fulfilled
and the Automobile companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can realize a better competitive
advantage among their competitors and earn more revenues.
3
Table of Contents
Declaration
Dedication
Abstract
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4
1.1 Background ………………….………………………………………………...…… 4
1.2 Research Objectives …………………………………………………………...…… 7
Chapter 2: Literature Review........................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Research and Development: Product Design ………………..….……...…...…..… 11
2.2 Supply Chain and Logistics ……………...……..………………………………… 12
2.3 Marketing and Sales ……...……………………….……………….………...….… 13
2.4 Aftersales Service……………………...………………………..…...……………. 14
2.5 Customer Preferences and Customer Loyalty …..………………………........…… 15
2.6 Measuring Customer Satisfaction …………………..……………………..……… 15
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.......................................................................... ...
This document provides a summary of a research report on customer relationship management in the banking sector. It discusses:
1) How CRM has become important for retaining customers and maximizing their lifetime value in the competitive banking industry.
2) The methodologies used in the research project, including a literature review, survey questionnaire, and analysis of customer perceptions of banks' CRM strategies and technologies.
3) The objectives of examining CRM's impact on customer satisfaction and offering suggestions to improve banks' CRM practices.
Marketing teams are increasingly becoming the cross-functional glue that leads customer experience initiatives across organizations. High-performing marketers are more likely to collaborate and share goals/metrics with teams like sales, advertising, commerce, and customer service. These integrated efforts are helping marketers engage customers in real-time across channels and drive cohesive experiences throughout the entire customer journey. However, many marketers still face challenges in unifying data and technologies across departments to fully realize their personalization capabilities.
Service Positioning
After a service strategy has been identified, a company must decide how to position its product most effectively. The concept of positioning involves establishing a distinctive place in the minds of target customers relative to competing products.
In “The New Positioning: The Latest on the World's #1 Business Strategy”, Jack Trout distills the essence of positioning into the following four principles
1. A company must establish a position in the minds of its targeted customers.
2. The position should be singular, providing one simple and consistent message.
3. The position must set a company apart from its competitors.
4. A company cannot be all things to all people—it must focus its efforts.
Positioning and Marketing Strategy
Companies use positioning strategies to distinguish their services from competitors and to design communications that convey their desired position to customers and prospects in the chosen market segments. There are a number of different dimensions around which positioning strategies can be developed.
The document discusses managing relationships and building loyalty in service firms. It defines loyalty as a customer's willingness to continue patronizing a firm over the long term and recommend the firm to others. The document outlines four stages of brand loyalty and discusses what makes loyal customers more profitable through increased spending, lower costs to serve, and word-of-mouth referrals. It also discusses strategies for developing loyalty bonds with customers through deepening relationships, rewards programs, personal relationships, customization, and aligning customer processes with the firm.
This document discusses key concepts in service marketing. It defines a service as any intangible act or performance offered by one party to another. Services have four main characteristics: intangibility, inseparability, variability, and perishability. Service marketing focuses on building relationships and delivering value. It is important for service companies to consider people, processes, physical evidence, and image when developing their marketing strategies. Service quality is determined by reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. Firms must work to reduce gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service.
This document summarizes key concepts from a textbook on e-commerce business models. It discusses different types of business models for B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) e-commerce, including portals, e-tailers, content providers, transaction brokers, market creators, service providers, and community providers for B2C. For B2B it discusses e-distributors, e-procurement, exchanges, industry consortia, and private industrial networks. It also discusses how the internet impacts industry value chains, firm value chains, and business strategy.
This document discusses the micro-environment of online marketplaces and its implications for digital marketing strategy. It defines the micro-environment as the actors and their interactions that influence how an organization responds in its marketplace. It also examines how customers, competitors, suppliers, and intermediaries shape the immediate trading environment and issues organizations should consider regarding these groups in their digital marketing. The document also explores various models of online consumer behavior and the impact of the internet on traditional marketing channels.
Viral marketing uses social networks to spread brand awareness analogous to how viruses spread. It often uses funny videos or games on the internet but can also be used in other media. It aims to increase sales and brand positioning through messages spreading exponentially among users like word-of-mouth. Common viral marketing techniques include blogs, social media, emails, videos and games. While it can be cheap and spread a name widely, viral campaigns also have short lifespans and low success rates. The Vodafone ZooZoo ads are an example of a highly successful viral campaign in India that increased subscriptions through amusing animated characters.
Physical evidence in services includes the tangible components that customers interact with during service delivery, such as facilities, equipment, and materials. The environment where the service is delivered is called the "servicescape" and influences customer and employee behaviors. Servicescapes can be designed to facilitate service delivery, differentiate a provider in the market, and impact customer perceptions through qualities like ambience and cleanliness.
Service blueprinting is a tool used to design or redesign services by mapping customer experiences and the service system. It provides a visual representation of both frontstage and backstage customer contact points and roles of employees. The key components of a blueprint include mapping customer actions and points of contact, frontstage and backstage employee actions, and support processes. To develop a blueprint, one identifies the service process, customer segment, maps the process from the customer perspective, employee/technology actions, and links support functions. Benefits include facilitating innovation, recognizing roles and dependencies, and designing critical customer touchpoints.
As companies are spending large amount of investment on the advertisement because they want to keep their product at the top of the customer’s mind. Advertisement has proven to be a successful tool for the communication but companies are still in the confusion that what kind of ingredients should be there and how do these advertisements will help to change the consumer buying behavior
The Role of Green Marketing and its effect on ConsumersAmisha Shaw
This project is mainly focused on analyzing the purchasing behavior of consumers regarding green products and the awareness among consumers about green marketing.
The document provides an overview of consumer behaviour and consumer research. It defines consumer behaviour as the study of how individuals make decisions to spend resources on consumption-related items. Consumer research involves systematically gathering and analyzing data to understand consumer thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. There are various types of consumer research methods, including surveys, experiments, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Understanding consumer behaviour helps marketers make better strategic decisions and predict how consumers will react to marketing cues.
This is the service blueprint of Columbia Asia Hospital, Mysore. This was created as part of an academic project. This shows how the service is being delivered in a typical hospital
Online consumer decision making involves a multi-step process where consumers use the internet to research products and services, compare options, and make purchases. Key factors that influence online shopping behavior include convenience, available information and reviews, and price selection. However, disadvantages like security concerns, lack of hands-on inspection, and incomplete cost disclosure can dissuade some consumers. In India, the growing internet user base and increased social media usage indicates many consumers are becoming accustomed to using the internet and researching products online as part of their decision making process.
This document discusses e-commerce and its evolution. It defines e-commerce as the use of the internet and web to conduct business transactions digitally. Key points made include:
- E-commerce differs from e-business in that e-commerce involves a commercial transaction, while e-business is digital enablement within a firm.
- Features of e-commerce include ubiquity, global reach, interactivity, and personalization.
- E-commerce has evolved through three stages - innovation, consolidation, and current reinvention through social media and web 2.0.
- Major limitations include access to technology and overcoming social/cultural barriers to digital shopping.
- Common revenue models for
Customer relationship management (CRM) involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize sales, marketing, customer service, and technical support. The key aspects of CRM include understanding customer needs, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and reducing costs by resolving complaints efficiently. CRM systems aim to understand current and potential customers in order to maximize their lifetime value. Operational CRM provides support for front-office customer interactions while analytical CRM analyzes customer data to understand behavior. Collaborative CRM enhances collaboration with customers and partners. Measuring customer satisfaction is important for retaining customers and improving business performance.
Collaborative commerce allows for electronic collaboration between business partners and organizational employees through a joint online platform. Companies like AirBnB and Uber create businesses through unused inventory, like AirBnB allowing individuals to earn revenue from unused living spaces. AirBnB specifically started in 2008 and disrupted the hospitality sector by allowing users to book rooms and flats from individuals worldwide, appealing to younger generations. It creates a win-win situation for both those lending and borrowing spaces.
Introduction to e business & e-commerceVimarsh Padha
This document outlines an introduction to e-business and e-commerce. It defines key terms like e-business and e-commerce and discusses the opportunities and challenges of managing e-business. Examples are provided of companies that have transformed through e-business like Google. Drivers for adoption like increased efficiency and barriers like costs are examined. The relationship between e-commerce, e-business and technologies like intranets is explored.
Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customers loyalty . Falana Temitope
A survey research on the impact of Customer Attraction , Customer retention, Customer satisfaction programs on Customers loyalty. In Asaba, Delta State, NIgeria .
Customer loyalty and technology as crm toolAjit Singh
This document discusses customer relationship management (CRM) and its benefits. It defines CRM as integrating all customer interactions through various channels to provide end-to-end customer management. CRM requires organizational change and information/application support. It should have consistent, repeatable processes. Customers want more value, responsiveness and flexibility for less aggravation. CRM helps increase customer retention and profitability by understanding customers. Technology like data warehousing enables CRM by providing customer insights.
This document summarizes a dissertation proposal on evaluating strategic leadership practices and their impact on organizational performance in Pakistan's small and medium enterprises. The proposal outlines the background, aims, objectives, and organization of the dissertation research. Specifically, it will examine current strategic leadership practices in pharmaceutical SMEs in Pakistan, compare them to effective practices identified in literature, and analyze their influence on organizational performance.
This document discusses cause-related marketing (CRM) and consumer perceptions of brands associated with causes. It defines CRM and explains why companies engage in CRM campaigns. It also outlines consumer perceptions of CRM, including that certain demographics like women and younger people are more favorable towards CRM. Additionally, it discusses CRM initiatives in India and notes that Indian consumers place more importance on a company's national origin when associated with a cause.
This document summarizes an investigation into the key components of Dutton Gregory's customer relationship management (CRM) system. It includes background information on Dutton Gregory as a small to medium sized law firm in the UK. The main problem identified is that the current client database is disorganized with duplicates and incomplete information. The research aims to identify the 4 key components causing issues and make recommendations to improve the database's efficiency. This will allow for more effective client communication and marketing.
Dissertation - The impact of CRM on Brand Awareness - T11400989Chathura Yatawatte.
This document summarizes a study on the impact of cause-related marketing on brand awareness, specifically for Cargills Agriculture and Commercial Bank in Sri Lanka. The study found that the bank's brand awareness was lower than competitors due to a lack of strategic marketing initiatives. The aim is to determine if cause-related marketing can strengthen brand awareness. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through questionnaires and interviews with bank customers. The results showed a positive relationship between cause-related marketing and brand awareness, indicating that cause-related marketing can increase business performance and market share when combined with corporate social responsibility initiatives.
This document provides an overview of relationship marketing and customer relationship management (CRM). It discusses the meaning and scope of relationship marketing, including its focus on building internal and external relationships with key stakeholders. It also outlines the evolution of relationship marketing approaches over time from direct mail to loyalty marketing. The document then covers characteristics of relationship marketing like being a business strategy, involving two-way relationships, and being customized. It also discusses types of customer relationships, fundamental CRM concepts, and strategies for planning and implementing relationship marketing and CRM programs.
1. b2 b marketing & crm [imcost] chapter firstashishppere
The document provides an overview of the B2B Marketing & CRM course including course content, assessments, and considerations. The course covers topics such as industrial marketing environment, buyer behavior, marketing research, advertising, pricing, distribution, selling, key account management, CRM strategies, and customer relationship management. It also defines B2B marketing, discusses the need for B2B marketing, features, functions, areas of application, characteristics, buying motives, and differences between industrial and consumer marketing.
CRM 2.0 - Social CRM - The New DisciplineMichael Moir
The document discusses social customer relationship management (CRM). It defines social CRM as monitoring, engaging, and managing conversations and relationships with customers and influencers across digital channels. It outlines key business objectives for social CRM like fostering dialogue and promoting advocacy. It also discusses frameworks for listening to customers, engaging with them, and taking action based on insights. Finally, it provides examples of planning workshops and use cases to help organizations develop social CRM strategies and processes.
This document discusses how brands can create mass movements by fulfilling human needs and offering a promise of a better future. It notes that Apple plays to needs of beauty and self-actualization by allowing creative expression through its tools. Apple promotes this unique benefit and supports user groups to inspire others to see its advantages. It also offers Genius Bars and creates a legion of loyal fans with the hope of being more creative.
CRM refers to Customer Relationship Management, which is a strategy used by companies to optimize value from customer relationships. It involves acquiring, retaining, and partnering with customers to create value for both the company and customer. CRM uses technologies like databases, customer analytics, and customer service to understand customer needs and provide personalized customer experiences across sales, marketing, and service channels. The goal is to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and lifetime value.
Role of Customer Relationship Management in retail sector (CSR)Monster Writers
This document provides an overview of Tesco's implementation of customer relationship management (CRM). It discusses how Tesco has transformed from a buyer-led organization to a customer-focused group through strategic CRM programs and technologies. This includes introducing a loyalty card program in 1995 that helped Tesco better understand customer preferences and tailor its offerings. Tesco also pioneered online grocery shopping, allowing customers to customize orders and delivery. Through CRM, Tesco has achieved over £1 billion in annual profits and maintains its position as the largest grocer in the UK.
This document summarizes key points from a book about building customer loyalty. Chapter 1 discusses why customer loyalty is important for businesses today, noting that loyal customers are worth more and it is more expensive to acquire new customers than retain existing ones. It also outlines rewards for providing great customer service like increased spending and penalties for poor service like lost customers. Chapter 2 explains that shared values are more important than engagement for building brand loyalty, and that customers are loyal to beliefs and causes rather than just businesses. It provides examples of brands that have cultivated loyalty by taking strong stances on issues.
Everybody's talkin': what consumers are saying about your mobile CRM and cust...Rachel Aldighieri
The DMA Mobile and Connected Council Research Hub will present new insights into the role of mobile in customer loyalty and CRM programmes. Our expert panel will share their own experiences and best practices to ensure you leave with clear, actionable ideas to improve your brand-customer relationships.
Our industry speakers include:
Barclaycard - Using mobile in consumer relationships
Martin Miller, Head of Product and Innovation (Mobile)
Textlocal - Using mobile to develop B2B relationships
Jason Palgrave-Jones, Business Development & Client Services Director
Financial services refer to services provided by the finance industry, such as banks, credit card companies, insurance companies, brokerages, and investment funds. There are two main types of financial services - fund or asset-based services, and fee-based services. Fund-based services involve raising funds through deposits, debt, or equity and investing those funds by lending or purchasing securities. These include services like leasing, housing finance, credit cards, venture capital, factoring, forfeiting, and bill discounting. Fee-based services involve earning income through fees, commissions, or brokerage on services like issue management, advisory, credit ratings, mutual funds, securitization, and stock broking.
Overview Of Effective CRM Implementation And OperationAlan McSweeney
The document provides an overview of effective customer relationship management (CRM) implementation and operation. It discusses key aspects of CRM including customer analysis and segmentation, implementation approaches, activity-based costing, data mining, and technology components. The document emphasizes balancing a focus on internal cost reductions with improving the external customer experience to maximize long-term customer value and profitability.
This document provides an overview of an experience management unit at Victoria University. It includes details about the unit convenor, workshops and lectures, and assessments. The key topics covered are customer relationship management (CRM) and experience management, including definitions and examples. Group activities are also outlined that involve discussing CRM and experience management case studies.
MBA Projects, synopsis, and synopsis of various regular as well as distance learning undergraduate and postgraduate courses for various institutions like SMU – Sikkim Manipal University, SMUDE, AIMA, AMITY, IGNOU, SCDL, JAMIA, AMU, JHU etc.
This research report summarizes a study on customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking sector. The report outlines the objectives to examine the importance and impact of CRM on customer satisfaction. It will analyze customer perceptions of CRM technologies used by banks and offer suggestions. A questionnaire using a Likert scale will collect data on products, call centers, transaction speeds and other factors from premium customers of selected commercial banks. The findings will help understand customer responses to technologies and drawbacks affecting satisfaction levels.
1. The document discusses a summer internship project on Customer Relationship Management (CRM) conducted by two students at Angel Broking Ltd from May to June 2009 under the guidance of their faculty member.
2. It provides an introduction to CRM, including its history and importance in helping companies manage customer relationships through databases, marketing campaigns, and individualized customer interactions.
3. The project involved analyzing Angel Broking's CRM practices through secondary research, a SWOT analysis of the brokerage industry, and data collected during the students' internship regarding customer satisfaction, training programs, and opportunities for improvement.
1. The document discusses customer relationship management (CRM) in the banking sector. It notes that banks have shifted their focus from transaction volume to developing long-term customer relationships through personalized marketing, service, and products.
2. CRM allows banks to better understand their customers through collecting and analyzing customer data from various interactions. This helps banks provide customized service, retain existing customers, and cross-sell additional products.
3. Implementing an effective CRM strategy is important for banks to increase customer loyalty and lifetime value. Long-term customer relationships are beneficial for both customers and banks.
The document discusses how customer relationship management (CRM) can help leisure operators sustain and increase customer acquisition, retention, and loyalty during difficult economic times. It analyzes a study of six leisure operators that found CRM provided benefits by building long-term customer relationships. Effective CRM requires an integrated approach involving customer data collection and analysis, business process changes to improve customer experience, and employee training. The document also identifies gaps in how leisure operators currently apply CRM and opportunities to better measure customer lifetime value.
Customer is a king and Customers are the mainly focused in making new marketing strategy. In the banking field a unique relationship exists between the customers and the bank. But because of various reasons like lack of training ,new technology literacy, financial targets, risk of failure etc., some banks are still following the traditional ways of marketing and another hand some are making attempts to adapt CRM. It is with this background, the researcher has made a modest attempt towards the idea that CRM can be adapted uniformly in the banking industry for betterment of Banking Services. Understanding on Customer Relationship Management is always a concern among the service providers especially banks. Banks makes their own way of managing their relationships new and existing customers. The aim of this paper is to examine the Customer Relationship Management as a new methodology looks forward to identify and attract consumers through the process of developing relationships (business - customer). The methodology of the CRM aims to maintain customer satisfaction and increase consumer loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to study the importance of CRM systems and in-depth knowledge of methods and management techniques customer relationships.
The main issue of this study is that CRM has become a multi-faceted and complex phenomenon that is ridden by various factors. Due to this complexity, a number of different variables have been used to measure CRM which investigated by several prior studies. However, most of businesses need to know and look at the particular measures and dimensions of the CRM that have a significant impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty, which would enrich the business' performance, especially with the increase in competition as well as lack of differentiation in providing a service. This paper aimed to review literature on CRM and to identify its impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The studies are analyzed on the basis of some general characteristics and variables that significantly enhance CRM and its influence on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. For this purpose, we investigate the existing literature on the impact of CRM on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty along with its spread among publications to identify the potential development in the field.
This document provides an overview of customer relationship management (CRM). It defines CRM as a comprehensive approach for creating, maintaining, and expanding customer relationships. The document discusses categorizing customers to better understand and serve them. It also covers using customer data and tools to capture information to implement a CRM strategy. Finally, the document lists some key factors for successful CRM implementation and provides some case studies.
This document discusses successful customer relationship management (CRM) projects and measures. It defines CRM and identifies key elements and modules. The document outlines factors for successful CRM strategies, implementations, and organizational changes. These include having a clear customer-focused strategy, integrating technology and processes, and transforming the organization to be customer-centric. The document also discusses various customer-focused measures that can indicate CRM project success, such as customer lifetime value, retention rates, and profitability.
This document discusses a survey of executives about modern customer service. Key findings include:
- 88% of executives think they offer modern customer service, and 75% think they perform better than peers. However, customer service is a strategic goal for only 38% of companies.
- Companies see customer service primarily as a way to retain existing customers rather than a strategic differentiator.
- While companies are adopting new technologies, many still feel most comfortable with traditional channels. Barriers to new channels include cost and integration challenges.
- Knowledge management is the top investment area as only 35% of organizations currently deploy this capability.
Driven by challenges on competition, rising customer expectation and shrinking
margins, banks have been using technology to reduce cost. Apart from competitive
environment, there has been deregulation as to rate of interest, technology intensive
delivery channel like Internet Banking, Tele Banking, Mobile banking and Automated
Teller Machines (ATMs) etc have created a multiple choice to user of the bank. The
banking business is becoming more and more complex with the changes emanating from
the liberalization and globalization. For a new bank, customer creation is important, but
an established bank it is the retention is much more efficient and cost effective
mechanism.
EVOLUTION OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
CRM-Definition, emergence of CRM practice, factors responsible for CRM growth, CRM Process, framework of CRM, Benefits of CRM, Types of CRM, Scope of CRM, Customer Profitability, Future Trends in CRM, CRM and Cost-Benefit Analysis, CRM and Relationship Marketing, Customer Relationship Management Unit-1 IMBA Osmania University
Advance technology and globalization has lead to competition so fierce never before.
Due to this intense competitive environment has shown a paradigm shift from transaction model to the relationship model where the focus is on long term customer satisfaction rather than short term profit acquiring by the business.
So, keeping your existing customer satisfied and maximizing Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) have significant importance than acquiring new customer.
In marketing, customer lifetime value (CLV), lifetime customer value (LCV), or lifetime value (LTV) is the net present value of the cash flows attributed to the relationship with a customer.
The use of customer lifetime value as a marketing metric tends to place greater emphasis on customer service and long-term customer satisfaction, rather than on maximizing short-term sales.
The concept of CLV helps the marketer to analyze the cost of acquiring , servicing and retaining a certain set of customer in the market
This document discusses relationship marketing and customer care in modern business organizations. It begins by explaining how customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty have become critical for business survival given increased competition. Relationship marketing and effective customer relationship management strategies can help organizations develop mutually beneficial relationships with customers. The document then examines the role of customer care and relationship marketing in building trust, satisfaction and lifetime customer value. It recommends that organizations understand customer desires, deliver excellent service, implement quality customer relationship strategies and foster a customer-centric culture to enhance loyalty and profitability.
Why Your Best Salesperson May Be a Customer Support RepCognizant
This document discusses how customer support organizations can be transformed into sales channels by focusing on providing a positive customer experience. It proposes that support teams should prioritize resolving issues on the first call to increase customer satisfaction and retention. The document also describes a customer care transformation framework that uses customer usage data and feedback to identify and fix recurring problems, empowering agents and customers to resolve issues themselves through self-service tools. This framework aims to transform dissatisfied customers into advocates by resolving the root causes of their issues.
A Study on Customer Satisfaction in Automobile Industry wi.docxdaniahendric
A Study on Customer Satisfaction in
Automobile Industry within Saudi Arabia
RESEARCH DISSERTATION
Submitted in fulfillment of the partial requirement for the award of degree of
master of business administration
By
Fuad Abdullah Salem Hasan
Student ID: 150007035
Under the Supervision of
DR. FARRUKH RAFIQ AHMAD
COLLEGE OF ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL
SCIENCES
SAUDI ELECTRONIC UNIVERSITY
2018
DECLARATION
I, declare that the work on which this dissertation is based, hereby submitted to the University of
Saudi Electronic University, for the degree of Master of Business Administration, has not
previously been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other university.
Student Name: Fuad Abdullah Salem Hasan
Student number: 150007035
Date of Submission: 12/04/2018
Abstract
This paper is a study on customer satisfaction in Automobile industry within Saudi
Arabia. It provides a general sight of the concept of customer satisfaction and goes more
particularity to discuss the concept of customer satisfaction from an Automobile perspective.
Because this study argues that achieving higher levels of customer satisfaction for an
organization is a multifaceted success, it tries to discuss each area that can impact the
organizational overall customer satisfaction from a management perspective and tried also to
reveal how each area affects the consumer‟s satisfaction from his point of view. The study aims
to benefit both Automobile consumers and the Automobile companies in Saudi Arabia through
providing a better understanding of the customers preferences and consumers behaving toward
the Automobile products and service that are available in the marketplace and their needs that are
not available products in order to supply what the consumers need so their need will be fulfilled
and the Automobile companies in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can realize a better competitive
advantage among their competitors and earn more revenues.
3
Table of Contents
Declaration
Dedication
Abstract
Chapter 1: Introduction ................................................................................................................ 4
1.1 Background ………………….………………………………………………...…… 4
1.2 Research Objectives …………………………………………………………...…… 7
Chapter 2: Literature Review........................................................................................................ 9
2.1 Research and Development: Product Design ………………..….……...…...…..… 11
2.2 Supply Chain and Logistics ……………...……..………………………………… 12
2.3 Marketing and Sales ……...……………………….……………….………...….… 13
2.4 Aftersales Service……………………...………………………..…...……………. 14
2.5 Customer Preferences and Customer Loyalty …..………………………........…… 15
2.6 Measuring Customer Satisfaction …………………..……………………..……… 15
Chapter 3: Research Methodology.......................................................................... ...
This document provides a summary of a research report on customer relationship management in the banking sector. It discusses:
1) How CRM has become important for retaining customers and maximizing their lifetime value in the competitive banking industry.
2) The methodologies used in the research project, including a literature review, survey questionnaire, and analysis of customer perceptions of banks' CRM strategies and technologies.
3) The objectives of examining CRM's impact on customer satisfaction and offering suggestions to improve banks' CRM practices.
Marketing teams are increasingly becoming the cross-functional glue that leads customer experience initiatives across organizations. High-performing marketers are more likely to collaborate and share goals/metrics with teams like sales, advertising, commerce, and customer service. These integrated efforts are helping marketers engage customers in real-time across channels and drive cohesive experiences throughout the entire customer journey. However, many marketers still face challenges in unifying data and technologies across departments to fully realize their personalization capabilities.
Political economy analysis of asset declaration in nigeriaGerald Ogoko
This report presents the findings of a political economy analysis (PEA) on asset declaration in Nigeria. The PEA focused on the asset declaration process in Nigeria with a view to assessing how asset declaration data is managed, the opportunities for reform of the process, and the degree to which asset declaration is analysed for trends in compliance levels.
Research report cybersecurity strategy development- gerald & jeremyGerald Ogoko
This report documents the findings of a study on the cybersecurity landscape in Nigeria with a view to exploring the role of cybersecurity in achieving the objectives of the National Information Technology policy.
This document provides an overview and analysis of development in Nigeria from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It begins with background on Nigeria's political governance, economy, and society. It then examines development challenges such as poverty, education, health, gender equality, and the environment. The document reviews Nigeria's performance on each of the 8 MDGs, identifying challenges and analyzing goal-specific indicators. It concludes by discussing considerations for the post-2015 development agenda, including sustainability, inequality, health issues, poverty, and gender equality. The analysis finds that while Nigeria made progress on some MDGs, many targets were not achieved, and development gaps remain that must be addressed
The document discusses measuring organizational performance through a holistic framework. It examines existing performance measurement models like the balanced scorecard, performance pyramid, performance prism, and action-profit linkage model. These models share similarities like linking customer satisfaction to organizational performance. The document outlines challenges to effective performance measurement like organizational resistance, poorly chosen measures, and lack of data availability. It emphasizes the importance of measuring the right things through a collaborative process and communicating measurements to align performance across departments.
Gerald ogoko socio-economic structures & economic developmentGerald Ogoko
This paper looks at the socio-economic structures of a country and how they impact on growth and development. To an extent, any exposition on national socio-economic structures deals with political economy analysis. Development practitioners are increasingly aware of the role of social and political variables in shaping development outcomes. The political dimension of socio-economic structures stems from the influence of political power relations in determining the social and economic distribution patterns in so-called ‘inequality traps’ that constrain economic growth and poverty reduction and increase social tensions. In view of this observation, this paper also considers the political dimension of national socio-economic structures using Nigeria as a case study.
Gerald ogoko paper on representation through apparent authorityGerald Ogoko
This document discusses the legal doctrine of apparent authority. It defines apparent authority and distinguishes it from actual authority. Apparent authority is a form of estoppel where a third party reasonably believes an agent has authority to act for a principal based on the principal's representations, even if no actual authority was given. The document examines several court cases that help establish the scope and limits of apparent authority. It also explores the critical factors of the representation that creates apparent authority, such as its origin, nature, and timing. The conclusion emphasizes principals should formalize representations of an agent's authority to prevent exceeding the scope of their agreement.
Baseline Survey Report for the Radio School Project-FinalGerald Ogoko
This document provides a baseline survey report for a radio school project in Nigeria. Key findings from questionnaires with students in Enugu and Adamawa states are presented. Most students have access to smartphones and listen to the radio regularly. Subjects like English and Mathematics are most popular. While some understand democracy and children's rights, awareness is lacking. Students are open to educational radio programs but prefer evenings and weekends. Teachers cite lack of materials as an challenge. Principals note student underperformance and see potential in radio-based learning. Recommendations include aligning radio content to the curriculum and engaging parents to support the program.
This document proposes a 5-year project to institutionalize participatory budgeting in Nigeria led by Oxfam in partnership with the Nigerian Labour Congress. It notes that despite Nigeria earning over $150 billion annually from oil revenues in the past 16 years, poverty has increased and budgeting is opaque with little public participation. The project aims to build capacity of civil society including the NLC on participatory budgeting, mobilize citizens, and implement a participatory budgeting cycle. It is hoped this will make budgeting more transparent, accountable, and oriented toward the needs of the poor. Key activities include training, public hearings, and enabling the media to cover budgets. Challenges include government resistance to sharing power and limited civic
ogoko gerald-Proposal for Baseline Assessment2-Oxfam NovibGerald Ogoko
This document outlines a proposal for conducting a contextual baseline assessment of vulnerable groups in Nigeria for the VOICE program. It will assess the current situation and policy environment for persons with disabilities, women facing violence, LGBTQI individuals, age-discriminated groups, and ethnic minorities. The objectives are to identify target groups, map stakeholders, analyze the relevant policy environment and risks, and inventory existing interventions. The methodology will use a qualitative approach including a literature review and data collection through interviews and focus groups.
This project proposal seeks to institutionalize transparent and accountable public financial management in Nigeria through participatory budgeting. Over a 5-year period, the proposal would partner Oxfam with the Nigerian Labour Congress to build capacity for participatory budgeting among civil society groups, media, and citizens at national and state levels. The goal is to empower these stakeholders to influence budget formulation, monitor spending, promote progressive revenue collection and pro-poor expenditure, ensure efficient implementation, and increase transparency and accountability in the budget process. This aims to contribute to reducing corruption and transforming Nigeria's budget system to better represent citizens' needs, especially the poor.
This document outlines a proposed study on establishing effective guidelines for sustainable infrastructure projects in Nigeria. The study would be conducted by Crown Agents over a 6 month period from November 2016 to May 2017. The study aims to develop a 'proof of concept' framework to improve infrastructure project design and implementation in Nigeria. It would analyze challenges to infrastructure development and provide recommendations to enhance private sector participation and sustainable funding models. The study risks and mitigation strategies are also outlined. Crown Agents has extensive experience conducting similar infrastructure studies and technical assistance projects in Africa.
Gerald Ogoko-ADOLESCENT GIRLS PROGRAMING IN NIGERIA-Final reportGerald Ogoko
This document summarizes a landscaping study on donor programs and government policies related to adolescent girls in Nigeria. It identifies key policies at the international, regional, and national levels influencing adolescent girls programming in Nigeria. It also profiles major actors in the space, including multilateral donors, bilateral donors, foundations, embassies, and key government actors. Major programs implemented in Nigeria related to adolescent girls' education, economic empowerment, health, voice, and safety are outlined. The geographical scope and coordination mechanisms for adolescent girls' programs in Nigeria are also discussed. The study aims to map existing programs and policies to identify opportunities to enhance effectiveness and better support adolescent girls in Nigeria.
The document summarizes the key discussions and recommendations from a Country Portfolio Performance Review meeting held in Abuja, Nigeria to assess World Bank projects in the North East region and some North Central states. It identifies operational and strategic recommendations to improve project implementation and alignment with government priorities. Operational recommendations include establishing coordination mechanisms between federal and state governments, organizing training workshops, and developing implementation toolkits. Strategic recommendations are to make projects more flexible and adaptive to the conflict environment in the North East, address humanitarian needs of displaced persons, and increase female representation in project leadership.
Research-Public Relations and Crisis Management -Case Study of BP's Response ...Gerald Ogoko
This document provides an overview of a research examining BP's public relations response to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It begins with an introduction discussing public relations, crisis management, and reputation management. It then outlines the methodology, which was a case study of BP's response using critical discourse analysis of press releases.
The key findings were that BP lacked transparency and honesty in its communications about the scale of the spill. This intensified public outrage and anti-capitalist sentiments. While press releases are important, other channels like TV interviews allowing for empathy are also critical during crisis response. Some of BP's CEO's statements lacked empathy for those impacted, worsening the situation. The conclusion recommends transparency, honesty, and demonstrating empathy in
Research-Public Relations and Crisis Management -Case Study of BP's Response ...
Research-CRM and Customer Loyalty
1. 1
How Does Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Contribute to Increased
Customer Loyalty? A Case Study of Multichoice Nigeria.
Research Conducted By:
Student ID:
2. 2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….…………… 4
Chapter One……………………………………………………………………..………..………… 5
1.1 Background of Study…………………………………………..……………………….. 5
1.1.1 Case Study Overview: Multichoice Nigeria……………………………………….. 7
1.1.2 Justification for the Research………………………………….……………………… 8
1.2 Research Aim……………………………………………………….……………………. 8
1.3 Research Questions……………………………………………….……………………. 8
1.4 Research Objectives…………………………………………………………………… 8
1.5 Scope & Limitations of the Research…………………………….…………………. 9
1.6 Structure of the Research………………………………………….………………….. 9
Chapter Two: Review of Literature…………………………….……………...………….…….. 11
2.1 Customer Relationship Management: Definition……………….………………… 11
2.1.1 Benefits of Customer Relationship Management………………………………… 12
2.1.2 Customer Relationship Management & Service Quality……………………….. 13
2.2.1 Drivers of Customer Relationship Management…………………………………. 15
2.2.2 Customer Relationship Management & Customer Loyalty……….……………. 18
2.2.3 Drivers of Customer Loyalty…………………………………………………………... 19
2.3 Relationship Marketing……………………………………………………….………... 20
2.4 Role of Technology in Customer Relationship Management…………….……. 22
2.4.1 Customer Touch Points………………………………………………………….…….. 24
2.5 Conceptual Framework for the Research………………………………………… 24
Chapter Three: Research Methodology……………………………………………………… 26
3.1 Research Philosophy…………………………………………….……………………... 26
3.2 Research Approach……………………………………………….…………………… 26
3.3 Research Design………………………………………………………………………... 27
3.4 Data Collection Methods………………………………………….………………….. 28
3.4.1 Primary Data………………………………………………………….………………….. 28
3.4.2 Secondary Data……………………………………………………….………………... 29
3.4.3 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………….………………. 30
3.5 Sampling Considerations……………………………………………….……………... 30
3.6 Validity, Reliability & Generalizability………………………………….……………. 31
3.7 Limitations of the Research…………………………………………….…………….. 31
3.8 Ethical Considerations…………………………………………………….…………… 32
Chapter Four: Analysis & Interpretation of Data…………….…………………………….... 33
4.1 Introduction………………………………………………………………….……….….. 33
4.2 Presentation & Analysis of Feedback from the Interviews…………………..…. 33
4.2.1 Multichoice Nigeria’s Approach to CRM…………………………………….….… 33
4.2.2 Delivering Value to Customers during Service Delivery…………………….….. 34
3. 3
4.2.3 Developing & Sustaining Relationships with Customers……………………..….. 35
4.2.4 Measuring the Effectiveness of CRM…………………………………………..….… 36
4.2.5 CRM Approaches and Customer Loyalty……………………………….…………. 36
4.3 Analysis of Responses to the Questionnaire……………………………………….. 37
4.3.1 Gender Profile of the Respondents………..……………………………………..…. 37
4.3.2 Nature of Account Maintained by the Respondents………………………….… 38
4.3.3 Satisfaction with Service Delivery Levels by Multichoice Nigeria…………….. 39
4.3.4 Multichoice’s Relationship with its Customers………………………………….…. 40
4.3.5 Multichoice Employees & Satisfying Customer’s Needs………………………... 41
4.3.6 Perceptions about Multichoice’s Customer Touchpoints…………………….... 43
4.3.7 Provision of Personalized Services to Customers…………………………...….… 44
4.3.8 Satisfaction with Multichoice’s Self-Service Payment Systems…………...…... 45
4.3.9 Loyalty of Multichoice Nigeria’s Subscribers………………………………....….... 47
4.3.10 Pricing & Customer Loyalty………………………………………………………….... 48
Chapter Five: Discussion of Results…………………………………………………….……… 50
5.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………….………… 50
5.2.1 Approach to CRM in Multichoice Nigeria……………………………….………… 50
5.2.2 Delivering Value to Customers……………………………………………….……… 51
5.2.3 Approach to Developing & Sustaining Relationships with Customers………. 51
5.2.4 Measuring CRM Effectiveness……………………………………………………….. 52
5.3 Discussion of Results from Analysis of Questionnaires……………………….…... 52
5.3.1 Satisfaction with Multichoice’s Services…………………………………………… 53
5.3.2 Relationship between Multichoice & Its Customers……………….……………. 53
5.3.3 Provision of Personalized Services to Customers………………………………… 54
5.3.4 Loyalty of Multichoice Subscribers…………………………………………………. 54
5.4 Summary………………………………………………………………………………… 55
Chapter Six: Conclusions & Recommendations………………………………...…………. 58
6.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..………….. 58
6.2 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..…………… 58
6.2.1 Relationship between CRM & Customer Loyalty……………………..……….…. 58
6.2.2 CRM Approaches of Multichoice Nigeria…………………………….…………... 59
6.3 Recommendations………………………………………………………….……….… 60
6.4 Directions for Further Research………………………………………………….….. 61
References………………………………………………………………………………………… 64
Annex A: Interview Guide………………………………………………………….…………… 70
Annex B: Sample Questionnaire…………………………………………………..…………… 71
Annex C: Full Transcript of Interviews……………………………………………….………… 72
4. 4
Abstract
This research examined how customer relationship management (CRM) leads to
customer loyalty. In exploring the relationship between CRM and customer loyalty, the
following issues were discussed: drivers of customer loyalty; role of IT in CRM; customer
touch points; service quality; and interaction management.
The case study design was used to examine how CRM leads to customer loyalty.
Multichoice Nigeria –a pay-TV provider- formed the case study for this research.
Interviews were conducted with selected employees of Multichoice Nigeria with a view
to understanding the company’s unique CRM methodology. The interviews also helped
in understanding the tools used by Multichoice to build and maintain the relationship it
has with its customers. Furthermore, the interviews provided useful insights into how
Multichoice measures the effectiveness of its CRM initiatives. In addition to interviews,
surveys were distributed to some subscribers of Multichoice Nigeria. Results from the
surveys offered useful insights as to customers’ perceptions of service delivery in
Multichoice Nigeria.
Findings from the interviews revealed that delivering on the promised value proposition
to customers is central to Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM methodology. Essentially, the value
proposition hinges on delivering more to subscribers for less. Subscribers receive access
to over 55 channels –across the segments of news, movies, TV series, and sports- for a
monthly subscription of N16,000 or GBP50. Majority of the subscribers surveyed
indicated that they are happy and satisfied with the level of services that they receive
from Multichoice and as such, they will remain loyal subscribers. Again, central to
Multichoice’s approach to building and sustaining meaningful relationship with
subscribers is the use of IT. IT plays a considerable role in service delivery. For instance,
majority of the subscribers sampled indicated that they are happy with the Multichoice’s
online payment system and self-service portals. These systems provide much needed
convenience to subscribers. Again, Multichoice uses email, social media, SMS, and call
5. 5
centers to keep customers informed about the status of their accounts. These systems
equally play a role in Multichoice’s customer complaints management system.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1Background of Study
This research explores the impact of customer relationship management on customer
loyalty. In recent times, the subject of customer relationship management (CRM) has
drawn the interest of practitioners and scholars. CRM is a relatively recent phenomenon
in marketing discipline. Its popularity is largely driven by the growing adoption of
customer-centric strategies, programs, tools and technology for the effective
management of customer relationships. For one, the advent of new channels and
technologies is considerably changing how firms interact with their customers, a
situation resulting in increased degree of assimilation between the following
organizational functions: marketing, sales and the customer service.
Although technology has contributed to driving CRM thinking and practice in
organizations, it is essential to note that CRM does not involve just the application of
technology. For Canada Business Network (2014), “CRM is a strategy to learn more
about customers’ needs and behaviours in order to create sustainable and meaningful
relationships with them”. This understanding of CRM views the subject matter as more
of a business philosophy than a technical solution. This does not in any way negate the
role of technology in successful delivery of CRM initiatives. The role of technology in
CRM is discussed in greater detail during the review of literature dealing with the
underlying relationship between CRM and customer loyalty. In making this point, this
research undertakes a holistic approach to exploring the relationship between CRM and
customer loyalty. In addition to first understanding what CRM entails and its drivers, this
research explores theoretical foundations that help explain the relationship between
CRM and customer loyalty.
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In the commercial environment, the significance of customer retention and business
expansion is vital. This is mainly because of the costs associated with recruiting new
customers. This observation highlights the importance of existing customers. In any
case, Parvatiyar & Sheth (2002) indicate that in the management of relationships with
existing customers, organizations must set the priorities right as some existing customer
segments are less profitable than others. Ghavami & Olyaei (2006) suggest that for most
companies, customer profitability is skewed in such a manner that losing the most
profitable customers has a negative impact on a firm’s bottom-line. Essentially, devoting
considerable organizational resources to less profitable customer segments is
counterproductive as it denotes a lack of direction is strategic customer management.
Herein, lays the strategic importance of CRM. Fabac & Mance (2011) note that CRM
enables companies to gain useful insights into their customers’ behavior and adjust their
business operations to satisfy their customers in the best possible manner. What can be
deduced from this position is that, “the better you understand your customers, the more
responsive and effective in satisfying their needs”. The process-based perspective of
CRM is central to understand its deployment, and this is where technology is critical.
This is where issues like data mining, modeling and customer analytics –all software
support-based- become dominant. These concerns are discussed in the literature review
chapter when exploring the role of Information Technology (IT) in CRM. Although, CRM
is process-based (Fabac & Mance, 2011), it has a psychological facet which is to use data
to understand consumer behavior. Its psychological attribute potentially raises ethical
questions such as how data about people are used by organizations. Although the
psychological perspective of CRM is worthy of note, this research does not go in-depth
into the psychological workings of CRM.
The objective of marketing is to offer value to customers, satisfy them and sustain long
term relationships with them (Kotler & Lee, 2005). Most marketing efforts will be
insufficient if the company’s product or services fail to satisfy the needs and
expectations of customers. The only option left to organizations is to gain customers
(Eakuru & Mat, 2008). Aaker (1997:349) notes that, “when firms have loyal customers, it
can gain increased market share along with decreased operating cost”. Reicheld &
Sasser (1990) state that when a company gains 5% improvement in customer retention,
it usually results in between 30% and 75% rise in profit. While CRM appears to have a
positive effect on a company’s bottom-line, it is necessary to understudy the inherent
organization-customer relationship that drives business outcomes. The idea of the
company-customer relationship –which is fundamental to CRM- may possess an
inherent appeal and sense of fair play and, in certain situations, this may be the
preferred choice. All the same, Ghavami & Olyaei (2006:9) note that, “what has become
clear in recent times is that many customers have come to realize that the whole idea of
relationship marketing is usually about the relationship that the company desires and
7. 7
very little about their expectations”. This observation is critical to understanding the
relationship between CRM and customer loyalty/retention. The question as to the
potential manipulation of CRM for the one-sided needs of companies can cast
enormous suspicion on relationship marketing initiatives. CRM could be a corporate tool
for exploiting consumers, i.e. getting them to buy more –even when they do not need
the product or service- to support corporate bottom-line. If this is the case, CRM
initiatives cannot be regarded as innately altruistic especially as it concerns consumers’
interests. Saberi & Karsalari (2014:119) note that, “CRM could be a tool to reinforce the
consumer culture”.
Although discourse analysis is used to explore the intended objectives of CRM, it does
not form the focus of this research. This research fundamentally seeks to explore how
companies exploit CRM to enhance customer loyalty from the perspective of
Multichoice, a pay-tv service provider. Kotler & Armstrong (2005) notes that customer
relationship is a powerful tool in the CRM arsenal given the trade-off between keeping
an existing customer and acquiring a new one. People all over the world still love to
watch TV. Comverse, a digital services company, note that the number of households
that subscribe to PayTV –this includes satellite, cable and IPTV- services continues to
grow and is forecast to pass the one-billion mark by 2017 (Comverse website). No
longer are consumers limited to a single cable or satellite TV provider. Today’s
consumers possess multiple choices, including OTT service providers such as Netflix,
Roku and YouTube, who are diminishing the dominant position of the cable industry.
The internet experience continues to change and this has made relationship marketing
imperative for PayTV subscribers. This informed the decision to use Multichoice as the
case study for this research.
1.1.1 Case Study Overview: Multichoice Nigeria
Multichoice Nigeria is a subsidiary of MultiChoice SouthAfrica. MultiChoice South
Africa’s business involves the operation of pay-television and internet subscriber
platforms. The MultiChoice South Africa group includes the digital satellite pay-
television business (DStv), which has been in operation since the year 1995. On its Pay-
TV platform, Multichoice delivers thematic channels and exclusive content to DStv
subscribers. Additionally, the company partners with Sky to deliver sports channels to its
subscribers, ie. Supersport. As at 2013, MultiChoice Nigeria had about 5 million active
subscribers for its Pay-TV platform (multichoice.com.za). Nigeria is the firm’s largest
market for its Pay-TV services. MultiChoice Nigeria enjoys near monopoly as it
dominates the Pay-TV market in Nigeria. The National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria
(2012) estimated that MultiChoice Nigeria controls 50% of the Pay-TV market in Nigeria
followed by StarTimes at a distant second with 15%.
8. 8
MultiChoice’s involvement in Nigeria goes beyond its core business. Through its
corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, the firm actively participates in social
transformation and, through technology, enables people and communities to help
themselves (multichoice.com.ng). For the purposes of this research, MultiChoice Nigeria
–the subsidiary of MultiChoice South Africa- will form the case study of this research. In
other words, by understudying the CRM approaches of MultiChoice Nigeria, the
research will demonstrate how CRM intiatives enhance increased customer loyalty.
Considering the diversity of its service offerings, more attention will be devoted to its
Pay-TV service. Having presented an overview of the case study for the research, the
next section outlines a preliminary review of literature on customer loyalty and customer
relationship management (CRM).
1.1.2 Justification for the Research
CRM is growing in popularity among companies that desire to be customer-centric
organizations. This research should contribute to existing CRM body of knowledge. The
findings of this research will help organizations better understand how to drive
profitable customer relationships. Relationship marketing is central to meeting set
targets for a company’s bottom-line. The preliminary review of literature exploring the
relationship between CRM and customer loyalty demonstrates that the cost of acquiring
a new customer far outweighs the cost of keeping an existing one (Aaker, 1997; Kotler &
Armstrong, 2005). The implication of this is that there is an implied positive relationship
between CRM and customer loyalty.
This research seeks to understand how companies can strategically position their
resources to optimize benefits from profitable existing customer segments. The research
seeks to understand how Multichoice –a Pay-TV provider- maintains their subscriber
base. The findings of this research should prove useful to service-based businesses such
as telecommunications service providers. Again, in understudying the CRM processes of
Multichoice, the recommendations of this research should identify critical considerations
for companies intent on developing a CRM roadmap.
1.2Research Aim
The main aim of this research is to examine the impact of customer relationship
management (CRM) on customer loyalty. Essentially, the research explores the nature of
the relationship between CRM and customer loyalty.
1.3Research Questions
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Based on the preliminary review of literature, these are the key questions developed for
the research:
i. How does customer relationship management lead to customer loyalty?
ii. What processes or channels are used to deploy customer relationship
management initiatives?
iii. What role does technology plays on customer relationship management?
1.4Research Objectives
Given the scope of this research, these are the main objectives of the research:
i. To critically appraise the literature on how customer relationship management
leads to customer loyalty.
ii. To critically examine the relationship between customer relationship
management and customer loyalty.
iii. To explore the customer relationship management approaches of Multichoice
Nigeria and the degree to which these have been effective in promoting
customer loyalty.
iv. To arrive at conclusions and make practical recommendations on how CRM
can be used to enhance customer loyalty.
1.5Scope & Limitations of the Research
This research is mainly concerned with understanding what CRM is and how it relates to
customer loyalty. In order to understand what CRM is, close attention will be devoted to
exploring the underlying concepts that form the subject of relationship marketing. This
is necessary because CRM is founded on the basis of the forming sustainable
relationships between organizations and customers. It is expected that the basis for
forming this type of relationship is based on service quality. Without service quality,
customers are likely to switch to another service provider or product as the case may be.
Among the limitations of this study concerns access to detailed operational plans or
modalities for Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM system. The employees of Multichoice may be
reluctant about divulging sensitive information about their company’s CRM system. This
may affect the quality of data collected for this research as it relates to the objectives of
this research. Another limitation of this research stems from the absence of a defined
framework for measuring the relationship between CRM and customer loyalty. In the
absence of a dedicated framework for studying the relationship between CRM and
customer loyalty, the research may have to rely on different models to fulfill the
objectives of this research. Diverse subjects, such as customer touchpoint mapping,
service quality (i.e. aspects of the SERVQUAL model is used to develop the questionnaire
10. 10
for Multichoice Nigeria’s customers), and customer value proposition, is used to the
design of the questionnaires and interview guides.
1.6Structure of the Research
In order to satisfy the expected deliverables of this research, the research report is made
up of five chapters with each chapter delivering a specific component of the study.
Below is a clear description of the contents of each chapter.
Chapter One: This is the introductory chapter of the research. This chapter
contains the background of the study. The background section clearly explains
the main issues to be explored in the research through a preliminary review of
literature exploring the relationship between customer relationship management
and customer loyalty.
Chapter Two: In this chapter, the detailed review of literature exploring the
relationship between customer relationship management and customer loyalty.
The literature review also explores the role of technology in customer relationship
management. This chapter also explores the underlying theories of customer
loyalty. This chapter concludes with a summary of the main issues discussed.
Chapter Three: this chapter is where the methodology chosen for the research is
identified and discussed. In this chapter, the following issues are discussed: the
research philosophy; research approach; research design; data collection
methods; and sampling concerns. In discussing these issues, a clear methodology
for realizing the objectives of this research will have been presented.
Chapter Four: in this chapter, the data collected for this research is presented and
analysed. The analysis of the data is conducted with a view to realizing the
overriding objectives of this research. Results from the analysis are summarized
and used to conclude this chapter.
Chapter Five: this chapter is where the conclusions of the research are presented.
The conclusions are based on results from the analysis of the data collected. In
discussing the key findings for the research, particular attention is devoted to the
central aim and objectives of the research. The conclusions for this research will
also show how the main objectives of the research have been achieved. Following
the presentation of the conclusions for the research, recommendations are clearly
outlined. These recommendations identify key considerations and effective ways
of exploiting CRM initiatives to drive customer loyalty.
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CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
2.1 Customer Relationship Management: Definition
To address the key issues highlighted in the scope of work, it is necessary to first explore
some definitions of CRM. This should contribute to conceptualizing the subject matter.
Parvatiyar & Sheth (2002) view CRM as an enterprise approach to understanding how
customers behave. Shani & Chalasani (1992:35) describe CRM as, “a market-oriented
approach to understanding and developing long term relationships with customers”. In
the previous chapter, it was mentioned that the whole idea of developing relationships
with customers should be evaluated carefully as not every customer is a profitable one.
This is why data collection –an operating modality of CRM frameworks- is critical as it
can offer companies a channel to effectively segment their customers accordingly.
Dominici & Guzzo (2010), in describing CRM, note that customer loyalty is reliant on
customer satisfaction. Consequently, CRM offers a framework for understanding
customers’ needs and expectations with a view to satisfying them. For Dominici & Guzzo
(2010), CRM offers a methodology for satisfying customers’ needs. This observation is
important to this research as it concerns the relationship between CRM and customer
loyalty. Kotler & Keller (2006) note that customer relationship management is broader
than aggregate customer management. For them, CRM is a tool for offering
personalized services to customers. What is clear from Kotler & Keller’s (2006) position is
that one of the central of CRM is to treat each customer as an individual. Berry (1983:26)
notes that, “among the strategies for implementing CRM are to create a core service
around which to develop relationship with the customer and to customize the
relationship to the individual customer”. Pitcon & Broderick (2005) suggest that CRM is
12. 12
a perspective that stresses the significance of relationships created between a company
and its customers.
The definitions presented provide a clear description of what CRM is along with its
objectives. From these definitions, CRM can be conceptualized as follows: a process of
developing sustainable relationships with customers; a methodology for segmenting
customers into profitable ones and non-profitable ones; and a channel for service and
product quality with a view to achieving increased customer satisfaction. The
segmentation attribute of CRM is responsible for its being linked with data mining (i.e.
the collection and analysis of customer-generated information to better understand or
predict their behaviours) (Rygielski et al., 2012). Cao & Gruca (2005) note that
organizations can become customer-oriented by properly applying CRM tools.
Gustafsson et al., (2005) suggest that organizations that adopt CRM systems are in a
better position to improve their business outcomes. Gustafsson et al., (2005) further
note that business outcomes hinge on customer profitability. Essentially, what an
organization makes depends on what it can extract from its customers together with
how long it keeps them. Considering this observation, exploring the benefits of CRM will
enhance appreciation as to why companies invest considerable resources in CRM-
related activities.
2.1.1 Benefits of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Lemon & Zeithaml (2001) surmise that the benefits that can be realized from using CRM
varies by industry especially as the mechanism and technological tools connected with
CRM are tailored to particular industry segments. Nevertheless, Thomas & Kumar (2004)
posit the view that expected CRM benefits do not vary across industry segments rather
the following generic outcomes accrue to companies that use CRM: improved
relationship with customers; improved brand equity; and improved corporate value. This
observation makes sense especially as there are methods for quantifying these three
benefits in the case of corporate valuations (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Conceptual Model Showing Relationship between CRM & Customer
Profitability
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Source: Richards & Jones (2008)
Swift (2001) outlines some CRM benefits as follows: reduced cost of recruiting
customers; customer segmentation; Positive customer profitability; and increased
customer retention/loyalty.
Customer recruitment: CRM reduces the cost of securing new customers because
of savings achieved on marketing, contact and follow-up.
Customer segmentation: since some customers are more profitable than others,
CRM can be used to categorize customers according to profitability. In
categorizing these customers, organizations are better-placed to allocate their
marketing resources accordingly (Ghavami & Olyaei, 2006)
Higher customer profitability: CRM optimizes the money that organizations get
from their customers. Essentially, customer profitability will increase because of
up-selling, cross-selling and sales follow-up (Swift, 2001).
Customer retention and loyalty: CRM reduces customer churn rate hence existing
customers buy more and last longer. This particular benefit is very important to
this research given the need to explore how companies use CRM to maintain
long-lasting relationship with customers. Beverly et al., (2002) suggests that
service quality can be used to achieve customer loyalty. If this is the case, the
question concerning how CRM fits into the service quality discourse is critical and
should complement the objectives of this research. This issue is explored in the
next section.
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2.1.2 Customer Relationship Management & Service Quality
The process of recruiting new customers should be perceived only as a transitional
phase in the marketing process. Following this, the process of strengthening the
relationship with customers and transforming them into loyal customers is equally a
continuum in the marketing process (Agrawal, 2003). Notably, Berry et al., (1983)
highlights five strategy features for implementing CRM: (i) create a core service on which
to create relationship with the customer; (ii) personalizing customer service; (iii)
augmenting the core service with additional benefits; (iv) pricing services to encourage
customer loyalty; and (v) marketing to staff so that they are committed to satisfying
customers’ needs. This methodology is still being used today to design and implement
CRM in organizations. This methodology can be expanded to fit the unique operational
requirements of organizations. Agrawal (2001) notes that service quality is essential for
successfully implementing CRM initiatives or programs. Essentially, without service
quality, achieving CRM outcomes or benefits become challenging. What is clear here is
that in the absence of service quality, CRM initiatives possess minimal chances of
success. What motivates a customer to be interested in a relationship offering by an
organization is the guarantee of consistency in service excellence. CRM initiatives should
place service quality at the fulcrum of activities targeted at customers. Steve Ditto of HP
identifies some important considerations for developing an effective quality mechanism
(see Figure 2):
Figure 2: Components of an Effective Service Quality Mechanism
Service
Quality
Performance Management
Process Management
Strategic Planning &
Alignment
Continuous Improvement
Employee Involvement
Client Partnership
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Client partnership: effective relationship can be developed with customers
through improved client satisfaction. Furthermore customer loyalty can be
achieved by appreciating market realities, client expectations and customer
satisfaction.
Strategic Planning & Alignment: developing, directing and sustaining increased
performance through identification, deployment, alignment and execution of
strategies, plans and objectives.
Process Management: this entails ensuring that operational processes used to
meet the needs of customers are continually functioning effectively and
efficiently.
Performance Management: this entails ensuring that data about strategic business
units are used to improve corporate health and supporting CRM initiatives.
Continuous Improvement: this entails benchmarking process performance and
continually improving business process to satisfy business and client
expectations.
Employee Involvement: this involves ensuring that workers are committed to
providing the best services to customers.
Service quality and customer satisfaction are crucial to customer loyalty and customer
retention. Customer satisfaction is the result of a customer’s evaluation about the value
gained from using a service or a product (Blanchard & Galloway, 1994). Barsky & Nash
(2003) note that companies which are able to anticipate and understand their
customers’ needs make better profits that those that fail to understand and satisfy them.
Understanding and satisfying these needs is the basis for achieving customer loyalty.
According to Barsky & Nash (2003:175), “customer service involves the ways employed
by companies to create useful access to customers so as to satisfy and secure their
loyalty”. Goofin & Price (1996) note that customer service is very critical since it
enhances service quality thus, enhancing profitability and competitive market position.
Service quality can be evaluated by comparing customers’ expectation and actual
performance of a product or service (Parasuraman et al., 1985).
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Overall, what is clear from this section is that the success of CRM initiatives is largely
reliant on delivering service quality to customers. This should form the basis for a
relationship proposition to customers. Having identified that service quality is at the
core of CRM initiatives, it is now essential to identify its critical drivers. This is done in
the next section.
2.2.1 Drivers of Customer Relationship Management
In this section, attention is devoted to exploring the main factors that drive customer
relationship management. It is necessary to identify and discuss these factors because it
provides a useful framework for both understanding and evaluating the relationship
marketing strategy of an organization. Based on preliminary examination of relationship
marketing literature, four key factors have been identified as the main drivers of CRM.
These are: interaction management; relationship development; service quality; and
employee involvement/commitment. These four factors are discussed subsequently.
More attention is devoted to exploring how CRM fits within service quality –one of the
main drivers of CRM- at a later part of this chapter.
Interaction Management
Brown & Gulycz (2002) notes that if a company is intent on developing sustained and
meaningful relationships with its customers, there are varying approaches to interacting
with them such as touch points and distribution channels. The issue of touch points is
discussed at a later part of this chapter where the role of technology in CRM is
discussed. One of prerequisites for interacting effectively with customers is first,
understanding how and when customers would prefer to interact with the organization.
Activities that guide the interaction process should be properly customized and
organized via existing touch points. Touch points provide a channel for collecting
information about customers. This information is then analysed and used to inform how
organizations interact with and deliver services to customers. Fabac & Mance (2011)
stressed the vital and central importance of data in effective CRM deployment. This is
why touch points are critical to relationship marketing process.
Peppers & Rogers (1997) note that touch points should be used for the distribution of
varying products or services and during communication with the customers. It should be
noted that one of the main benefits of touch points is collecting customer information
which can then be used for effective customer segmentation. Data helps organizations
understand the needs of their customers on a personal level. Lindgreen et al., (2006)
note that interaction management can be deployed through channels that encourage
the collection of customer feedback/data thus, enhancing interaction with customers.
Social media is one of the channels through which customer feedback can be collected;
and it also encourages personalized communication between an organization and its
17. 17
customers. What is clear from this section is that interaction management is one of the
key components of the CRM process. Essentially, any CRM process being implemented
should involve the following sub-processes: development of touch points that
encourage data collection from customers; channels that encourage the elicitation of
customer feedback; and channels –such as social media- that encourage personalized
interaction with customers. Given these sub-processes, the subject of ‘touch points’ is
discussed when examining the role of technology in CRM deployment.
Developing Relationships with Customers
Hanley & Leahy (2008:135) note that, “studying relationship development basically
entails research into structures and processes that influence the association between
customer and loyalty”. Hakansson & Snehota (1995) suggest that the process of
developing meaningful relationships with customers takes into consideration areas
where connections have been developed between the company and the customers.
Brown & Gulycz (2002:34) suggest that, “in order to successfully develop meaningful
relationships with customers, a key milestone is the need to develop an effective
relationship management process that responds to customer complaints”. The
relationship development process also involves procedures, mechanisms and activities
through which products and services are delivered to customers (Hanley, 2008). Again,
on the issue of complaints management, developing sustained relationships with
customers hinges on the need to convince customers that their concerns will be treated
with the utmost attention. The issue of complaints management reinforces the
importance of developing personalized relationships with customers. When customers
feel that their concerns will be taken seriously by the organization, they are more likely
to increase their patronage. The complaints management systems fits within the notion
of customer touch points.
Service Quality
The importance of service quality as a value proposition that guides the relationship
marketing cannot be over-emphasized. Gee et al., (2008) note that in understanding the
variables that lead to customer satisfaction, service quality emerged as a recurring
theme in relationship marketing literature. Research, such as the study done by Hanley
& Leahy (2008), demonstrates that the quality of service offered to customers has a
positive correlation with customer satisfaction and firm profitability. Given this
observation, there is a need to understand how service quality can be implemented.
Hanley & Leahy (2008) provides a checklist for achieving service quality:
Product/service variety together with satisfying customers’ expectations.
Offering quality products or services at a sensible price.
Complaints management.
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Through the aforementioned channels, organizations can design a framework for
achieving quality service delivery. Through these channels, organizations can enhance
access to customers with a view to interacting with them on a personal level. Customer
complaints management exemplifies this point. The issue of service quality is discussed
further as it relates to customer relationship management at a later part of this chapter.
At this point, it is essential to explore the role of employees in relationship marketing.
Employee Involvement/Commitment
An employee who has bought into the vision and values of an organization will willingly
engage in efforts that strengthen the relationship between his or her employer and
customers. Coulter (2002) stresses the important role played by employees in effective
deployment of CRM initiatives. Without employee involvement, CRM initiatives stand
limited chances of success. Although this section focuses on employees, it is equally
necessary to state that management commitment is equally needed for successful CRM
implementation.
Employees are critical because they are the ones that regularly interface with customers
hence, their actions –when interacting with customers- can determine whether a
customer stays or switches to another service provider. Given this observation, it would
not be farfetched to view employees as a customer touch point. Long et al., (2013:250)
indicate that, “the behavior of employees will probably have a significant effect on
customer satisfaction and customer retention especially as employees are responsible
for outcomes such as, speed of responding to customers’ queries, customer perceptions
of how they have been treated, customer satisfaction levels, and customer loyalty. What
is clear from these observations is that employees are key actors if the implementation
of CRM programs is to be successful. Now that the key CRM drivers have been identified
and discussed, it is now necessary to explore the relationship between CRM and
customer loyalty, which is the focus of this research. Relevant literature dealing with the
relationship between both variables is presented and critical discussed.
2.2.2 Customer Relationship Management & Customer Loyalty
CRM is a concept for managing the way that an organization goes about interacting
with its customers and sales prospects. Dowling (2002) outlines some of the main
objectives of CRM as follows: enhancing profitability; enhancing income; and increasing
customer satisfaction. What organizations desire from implementing CRM initiatives is
ultimately to improve sales through repurchases, which is to their advantage. In
satisfying customers –something that CRM seeks to achieve-, CRM also supports efforts
aimed at enhancing customer loyalty. Bowen & Chen (2001) argue that having
customers who are satisfied is not enough. Companies need to ensure that what they
see as customer satisfaction ought to have an appreciable impact on customer loyalty.
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In this section, attention is devoted to exploring the kind of relationship that CRM has
with customer loyalty.
Khaligh et al.,(2012) investigate the effect that customer relationship management has
on customer loyalty. Their investigation shows that commitment of management is
critical for effective implementation of CRM activities. Aaker (1997) notes that when a
firm has customers who are loyal, the company gains market share together with
diminished costs. According to the study by Bhattacharya (2011:47), “in addition to
improving profitability, CRM decreases costs since it encourages the collection and use
of data from internal and external origins such as customer service department, sales
department, procurement department, strategy department etc. The emphasis on data
collection and analysis is borne out of the need to understand an organization’s
customer requirement in a real-time process. CRM relies on data for its design and
implementation. Proper interpretation of data informs the identification of critical
activities during the planning stage of a CRM program. Another finding from the study
carried out by Bhattacharya (2011) is that customer perception and the treat that
customers receive individually helps companies understand customers’ needs and as
such, devising proper ways of satisfying those needs or expectations.
What can be learnt from Bhattacharya’s (2011) findings is that companies should
commit considerable resources to identifying customers’ requirements and shifting the
processes and policies to addressing these requirements if they are to be competitive. In
the conceptual framework that Faed (2010) proposed, customer relationship
management intensifies the relationships of rivals and customers in a company to
improve market share by the integration of people, technology, and internal processes.
Customer loyalty is a continuum on a range of efforts designed to enhance customer
retention. Zineldin (2006) studies the relationship between CRM, quality and customer
loyalty. The findings of this study suggest that any alteration in service quality delivery in
a company provides a useful benchmark or indicator for determining customer loyalty
levels. Based on Zineldin’s (2006) study, the conclusion is that changes in service quality
influence customer loyalty. This supports the observations that were discussed in the
previous section. This research does not measure perceptions of service quality by
customers rather more attention is devoted understanding how customers feel about
the CRM initiatives of the case study organization. Focusing on this will help in
understanding the degree to which CRM initiatives are effective in improving or
achieving customer loyalty.
Schiffman & Kanuk (2004) note that the relationship that a company has with its
individual customers will be meaningful if the company offers value that satisfies
customers. The emphasis ‘individual’ should be stressed as it is the main objective of the
CRM; the need to bring companies closer to each customer. This is what makes a
20. 20
‘customer-oriented’ or what some would refer to as a ‘customer-centered’ organization.
If this is the case, a one-size-fits-all approach is not feasible for CRM to be successful.
Based on the discussions conducted in this chapter, there seems to be a positive
relationship between CRM and customer loyalty, and somewhere in between is the
important issue of service quality. Essentially, if an organization offers quality services to
customers, it stands a better chance of successfully implementing CRM programs. When
improved service quality is in place, efforts aimed at understanding customers’ needs
only leads to better service excellence. This can also be interpreted as implying that
there is a mutually beneficial relationship between CRM and service quality. Since this
research is interested in understanding how CRM leads to customer loyalty, it is
essential to identify and explore the main drivers of customer loyalty. This is achieved in
the next section.
2.2.3 Drivers of Customer Loyalty
In this section, attention is devoted to exploring the variables that inform the loyalty of
customers. It is important to do this because it will, in some way, contribute to
developing a theoretical framework for this research. In addition, understanding the
drivers of customer loyalty will inform the design of the questionnaire and interview
guide. The drivers of customer loyalty are a key consideration for the design of an
effective customer relationship management program (Schiffman & Kanuk, 2004).
Already, in this chapter, one of the key drivers of customer loyalty –service quality- has
already been discussed. In the discussion, it was noted that service quality should be at
the core of CRM implementation. Basically, effective relationship marketing hinges on
the value proposition –whether through service or product quality- offered to customers
on an individual level, which then serves the basis for a sustained mutually beneficial
relationship.
Another driver of customer loyalty is price. Dovaliene & Virvilaite (2008) note that
among the variables that make up the marketing mix (i.e. 4Ps of marketing), price is
viewed as the most flexible variable because it changes immediately when the attributes
of a service are changed. In view of its flexibility, organizations can manipulate the
pricing of their products or services to influence turnover. It should be noted that
turnover levels can serve as a useful benchmark for evaluating customer loyalty levels
(Aaker, 1997). Dovaliene & Virvilaite (2008) posit that customers will show limited
resistance to price increase on the condition that there is a commensurate improvement
in service or product quality. In their study exploring the relationship between pricing
and customer satisfaction, Cronin et al., (2000) discovered that there is a positive
correlation between an increase in price availability and customer satisfaction levels.
Essentially, when customers feel that what they are paying for is worth the price, they
are willing to adjust to price elasticity.
21. 21
Anderson & Sullivan (1993) suggest that price is a critical variable that demonstrates
customer satisfaction as customers tend to evaluate service or product value through
price. Anderson et al., (1994) note that the level of customer satisfaction is influenced by
factors such as price, quality and other personal factors. Consuegra et al., (2007) explore
the effect of price on customer satisfaction. Findings from their study suggest that price
does influence customer satisfaction levels. An increase in price can result in decreased
customer loyalty and vice versa. Their study also shows that an increase in price will only
lead to increased customer loyalty when customers perceive added value in what they
are paying for.
Another driver of customer loyalty involves the perceptions of relationships by
customers as it concerns organizations. Essentially, the closer an organization can relate
to customers on a personal level, the higher their chances of sustaining a meaningful
relationship with them. At this point, it is necessary to explore the issue of relationship
marketing together with determining how CRM fits within it. This discussion is done in
the next section.
2.3 Relationship Marketing
Rapidly evolving markets, increased customer awareness and a complex array of
technologies has informed the need for organizations to develop meaningful and long-
lasting relationship with their customers (Percy et al., 2010). Gruen (1997) argues that
there has been a massive shift in the business philosophy of many companies from
being product-oriented to becoming more selling/marketing oriented. This shift in
orientation is what has led to the marketing practice of ‘relationship marketing’. Percy et
al., (2010) note that relationship marketing provides organizations with useful
opportunities in areas of firm profitability, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
This section of the chapter focuses on the underlying philosophy guiding relationship
marketing together with how the CRM framework fits within it.
The idea of relationship marketing was created by Berry (1983) who views it as the
process of attracting, maintaining and strengthening customer relationships. Gronroos
(1990:4) strengthened this definition: “relationship marketing is the process of forming
relationships with customers and other actors at a profit through mutual exchange and
fulfillment of promises”. Gronroos (1996) defined relationship marketing as the means of
identifying and forming mutually profitable relationships with customers. Relationship
marketing stresses the business to customer relationship model. Many of the definitions
of relationship marketing, such as those already presented, base their assumptions on
the relationship between the organization and the customer. Some authors, such as
Christopher et al., (2003), have faulted this assumption by stating that relationship
marketing should be expanded to include other stakeholders such as employees,
shareholders and suppliers. In view of this, Christopher et al., (2003) and Sin et al., (2002)
22. 22
stress that the main objective of relationship marketing is to identify, form and maintain
relationships with customers and other critical stakeholders. Given this observation,
Murphy & Wang (2006) stress the need for a stakeholder orientation in the relationship
marketing paradigm. This approach will make for a more holistic relationship marketing
model thus giving rise to what Murphy et al., (2005) referred to as ‘stakeholder
relationship marketing’.
Murphy et al., (2005) views stakeholder relationship marketing as, “the process of
forming, maintaining and attaining meaningful relationships with the objective of
delivering sustainable economic, social and environmental value to all stakeholders with
the view to gaining sustainable business financial performance. Profitable business
relationships are dependent on a company’s capacity to elicit the trust of its customers
and other stakeholders. This section has contributed to understanding what relationship
marketing entails. Based on the discussions, it is clear that relationship marketing is all
about forming and maintaining profitable relationships with different stakeholders,
including customers. While this research acknowledges the importance of expanding the
relationship marketing paradigm beyond customers to internal and external
stakeholders, it only focuses on the business to consumer (B2C) relationship. This
decision is in accordance with the narrow the scope of the study as it concerns identified
objectives. Furthermore, the discussions show that ‘profitability’ is at the core of the
relationship marketing process. Essentially, the goal of relationship marketing should be
the need to identify customers with whom meaningful profitable relationships can be
developed keeping in mind that not all relationships are profitable. This is where CRM is
critical: using the results from the analysis of customer information to properly segment
customers into ‘profitable’ and ‘non-profitable’ segments. There seems to be a
relationship between CRM and information/data. Consequently, there is a need to
strengthen discussions in this chapter by exploring the role of technology in CRM.
2.4 Role of Technology in Customer Relationship Management
Throughout this chapter, a central theme about customer relationship management has
revolved around the collection and analysis of information about the behavior of
customers. The emphasis of data has been strengthened by advances in information
technology. Another recurring theme around CRM involves the need to develop
personalized relationships with customers. Consequently, discussions in this chapter will
benefit from understanding the role of technology of CRM. In recent times, interest in
CRM has been boosted by the ubiquity of technology, especially as it concerns tracking
the behavior and buying patterns of consumers. This section explores how technology is
used to achieve the relationship building objective of CRM.
Before proceeding with discussions on the role of technology in CRM, it is essential to
refresh our understanding of what CRM is. This will guide subsequent discussions in this
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section. Ngai (2005:583) defines CRM as, “an enterprise approach which seeks to
understand and affect the behavior of customers through meaningful communications
with the objective of enhancing customer acquisition, customer retention, customer
loyalty and firm profitability. Law et al., (2003) strengthened the description of CRM by
focusing on the technological perspective. Law et al., (2003) suggests that CRM entails
the process of storing and analyzing considerable quantity of information that generates
useful insights into how customers behave. This then informs a company’s response as it
concerns treating customers individually based on the behavior shown.
Developing meaningful relationships with customers hinges on proper interpretation of
customer information. The data analysis dimension of CRM is what has given credence
to the popularity of ‘data mining’ in relationship marketing practice. Anon (2002) notes
that when it comes to the use of data in CRM, a critical consideration is the need to
collect sufficient information about customers. Inadequate data results in lopsided
analysis and conclusions. Collecting sufficient information will make the data analysis
more holistic and incisive so as to produce insightful and actionable results.
In the field of marketing, information technology has played a transformative role
especially in the areas of sales (i.e. sales automation), marketing, operations and other
strategic organizational functions. Murphy (2000) notes that in many companies,
information technology has emerged as tool for strengthening the relationship that
companies have with their customers together with improving service delivery.
Furthermore, Madueme (2009) notes that information and digital technologies have
proven very useful in effective and efficient service delivery. In a study exploring service
quality in a cross-section of Nigerian commercial banking institutions, Madueme (2009)
concludes that banks with high IT adoption witnessed a considerable positive impact on
their service performance; a finding reinforced by results from the analysis of customer
surveys. Oghojafor et al., (2011) highlights some of the benefits of IT adoption in service
delivery: increasing convenience; ease of access to information about customers (i.e. this
supports the data mining perspective of CRM), time/cost savings, added cross-selling
opportunities, improved service quality, and the opportunity to connect with customers
on a personal level. Karimi et al., (2001) notes that embedding technology in service
delivery has a considerable impact on a company’s market position relative to its rivals.
This is the reason why more and more service-oriented organizations –such as banks,
hotels etc- are offering IT-based service options to their customers. In exploring the role
of technology in CRM, there are three main types of CRM technologies namely:
operational CRM; analytical CRM: and collaborative CRM.
Operational CRM entails the technological applications that interface with customers
and this includes the following: sales force automation, enterprise marketing automation
and customer service/support (Chen & Popovich, 2003). Customer call centers are an
24. 24
aspect of operational CRM, and have been cited as one of the dominant themes in CRM
deployment (Xu & Walton, 2005). With operational CRM, all interactions with the
customer are recorded thus, enabling the organization to warehouse sufficient
information about customers for subsequent analysis. Customer touch points are
regarded as operational CRM.
Analytical CRM is concerned with the analysis of customer information obtained
through operational CRM. Data mining belongs to analytical CRM. Xu & Walton
(2005:961) note that, “analytical CRM involves the capture, storage, extraction,
processing, interpretation and reporting of customer information housed in data
warehouses”. Analytical CRM exemplifies the important role of technology in CRM
implementation in that it enables companies to effectively explore trends in the
behavior of their customers and respond appropriately through their marketing and
promotional activities. In their study, which focused on companies in the United
Kingdom, Xu & Walton (2005) discover huge adoption and usage of analytical CRM
applications by organizations. The implication of this particular finding is that usage of
CRM applications by companies is largely for operational purposes.
Collaborative CRM involves the use of new and traditional information technologies
that encourage customers to interact with the organization. Collaborative CRM is more
concerned with encouraging individual or personalized interaction between a company
and its customers (Xu & Walton, 2005). Collaborative CRM is more holistic in nature as it
incorporates more stakeholders beyond customers. It supports the idea of stakeholder
relationship marketing espoused by Murphy et al., (2005). It incorporates suppliers and
employees in the customer value chain with a view to creating a synergy of efforts that
support the ultimate objectives of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Some
aspects of customer touch points are a form of collaborative CRM. At this point it is
essential to discuss the issue of customer touch points.
2.4.1 Customer Touch Points
Intervox Group (2005) defines customer touch points as consisting of all the physical,
communication, and human associations that a company’s customers experience in the
course of their relationship lifecycle. Customer touch points differ from customer
channels. For instance, while ‘online’ can be seen as a channel for engaging with
customers, ‘online chat’ is a touch point. What is clear from this illustration is that
customer touch points are more specific or more precise. It is important to make this
distinction because often, there is confusion as to the difference between customer
channels and customer touch points. Intervox Group (2005) outlines some examples of
customer touch points: advertisement; website; corporate blogs (usually integrated in
the company’s website); receptionist; customer care call centers; point-of-sales display;
and customer complaints mechanism. These touch points play a considerable role in
25. 25
CRM deployment. For one, Oghojafor et al., (2011) views touch point as a useful tool for
collecting customer information in a collaborative manner. Without sufficient
information, the analytical aspect of CRM may prove ineffective in generating useful
information about customers. As the case study design is used in this research, attention
will be devoted to identifying the touch points of the case study. Furthermore, this
research will involve exploring how these touch points are used in CRM implementation.
Now that the technological perspective of CRM has been explored, it is now time to
present the theoretical framework of the research.
2.5 Conceptual Framework of the Research
In this chapter, each issue discussed served to address the critical concerns identified in
the scope of the research. The discussions were aided by reference to relevant literature
concerning critical areas of CRM together with its relationship with customer loyalty.
Based on results from these discussions, the theoretical framework of the research –
which guides data collection- is presented below.
Table 1: Conceptual Framework of the Research
s/n Content Themes Scope of Focus
1. Identify CRM tools Need to identify tools used for CRM. The interviews
with employees of the case study organization will
provide this. (This theme contributes towards
conceptualizing the CRM concept. Particular
attention is devoted to the notion of relationship
marketing)
2. Application of CRM tools Examine how these CRM tools are used by the
organization. (This theme helps in determining how
CRM can be implemented effectively. Particular
attention is devoted to understanding the
operational and analytical side of CRM).
3. Customer touch point mapping Identify customer touch points and how these are
used to relationship building with the customers.
4. Value proposition to customers To identify and analyze the value proposition
inherent within the CRM program of the case study
organization.
26. 26
5. Service Quality Selected themes from the SERVQUAL model is used
to design questionnaires meant for the case study’s
customers. The questionnaire design will take into
consideration the need to evaluate the relationship-
building mechanisms of the company.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Research Philosophy
In this section, attention is devoted to exploring the underlying philosophy for this
research. Discussing the research philosophy is essential considering that it underscores
how the information collected for this research is analyzed and interpreted. Collis &
Hussey (2005) defined research philosophy views research philosophy as the
overarching template for generating and making a sense of knowledge. This observation
is very important as researchers are distinct in their opinions and worldviews (Bryman &
Bell, 2011). These underlying belief systems have the potential to influence how each
researcher views and interprets information.
This research adopts both the interpretivist and positivist philosophies. This is because
the information collected for this research is both qualitative and quantitative
respectively. Positivism originates from the natural sciences and is characterized by the
statistical analysis of information to generate useful insights or theories (Collis & Hussey,
2003). The positivist philosophy is based on view that the social environment exists
27. 27
objectively and externally. On the other hand, interpretivism contrasts with positivism.
With interpretivism, there is an underlying variance between the subject matters of
natural and social sciences based on the researcher’s worldview, perspectives and
expectations (Saunders et al., 2005). Those who belong to the interpretivist school of
thought believe that there are some situations that cannot be understood using
statistical analysis or measurements. One of the benefits of interpretivism is that it
supports rigorous investigation as the researcher has to dig deeper into the information
to understand variables such as cause-effect, behavioural implications, human
relationships etc. The use of both schools of thought in this research is advantageous to
this research especially as it concerns fulfilling the set objectives of the research. The use
of both paradigms in this research stems from the need to understand both
Multichoice’s and its customers positions on the issue of customer relationship
management and it how it influences customer loyalty. The adoption of both research
paradigms makes the research process more rigorous and holistic and as such, enhances
the validity of findings reached at the conclusion of the research. Having discussed the
philosophy underpinnings of this research, the next section discusses the approach
adopted.
3.2 Research Approach
Saunders et al., (2005) views research approach as the plans and processes for research
that span the methods from broad assumptions to thorough means of collecting data,
analyzing the data collected, and interpreting results from the analysis. This plan
comprises of different decisions, and they need to be considered in the order in which
they support the research process. Collis & Hussey (2003) note that the research
approach underlines the way a researcher goes about addressing all the set objectives
of a research. The approach selected in a research is usually informed by underlying
philosophical assumptions that the researcher brings to the study. Again, the nature of
the problem being investigated also influences the approach to be used. In order to
understand how customer relationship management (CRM) influences customer loyalty,
the researcher deemed it suitable to explore the organizational and customer
perspectives of CRM. As a result, the mixed methods research approach is used to
conduct this research.
The selection of the mixed methods research approach makes the research process
comprehensive. This implies that both the quantitative and qualitative approaches are
used in this research. Essentially, the quantitative approach is used to measure how
Multichoice’s customers feel about the company’s customer service/CRM initiatives
whilst allowing for in-depth qualitative analysis of feedback obtained from Multichoice’s
employees about the company’s CRM processes. A carefully designed survey instrument
is used to collect information from Multichoice’s customers regarding how they feel
28. 28
about the company’s CRM initiatives. This is necessary because analysis of customers’
responses should generate useful insights regarding customer satisfaction levels as it
pertains to Multichoice’s customer service processes. This is the quantitative aspect of
the research because the questionnaires are analysed using descriptive statistics, i.e.
frequencies and bar chart. Reference is made to the conceptual framework for the
research (see section 2.5) in the design of the survey instrument. The qualitative aspect
of this research mainly comprises the analysis of the interviews with Multichoice’s
employees. Triangulation and thematic analysis are used to interpret the interview
feedbacks. The results of this analysis should generate useful insights as to the nature of
Multichoice’s CRM systems. Results from the both the interviews and the analysis of the
questionnaire are used to generate the conclusions and recommendations for this
research. Having established the approach used in this research, the next section
discusses the study’s design.
3.3 Research Design
This section discusses the design adopted for this study. It is important to do this
because it lays the foundation for the aggregate research process. The research design
is one of the most important components of the methodology chosen for a research.
Collis & Hussey (2005) likens it to the architectural blueprint for a research. It is central
to the overriding methodology for a research given its link to other components such
as, approach used, data collection methods, data analysis methods, sampling and study
limitations (Saunders et al., 2005). The study design describes the study type. This
research design used in this study is descriptive in nature. It is descriptive because a case
study and survey are used. Bryman & Bell (2011) describes the descriptive design as a
study in which data is gathered without changing the environment, i.e. the environment
is not manipulated during the data collection process. Essentially, descriptive studies
involve a one-off interaction with people. Easterby-Smith et al., (2008) notes that a
descriptive study, in which the researcher interacts with the sample, usually involves
collecting data using the following instruments: surveys and interviews.
The case study aspect of the descriptive design involves selecting an organization to
serve as the focal point for collecting the data needed to fulfill the set objectives of this
research. The case study for investigating how customer relationship management
contributes to customer loyalty is ‘Multichoice Nigeria’, a company that provides pay-TV
services. The case study approach is useful in theoretical development. It offers a
pragmatic approach to understanding or investigating the subject matter of a research.
Having identified the case study for this research, it is essential to note that the data
collected for this research –through interviews and questionnaires- revolved around
Multichoice Nigeria. The sample for the interviews mainly consisted of only
Multichoice’s employees. On the other hand, the sample for the interviews consisted of
29. 29
only customers or subscribers of Multichoice’s pay-TV services. Added information
about the samples for the surveys and questionnaires are provided in subsequent
sections of this chapter.
3.4 Data Collection Methods
This section of the research discusses the instruments used to collect data for this
research. In addition, the samples for the data instruments identified are also discussed.
This section concludes with a description of how the data collected is analysed. Both
primary and secondary data are collected for this research.
3.4.1 Primary Data
Primary data can also be called ‘raw data’ (Collis & Hussey, 2005). It is called raw data
because it is information collected by the person doing the research (Bryman & Bell,
2011). This type of information does not exist in the public domain, i.e. it is created by
the researcher or investigator. Primary data collection is useful for several reasons: it is a
useful way of generating fresh insights into research problem; its originality; and its
practicality. Essentially, primary data enhances a researcher’s ability to contribute fresh
knowledge and ideas to a discipline. Irrespective of its advantages, there are some
disadvantages of primary data: it is expensive to collect; it involves a rigorous process
especially given underlying ethical considerations; and it is takes a considerable amount
of time to collect (Saunders et al., 2005).
The primary data used in this research is collected using the following instruments:
interviews and surveys. The sample for the interviews consists of only employees of
Multichoice Nigeria. In total, four interviews are conducted. The two of the employees
are sales and marketing officers while two are customer service representatives. The
interviews are conducted in the company’s office over a period of three days. Each
interview took between 30 and 35 minutes. The purpose of the interviews is to identify
the CRM techniques used by Multichoice. Furthermore, the interviews show how
Multichoice deploys its CRM processes and how it measures their effectiveness with
respect to enhancing customer loyalty.
The survey instrument was designed with respect to some of the variables –such as
service quality- identified in the conceptual framework for the research (see section 2.5).
In addition to the conceptual framework, aspects of the SERVQUAL model are taken into
consideration in designing the survey instrument. Likert type scales are also used in
designing the survey instrument. The sample for the surveys mainly consists of
subscribers of Multichoice’s pay-TV services. Based on preliminary investigations, this
company has about 5 million subscribers (multichoice.co.za). In order to access these
subscribers, the researcher visited one of the company’s offices in Lagos State. Over a
30. 30
period of 3 days, the researcher circulated the self-administered questionnaires to
customers as they came to renew their monthly subscription. Over this period, a total of
58 questionnaires out of the 65 questionnaires were circulated and filled by the
company’s customers representing 89% response rate. When reviewing the filled
questionnaires, the researcher discovered that 3 were incorrectly filled. Consequently,
only 55 questionnaires are used in this research.
3.4.2 Secondary Data
Secondary data, unlike primary data, mainly consists of information that already exists in
public sources (Bryman & Bell, 2011). It mainly consists of information that other people
or researchers have collected. Although it is collected by other people, it can still be
useful in research. The literature review chapter of this research demonstrates the
importance of secondary data. For instance, reference can be made to studies carried
out by people when analyzing primary data. This is the case in this research as
triangulation techniques are used to further make sense of results obtained from the
analysis of feedback from the questionnaire respondents and interviewees. The
secondary data used in this research was obtained from a variety of sources, such as
academic textbooks, academic journal articles, articles in financial newspapers and
business magazines, and the corporate website of Multichoice.
It is necessary to note that secondary data has its advantages and disadvantages.
Among the advantages of secondary data are: it is takes less time to collect (i.e. no need
for excessive rigor in accessing and using secondary data); it is less expensive to collect
compared to primary data; and it supports analysis of primary data especially during
interpretation. The next section explains how the primary data collected for this research
is analyzed.
3.4.3 Data Analysis
As indicated earlier, the primary data used in this research are collected using structured
interviews and questionnaires. The analysis of the interviews involved the following
framework on a question-by-question basis: presentation of feedbacks from all of the
interviewees; interpretation of the feedbacks with a view to understanding content and
identifying key themes (i.e. thematic analysis); and examining results from the interview
feedbacks using results from the review of relevant literature in chapter 2. After
responses to all the questions in the interview guide have been analysed, a concluding
section highlights the key findings from analyzing the interviews.
As mentioned earlier, only 55 questionnaires are used in this research. Descriptive
statistics are used to analyse the responses to the questionnaires. Tables are used to
quantify responses to the questionnaires using frequencies and percentages. Bar charts
31. 31
are used to illustrate the frequencies for key options listed in the questionnaire. The
results from the questionnaire analysis are further interpreted with reference to results
from the review of literature. The results from analyzing the interviews and
questionnaires are used to draw conclusions and recommendations for this research.
3.5 Sampling Considerations
Sampling is simply the process of a selecting a group or sub-group from a population
(Collis & Hussey, 2005). The idea behind sampling is that the sub-sample selected is
representative of the population from which it is chosen (Saunders et al., 2005).
Essentially, by studying the sub-group, the researcher or investigator can understand
characteristics of a population. In this research, the population of interest is service-
based businesses. Multichoice is representative of service-based businesses and as such,
by studying it, the researcher hopes to understand how CRM can enhance customer
loyalty in the service sector. In this regard, it is clear that the purposive sampling
technique is used, i.e. using Multichoice as yardstick for understudying CRM in the
service-based sector.
The other levels of sampling in this research concern the process of selecting the
interviewees and questionnaire respondents. In selecting the interviewees, the
researcher also applies purposive sampling. Given the subject matter of this research,
the researcher deems it fit to only interview employees whose job responsibilities are
closely linked with customers. Consequently, only those whose jobs deal with marketing,
sales and customer service form the sample for the interviews. 4 employees of
Multichoice are interviewed: 2 sales/marketing officers; and 2 customer service
representatives. On the other hand, random sampling is used to select the sample for
the questionnaires. With random sampling, every subscriber of Multichoice’s pay-TV
services has an equal chance of being selected to form the survey sample. The process
of selecting the sample for the questionnaire is such that the researcher when to one of
the company’s offices in Lagos state and shared the questionnaires as customers walked
in to renew their monthly subscription. As mentioned earlier, 58 questionnaires were
returned out of the total of 65. Out of the 58 questionnaires, only 55 were used since 3
were incorrectly filled. At this point, it is essential to discuss the issues of validity,
reliability and generalizability in this research. This is done in the next section.
3.6 Validity, Reliability & Generalizability
Validity deals with how accurately a test measures what it is supposed to measure (Collis
& Hussey, 2005). In this research, construct validity was applied especially during the
data collection stage of this research. For one, the sample for the interviews only
consisted of employees whose jobs make them interface with Multichoice’s customers.
The use of purposive sampling improved the validity for this study’s findings.
32. 32
Bryman & Bell (2011) note that reliability concerns the degree to which a measurement
or assessment instrument generates stable and consistent findings. The issue of
reliability in this research is addressed in the techniques used to analyse responses to
the questionnaires distributed to Multichoice’s customers. Descriptive statistics –
frequencies, percentages and bar charts- is used to analyse the questionnaires.
Generalizability basically concerns the extent to which a study’s results can be applied
broadly to the target population (Saunders et al., 2005). Results from the analysis of the
questionnaires should serve as an indication as to the level of customer satisfaction at
Multichoice Nigeria. This is because the randomly-selected 55 respondents are
representative of Multichoice’s customers.
3.7 Limitations of the Research
The research process can be fraught with difficulties that may affect its smooth progress,
especially regarding realizing objectives. These difficulties characterize the study’s
limitations. One of the limitations of this research concerns the data collection process.
For instance, only four employees of Multichoice are interviewed for this research. The
sample size of the interview participants can be perceived as too small or limited to be
able to generalize this study’s findings. Although the sample size for the interviews is
small, it should be noted that the case study approach is used in this research.
Furthermore, in the Multichoice branch where data is collected for this research, there
are a total of 14 employees so the 4 employees interviewed are representative. Given
the profile of the interviewees, results from the interviews proved useful in
understanding Multichoice’s CRM processes.
Another limitation of this research concerns the sample size for the survey. As noted
earlier, only 55 customers of Multichoice were sampled in the survey. Considering that
Multichoice controls 50% of the pay-TV market in Nigeria, the sample size for the survey
can be perceived as too limited to be representative. The focus on only one branch of
Multichoice is informed by the strict timelines for concluding this research (National
Institute of Marketing Nigeria, 2012). Another limitation of this research concerns the
use of only one case study in exploring the relationship between CRM and customer
loyalty. Again, this situation can affect the capacity to generalize the results of this
research.
3.8 Ethical Considerations
Ethics is a critical consideration for the research process. In the absence of ethical
considerations, the validity and reliability of a study’s results or conclusions can be
called into question (Collis & Hussey, 2009). There are ethical norms in the research
process, especially when primary data collection is involved. Following the design of the
33. 33
data collection instruments (i.e. interview guide and survey), supervisory approval was
first obtained before their application. In developing the data collection instruments, the
researcher conducted pilot sessions to test and fine-tune the questions in the interview
guide and questionnaire.
Again, before the interviews were carried out, consent forms were signed by the
interviewees. Signing the consent forms confirms the voluntary nature of their
participation. Furthermore, during the interview sessions, the researcher took significant
steps to ensure that the interviewees were not coerced into volunteering any
information that they preferred not to. The researcher ensured that honesty and
integrity were applied in interactions with the interviewees and survey respondents.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, attention is devoted to presenting, analyzing and interpreting the data
collected for this research. Specifically, the data collected for this research mainly
comprised of interviews and surveys. The sample for the interviews mainly consists of
employees in one the branch offices of Multichoice Nigeria. On the other hand, the
sample for the surveys mainly consists of customers or subscribers of Multichoice
Nigeria’s pay-TV services. This chapter begins with the presentation and analysis of
feedback from the interviews conducted.
4.2 Presentation and Analysis of Feedbacks from the Interview Sessions
In this section, feedbacks from the interviewees are presented and analysed. In total,
four interviews are conducted. The two of the employees are sales and marketing
officers while two are customer service representatives. The questions posed to the
34. 34
interviewees can be cited in the interview guide (see Annex A). The full transcript of the
interviews is outlined in Annex B. The methodology used to present and analyse the
interviews –on a question-by-question basis- is as follows: [1] feedback from each of the
interviewees to each question is presented; [2] based on responses, a central theme is
identified, i.e. thematic analysis; and [3] the central theme is further cross-referenced
with results from the literature review chapter. In line with the need to keep the
identities of the interviewees confidential, the two sales and marketing officers are
identified as follows: SMO1 and SMO2. On the other hand, the customer service
representatives are identified as follows: CSR1 and CSR2. The full transcript of the
interviews is located in Annex C.
4.2.1 Multichoice Nigeria’s Approach to Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)
The first question posed to the four interviewees is as follows: “how would you describe
Multichoice’s approach to customer satisfaction?” The analysis of responses given by the
interviewees is as follows:
Analysis:
On the question concerning Multichoice Nigeria’s approach to CRM, majority of the
responses provided by interviewees point to the role of IT in the deployment of
customer relationship management systems. For instance, CSR1 noted that, “IT has
enabled us to adopt a customer-driven approach to CRM deployment in Nigeria.
Through our online payment platforms and self-service systems, we collect useful
information about our subscribers. We categorize this information and deliver target-
driven marketing activities to our different subscribers”. Essentially, it appears that
Multichoice Nigeria employs IT systems in providing quality and personalized services to
its different subscribers. The use of online payment platforms, self-service systems and
call centers enables Multichoice Nigeria to interact with its subscribers. Through these
systems, Multichoice also collects data about its subscribers. In analyzing this data,
Multichoice is able to deliver targeted driven marketing to its subscribers. CSR3
indicated that there is a people management dimension to Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM
approach. This entails proper training of customer service representatives so that they
are in a position to satisfy customers that visit any of Multichoice’s branches.
Based on the information provided by the interviewees, two key themes emerged as it
concerned Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM approach namely: [1] role of IT; and [2] role of
human resources. With respect to the role of IT, self-service payment systems, online
payment platforms, and call centers provide the channel or means through which
Multichoice generates and keeps data about its different subscribers. IT systems have
led to the growing popularity of big data given that these systems generate
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considerable information about customers. What is clear from this observation is that IT
has created a data-driven approach to CRM.
The other aspect to Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM approach is the role of human resources
in the delivery of quality services. Despite the growing role of IT in delivering services
and interacting with customers, human beings are still important. On many occasions,
human beings are needed to interface with customers. This represents the human side
of customer relationship management. This is the reason why Multichoice Nigeria
invests considerably in the training of its staff, especially its sales staff and customer
service representatives. Long et al., (2013:250) indicate that, “the behavior of employees
will probably have a significant effect on customer satisfaction and customer retention
especially as employees are responsible for outcomes such as, speed of responding to
customers’ queries, customer perceptions of how they have been treated, customer
satisfaction levels, and customer loyalty.
4.2.2 Delivering Value to Customers during Service Delivery
The second question posed to the interviewees is as follows: “what steps are taken by
your organization to provide considerable value to your customers in the delivery of
your services?” The analysis of responses given by the interviewees is as follows:
Analysis:
Based on the responses given by the four interviewees, it is clear that central to
Multichoice Nigeria’s approach of delivering value to customers in service delivery
borders on the issue of price and value. Essentially, SMO2, CSR1, and CSR2 indicated
that subscribers of Multichoice get many channels for the amount they pay in monthly
subscriptions. For instance, premium subscribers get about 55 channels –movie
channels, news channels, sports channels- for the sum of N16,000. Essentially, offering
more channels for less cost is the method or approach used by Multichoice Nigeria to
deliver considerable value to its subscribers. Furthermore, SMO2 and CSR1 indicated
that the offering a diverse range of TV channels is central to enhancing the loyalty of
subscribers. SMO1 also noted that Multichoice Nigeria employs IT systems to deliver
considerable value. The use of IT systems mainly concerns the issue of convenience in
resolving technical difficulties and making subscription payments.
4.2.3 Developing and Sustaining Relationships with Customers
The third question posed to the four interviewees is as follows: “how does your
organization go about developing and sustaining relationships with its customers?” The
analysis of responses given by the interviewees in response to this particular question is
as follows:
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Analysis:
Responses from the four interviews demonstrated the manner that Multchoice Nigeria
goes about developing and sustaining relationships with customers. For instance, CSR2
noted that, “The feedback we receive from our self-service portals, call centers, our
social media platforms plays a critical role in developing and sustaining relationships
with our subscribers. Through these customer touchpoints, we collect sufficient data
about our subscribers”. One of the ways that Multichoice Nigeria develops and sustains
relationships with its subscribers is through its social media platforms, i.e. Facebook,
Twitter etc. Through these platforms, the company communicates and responds quickly
to issues raised by subscribers. In fact, the company has a dedicated social media team
that assumes responsibility over communications on its social media platforms. Social
media is increasingly becoming a strategic and popular channel of communication
between people and as such, companies ought to exploit this channel of
communication to closely interface with its customers. Social media affords the
opportunity for companies to offer personalized communication with their customers.
Furthermore, call centers and SMS text messages are used to keep close tabs on
subscribers. Through these media, subscribers are kept informed about their accounts
and also sent reminders before they expiry of their monthly subscription.
Another way that Multichoice Nigeria develops relationships with customers is by
fulfilling its value proposition to its subscribers. Multichoice does this by offering
subscribers a broad array of channels and alternatives in the areas of movies, news, and
sports. For instance, Multichoice Nigeria has the sole rights to televise live Barclays
Premier League and the Nigeria Premier League football matches. These are among the
benefits of being a Multichoice subscriber. Fulfilling the value proposition to customers
is fundamental to developing sustainable relationship with customers.
4.2.4 Measuring the Effectiveness of Customer Relationship Management
Approaches
The fourth question posed to the four interviewees is, “how do you measure the
effectiveness of your customer relationship management approaches?” The analysis of
responses given by the interviewees is as follows:
Analysis:
Based on the responses given by the four employees of Multichoice Nigeria, it is clear
that Multichoice Nigeria measures the effectiveness of its CRM initiatives by collecting
and analyzing data from customers. CSR1 specifically noted that effectively measuring
the effectiveness of CRM initiatives is largely dependent on the availability of data from
customers. This data is sourced from customers through paper-based customer
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feedback surveys, online surveys, and responses provided on Multichoice Nigeria’s
social media platforms. The design of the data collection instrument is very important as
it supports targeted data collection across a range of relevant variables or parameters.
The process of measuring the effectiveness of CRM and service quality initiatives does
not just end with data collection; analyzing and interpreting the data collected is equally
critical. With regards to data analysis, CSR1 noted that Multichoice Nigeria has a
strategy department that analyses the data collected from customers using statistical
software. This approach represents the analytical side of CRM.
4.2.5 CRM Approaches and Customer Loyalty
The fifth question posed to the interviewees is as follows: “to what extent have your
CRM approaches been successful in maintaining the loyalty of your subscribers?” The
analysis of responses given by the interviewees is as follows:
Analysis:
Based on the responses given by the four interviewees, it is clear that the Multichoice
Nigeria’s CRM initiatives have been effective or successful in enhancing customer
loyalty. Some of the interviewees provided evidence to show that this is the case. For
instance SMO2 indicated that Multichoice Nigeria’s customer satisfaction levels
increased by 10% year on year. Furthermore, CSR2 noted that Multichoice Nigeria’s
market share increased by 9% between the years 2013 and 2014. Since this is the case, it
is fair to conclude that Multichoice Nigeria’s CRM initiative has been effective in
enhancing the loyalty of its customers.
Khaligh et al.,(2012) investigate the effect that customer relationship management has
on customer loyalty. Their investigation shows that commitment of management is
critical for effective implementation of CRM activities. Aaker (1997) notes that when a
firm has customers who are loyal, the company gains market share together with
diminished costs. According to the study by Bhattacharya (2011:47), “in addition to
improving profitability, CRM decreases costs since it encourages the collection and use
of data from internal and external origins such as customer service department, sales
department, procurement department, strategy department etc.
4.3 Analysis of Responses to the Questionnaire
In this section, attention is devoted to presenting and analyzing the responses to the
questions posed in the questionnaire. The questionnaires were only distributed to a
selection of Multichoice Nigeria’s subscribers. The sample questionnaire can be cited in
Annex B. As noted in the methodology chapter, descriptive statistical techniques are
used to analyse the responses to the questionnaires.
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4.3.1 Gender Profile of the Respondents
The first question concerns the gender profile of the respondents. The first question is
designed to ascertain how many of the respondents are male and how many are
women. The responses to this particular question are as follows:
Table 2: Gender Profile of the Respondents
Frequencies Percentages (%)
Male 38 69%
Female 17 31%
Total 55 100%
Figure 3: Gender Profile of the Respondents
Analysis:
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Male
Female
Gender Profile of the Questionnaire
Respondents
Male
Female
39. 39
Based on the responses given, majority of the respondents are male. 69% of those
sampled in this questionnaire are male while 31% of them are female. Although this
information bears no significant relevance in this research, it is still necessary to
disaggregate the respondents based on their demographic profile.
4.3.2 Nature of Account Maintained by the Respondents
The second question posed to the questionnaire respondents is: “what type of account
do you maintain?” The responses given by the respondents are as follows:
Table 3: Type of Account Maintained by the Respondents
Frequencies Percentages
Standard 15 27%
Premium 18 33%
Extra View 22 40%
Total 55 100%
Figure 4: Nature of Account Maintained by the Respondents
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Standard
Premium
Extra View
Type of Account Maintained by the
Respondents
Standard
Premium
Extra View
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Analysis:
Based on the responses received, majority of the respondents are on the ‘extra view’
subscription, i.e. 40% of the respondents are on ‘extra view’, 33% are on ‘premium’
subscription, and 27% of the respondents are on ‘standard’ subscription (see Table 3). At
this point, it is essential to note that the only ‘extra view’ and ‘premium’ subscribers can
watch live matches from the following football leagues: Barclays Premier League;
Spanish La Liga; Italian Serie A; and the Nigerian Premier League.
4.3.3 Satisfaction with the Level of Services Offered by Multichoice Nigeria
The third question posed to the subscribers of Multichoice Nigeria is as follows: “I am
happy with the level of services offered by Multichoice”. The responses provided by the
respondents are as follows:
Table 4: Satisfaction with Services Offered by Multichoice Nigeria
Frequency Percentage (%)
Strongly Disagree 5 9%
Disagree 10 18%
Neutral 3 5%
Agree 14 25%
Strongly Agree 18 33%
Total 55 100%
Figure 5: Satisfaction with the Services Offered by Multichoice Nigeria
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35%
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
Satisfaction with the Level of Services
Offered by Multichoice
Strongly Disagree
Disagree
Neutral
Agree
Strongly Agree
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Analysis:
Based on feedback from the respondents, majority of them strongly agree that they are
happy with the level of services offered by Multichoice Nigeria, i.e. 33% of the
respondents (see Table 4). The next majority view is that 25% of the respondents agree
that they are happy or satisfied with the level of services offered by Multichoice Nigeria.
What is clear from these responses is that majority of Multichoice Nigeria’s subscribers
seem happy with the level of services offered. Service quality and customer satisfaction
are crucial to customer loyalty and customer retention. Overall, results from this
particular analysis suggest that the CRM initiatives of Multichoice Nigeria have been
effective in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
4.3.4 Multichoice’s Relationship with its Customers
The fourth question posed to the questionnaire respondents concerned the nature of
relationship that Multichoice Nigeria has with its customers. The fourth question posed
to the respondents is as follows: “Multichoice has an excellent relationship with its
customers”. Their responses are as follows;
Table 5: Assessment of Multichoice’s Relationship Management
Frequency Percentage (%)
Strongly Disagree 3 5%
Disagree 6 11%
Neutral 4 7%
Agree 27 49%
Strongly Agree 15 27%
Total 55 100%
Figure 6: Perceptions of Multichoice’s Relationship with Customers