What is the most effective strategy for building customer loyalty in business-to-business (B2B) relationships?
In today’s highly competitive business environment, the remarkable increase in the number of companies is becoming a problem. Due to this situation and also diversity in customer demand, business people are required to contemplate how to establish strategies to gain new potential customers or to maintain existing customers. Caceres and Paparoidamis (2007) identify that the cost of acquiring new customers is considerably greater than the cost of retaining existing customers. It could be said that it takes less money to keep your current customers happy than to attract new ones. Therefore, most firms’ programs have heavily
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Similarly, Molinari, Abratt, and Dion (2008) assert that there is a direct and strong link between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty behavior. If the customers enjoy the product or service, they will not be bothered to become loyal to the company. In other words, high levels of satisfaction commonly occur when the customer is delighted or happy with either the products or services provided by a business supplier. As Caceres and Paparoidamis (2005) state, customer satisfaction levels are determined and influenced by many elements. For example, it is commonly admitted that the customers will naturally repeatedly return to the company when things are done right, or in other words, business service companies successfully meet the customer’s expectation (Gil-Saura, et. al., 2009). Furthermore, increases in satisfaction could result to increase customer loyalty. A business enterprise, which could address the elements moderating the level of satisfaction of customers, probably would reach the higher level of loyalty. In other words, customer satisfaction is likely to improve customer loyalty in general.
Secondly, providing high quality customer service might be another essential factor in any customer loyalty strategy. The better a vendor treats their customers, the more likely the customers will return. As Cater and Cater (2009) state, an outstanding customer service could create a sustainable loyal customer
Customer satisfaction is highly important to an organization as it leads to customer loyalty and
The three most important key components to provide good customer service are professionalism, communication and responsibility. A person with these three values can make him look more distant and better than other people who are engaged in the same field as he is.
The aspects of business success that Jones (2012) chooses to study are that of customer retention and employee satisfaction. Being able to minimize the loss of customers correlates to improved financial
Customer satisfaction is the main concern of creating value and competitive advantage(zeithaml,1988;parasuraman,1997). Satisfaction is the feeling of pleasure or displeasure resulting from the comparison of products/services performance in relation to the expectations. Expectation comes from the past buying experience, friends or associates advice etc .The relation between expectation and performance decides the satisfaction ;whether it is high, medium or low.
Customer loyalty is much harder to obtain that customer service satisfaction. The most important first step is to satisfy the customer by meeting their expectations. Customers only give a company one chance and if they aren’t satisfied they will not do business with that company again, as well as tell others of their experience. The next step would be to exceed the customer’s expectations. If a business goes above and beyond to assist the customer they begin to build loyalty. The next step is to truly surprise the customer. In order to dominate the marketplace the company must find a way to make them selves stand out with their product or service, accompanied with phenomenal customer service. Once this has been done customer satisfaction and loyalty will be gained. “Acquiring a new customer can cost four or five times more than keeping a current customer” (Bestmark, 2013). So it’s essential to keep the current customer’s happy and coming back for more.
Customer service that acknowledges the significance of the purchase and guides the purchaser through the transaction will be a necessity for success and gaining consumer loyalty.
Customer satisfaction and service quality are the two important components that direct anyone’s attention in every concept related to marketing, services, etc. (Spreng and Mackoy, 2006). In today’s competitive era, the success lies in
Loyal Customer can mean a consistent source of revenue over a period of many years. However, this loyalty cannot be taken for granted. It will continue only as long as the customer feels they are receiving better value than they would obtain from another supplier. There are many approaches companies can usefully adopt to measure loyalty and many companies keen to help with various tools and techniques. A large number of retailers have become so focused on customer basket analysis, profitability and driving down operating costs that they have forgotten to listen to the real voice of the customer. Indeed in a Bain Company survey in 2005, 80% of companies believed they were delivering a superior customer experience; only 8% of their customers agreed.
It is imperative to satisfy customers and give them an amazing experience at the company. While it cost less to sell to existing customers and companies can increase profit by selling to the same customers; if customers are satisfied, there is more chance they will come back for more services or products. Satisfied customers are a free marketing for the company. However, it is the opposite if customers are dissatisfied. Dissatisfied customer will tell 8 to 10 people about his or her experience (O’Brien, A & Marakas, G. 2004). If by any reason, representatives see that the customer is not satisfy, they should act fast and fix the problem. Furthermore, there is more chance for sale representatives to sell to an existing customer that to a new customer. A good strategy for customer retention is to reward good customers. Companies can easily do
A satisfied customer stays with a company longer, spends more and may deepen the relationship. For example a happy credit card customer may enlist the company’s financial services and later take travel insurance.
To review critically literature on customer satisfaction and how it affects the development of a company; defining the idea and concept of customer satisfaction; analysing the core elements of customer satisfaction; analysing the factors affecting customer satisfaction; and why customer satisfaction is important for companies such as STO Supermart in Maldives.
Customer satisfaction was the key factor that affects mostly on service loyalty. Oliver suggested that satisfaction is a pleasant routine and in order to be effective on loyalty, satisfaction should occur for the
Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty has become, throughout years, not only an important marketing tool but also an integrated part of a company structure. Competition has become fierce and competitors in a market are trying constantly to prove that their products and services are better than others. Therefore, being able to satisfy and retain customers will definitely create a competitive edge over competitors but will also reduce cost while creating long term relationship with customers.
• Membership open to all customers • Clerk will swipe discount card if member forgets or does not have card • Each member receives the same discount regardless of purchase history • Firm has no information base on customer name, demographics, or purchase history • There is no targeted communications directed at members
There are five types of the consumer behaviour which have been measured over particular period of time span: the percentage of consumers buying a brand, number of purchases per buyer, the percentage who continue to buy the brand repeatedly, the 100% loyal customers and the segment of population who buy other brands.