Examining the Customer Experience of Using Banking Chatbots and Its Impact on Brand Love: The Moderating Role of Perceived Risk

In today’s digitally enabled world, banks offer chatbots to improve customer service. This research looks at chatbots as a form of an information system. It observes the effect of the three quality dimensions of the information system success model on customer experience, further leading to love for the bank brand. As chatbots are a new technology platform, consumers may find some risk in its use. Hence, the moderating role of perceived risk between the three quality dimensions and customer experience is also observed. The survey method was employed to conduct the study. Data were collected from 258 respondents. The results provide a definite direction for banks to strengthen the consumer–brand relationship by offering chatbots suiting their customers’ expectations.     

Managing a Global Retail Brand in Different Markets: Meta-Analyses of Customer Responses to Service Encounters

This study investigates how retailers can leverage their brand to shape customers’ satisfaction with service encounters. It develops and tests hypotheses about how brand, store, and consumer factors moderate customer responses to experience clues during retail service encounters. Six meta-regression analyses synthesize and compare results from 842 satisfaction equations describing customers’ encounters with a global retailer operating 400 stores in 32 countries. The results show how customers weigh their perceptions of service encounters differently depending on brand, store, and consumer factors. In markets where customers believe the retailer has high holistic brand quality, they place less weight on experience clues within the store. In markets where customers believe the retailer’s service brand promise, they place more weight on in-store experience clues. In markets where the retailer promises utilitarian value, customers weigh functional experience clues more heavily. In markets with an online purchasing channel, the effect of experience clues common to offline and online store environments is magnified, and unique clues are diminished. In addition, customers heavily weigh experience clues that fit their goals. In general, retail success factors include high brand quality (which makes customers more forgiving), a service brand promise that is mirrored in the store image (which makes customers attend to the experience clues aligned with them), and the careful monitoring and managing of retail touchpoints (to customize experience clues to each market). In this way, retailers can use customer-based strategies to effectively design and manage their global retail brand in different markets.     

客户忠诚理论的价值分析和驱动模式研究

在客户关系管理(CRM)中,客户忠诚是其基本目标。客户忠诚是一种导致消费者与品牌发生联系的态度,进而表示出来的一种由个人特征、环境和购买情景共同作用的购买行为模式。在分析客户忠诚对客户关系管理的价值,客户忠诚的度量指标和维度分类的基础上,提出了客户忠诚的满意驱动、价值驱动、双因素驱动和多因素驱动四种驱动模式以及各因素对客户忠诚的驱动机理,揭示了客户忠诚的本质,为企业客户关系管理中达到客户忠诚提供理论支持和实践方法。     

Brand equity: extending brand awareness and liking with Signal Detection Theory

Brand equity, which is a central topic in modern marketing, may be assessed from three perspectives: customer mind set, product market outcomes and financial market outcomes. Brand awareness (memory) and brand liking are elements of customer mind set brand equity. The factors determining brand awareness and likeability are also determinants of the change in financial brand equity. In order to understand these factors, Signal Detection Theory is employed for finding the components of brand awareness and likeability. Signal Detection Theory has a strong tradition in psychology, but is under‐represented in marketing and consumer behaviour. This study extended the concept of brand awareness to ‘awareness sensitivity and bias’ and the concept of ‘brand likeability’ to ‘liking sensitivity and bias’ using Signal Detection Theory. The effect of divided attention on the extended components was investigated in three laboratory experiments. It was found that, in the attended mode compared with the unattended mode, consumers perform better in preserving a favourable brand awareness and have a conservative reaction tendency. This effect of attention occurs in building brand awareness for short presentations, but not for long presentations. These findings may serve as guidelines for a strategy formulation for enhancing customer mind set brand equity.     

Linking Customer Engagement to Trust and Word-of-Mouth on Facebook Brand Communities: An Empirical Study

Given the rise of social networking sites, particularly Facebook, companies have started engaging with customers in this newly emerged digital space. This study explores the role of customer engagement in enhancing trust and word-of-mouth on brand communities over Facebook. The effect of customer involvement on customer engagement is also checked. This study also investigates the direct relationship of customer involvement with trust and word-of-mouth. A pen-and-paper questionnaire survey of 450 Facebook account holder students was used. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results reveal that a higher level of involvement with the brand community leads to a higher level of customer engagement. Customer engagement leads to customer trust and word-of-mouth activities. The results further suggest a direct positive relationship of customer involvement with trust and word-of-mouth, but the mediation of customer engagement strengthens the mentioned effect.     

Customer segmentation in retailing based on retail brand patronage patterns

In this study, we propose an alternative method for customer segmentation based on households’ retail brand portfolios. We suggest blockmodeling, a method that is rooted in social network analysis, to identify homogeneous groups of customers being characterized by similar patronage patterns. In a second step, we combine this method with psychometric analyses to examine group differences based on sociodemographic and purchasing behavior variables. To illustrate our approach, we use a sample of 500 households out of a panel data set of 36,502 German households in the fast-moving consumer goods sector. The findings of our analyses yield support for our assumption that our methodology, taking into account the relationship between households and the different retail brands they patronize, provides a broader understanding of the antecedents of households’ multiple store patronage strategies, leading eventually to a new form of customer segmentation.     

Brand alliance and customer‐based brand‐equity effects

This research examines brand alliances, a specific marketing strategy designed to transfer the positive brand equity of two or more partner brands to the newly created joint brand. The study explores how customer‐based brand equity (that is, brand equity as seen from the customer's perspective) of partner brands affects consumer evaluations of an alliance brand; how the brand equity of one partner brand affects the other; how customer‐based brand equity of the partner brands affects consumers' evaluations of the search, experience, and credence attribute performance of the alliance brand; and how product trial influences such evaluations. Results suggest that merely the act of pairing with another brand elevates consumers' evaluations of the partner brands' customer‐based brand equity, and high‐equity partners enhance pretrial evaluation of experience and credence attributes that are relevant to the high‐equity partner. As hypothesized, product trial moderates the equity value of the alliance partner for experience attributes, and brand equity of the partner brands influences consumer perceptions of the alliance brand's equity. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Brand attachment and customer citizenship behaviors

Service brand attachment has emerged as a growing body of research. Although previous studies have examined the relationship between brand attachment and customer behaviors, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains unknown, particularly in a service context. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between brand attachment and customer citizenship behaviors and to clarify the role of perceived value among regular customers of international hotel brands in Taiwan. To examine this model, confirmatory factor analysis was employed to analyze survey data from 299 hotel customers, the results of which indicated that perceived value completely mediated the relationship between brand attachment and customer citizenship behaviors. Therefore, perceived value is the mechanism that explains how service brand attachment is associated with customer citizenship behaviors. These results demonstrate the importance of perceived value and imply that service managers should strengthen customers’ perceived value of service brands to enhance customer citizenship behaviors.     

零售商品牌资产管理策略体系构建——基于多维理论视角的探讨

零售商品牌资产的管理和创建是零售企业获取持续竞争优势的关键,但关于零售商品牌资产管理策略的理论指导并不系统和丰富。因此,本文从零售商品牌营销管理、顾客情绪管理、顾客体验管理、顾客关系管理、顾客忠诚管理5个多维理论视角,对零售商品牌资产管理的策略体系进行了构建,以期为零售商品牌资产的创建过程和途径提供丰富的管理视野与思路。     

“Happy Together”: Effects of Brand Community Engagement on Customer Happiness

Because the pursuit of happiness is fundamental, humans perform a wide range of activities, including consumption, to lead a happy life. For marketers, findings from positive psychology suggest that customer happiness may arise through customer engagement. This article proposes a conceptual framework of customer happiness in brand communities and analyzes the effect of customer engagement on customer happiness, as well as on the ultimate outcomes of word of mouth and purchase intentions. Structural equation modeling provides a test of the model through an empirical study with 518 members from the online brand community for a German automotive brand. Customer engagement exerts a significant positive effect on customer happiness, which in turn increases positive word of mouth and purchase intentions. Therefore, marketing managers should invest in brand communities to engage customers and build and maintain their happiness and loyalty.     

Does online relationship marketing enhance customer retention and cross-buying?

One characteristic of online consumer behavior is the low cost of searching for alternatives. Therefore, customer loyalty is more difficult to achieve in the online context than in the offline one. Although studies have discussed the effectiveness of relationship marketing, nearly all studies examining such constructs have been in the context of ‘offline’ consumer behavior. With regard to the ‘online’ context, the integration of Internet technology with the customer loyalty concept is rarely discussed in the relationship marketing literature. Furthermore, empirical research that integrates the actual purchase behavior of customer retention and cross-buying is relatively sparse. In response to this, the current study develops and empirically tests a model that examines the relations among relationship-bonding tactics, perceived relationship investment, perceived relationship quality, customer loyalty, customer retention, and cross-buying. Using survey data from 766 online customers of a securities corporation, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of relationship marketing as it positively influences online customers' perception, then their loyalty, and ultimately, their actual purchase behavior.     

A cross‐national validation of a new retail customer equity model

This study aims to examine retail customers of China and Korea with a view to understanding the differences in the effects of customer equity on perceived store loyalty. We built a modified model of retail customer equity incorporating three drivers of retail customer equity (experience equity, brand equity and relationship equity), and further substantiate the relationships among the three equity drivers. For this purpose, we measured the customer equity of large scale discount stores located in China and Korea. The result shows that experience equity and brand equity significantly influence customer loyalty, whereas relationship equity does not. The relationships among the three drivers of customer equity revealed that experience equity significantly affects both brand and relationship equities, but relationship equity does not significantly affect brand equity. Based on country level analysis, on Korean side the experience equity influences relationship equity, brand equity and store loyalty, whereas on Chinese side, experience equity influences relationship equity and brand equity,     

顾客价值导向的品牌权益模型及实证分析

以结构方程模型路径分析方法为基础,对顾客价值与品牌权益之间的关系进行实证研究。通过前期对手机消费者的深度访谈,结合定性分析,归纳出5个顾客价值结构,提出顾客价值与品牌权益关系概念模型。在调查研究的基础上,分析顾客价值结构对品牌权益价值的影响。结果表明:一方面,顾客价值结构对品牌权益价值有显著的直接效应;另一方面,顾客价值结构经由态度和行为两个品牌忠诚层面对品牌权益价值有显著的间接效应。     

顾客参与风格对企业品牌资产的影响机制——基于关系联结的视角

随着移动互联技术与虚拟经济的高速发展,虚拟品牌社区成为消费者参与企业活动,与企业沟通的重要窗口,并在品牌营销中发挥着日益重要的作用,成为企业与消费者建立持久、和谐关系联结的重要工具以及企业品牌资产提升的重要载体和手段。依据风格特征视角,虚拟品牌社区中的顾客参与可以划分为任务型参与、社交型参与和贡献型参与,三种风格的顾客参与是企业品牌资产形成和提升的重要前置因素,并通过关系联结的中介机制影响企业品牌资产。顾客任务型参与、社交型参与和贡献型参与能够正向影响企业的品牌知名度、顾客感知质量和顾客忠诚度;关系联结在顾客参与风格和企业品牌资产的关系中起中介作用,在顾客任务型参与和品牌资产的关系中起完全中介作用,在顾客社交型参与/贡献型参与和品牌资产的关系中起部分中介作用;社区意识在不同顾客参与风格和关系联结关系中发挥的调节作用不同,正向调节顾客任务型/社交型参与对财务联结的正向影响,正向调节顾客社交型/贡献型参与对社会联结的正向影响;竞争强度负向调节关系联结对品牌资产的影响作用,即当行业竞争强度提高时,关系联结对品牌资产的正向影响受到削弱。因此,企业应通过虚拟品牌社区平台,积极引导、掌控和规范不同风格顾客参与,拓展企业价值提升的组织外途径。     

顾客参与创新过程中授权对消费者创造力的影响研究

文章从顾客层面出发,探讨了顾客授权对消费者创造力的影响,同时加深了对顾客参与构念的理解。通过两个实验,利用不同情景和处理方法,对文中所提假设进行了验证。认为顾客参与创新过程中,相对高的顾客授权会提升产品新奇性,削弱产品功能性。同时,内在快乐和经济奖励会调节以上作用。     

What do consumers want? A methodological framework to identify determinant product attributes from consumers’ online questions

Determinant attributes play an important role in consumers’ purchase decisions. Firms rely on them to differentiate their products. Determinant attributes are typically identified using direct methods or indirect methods. However, the voice of the customer online can also provide key insights regarding attributes that are part of the consumers’ pre-purchase search process. The purpose of this study is to propose a framework to identify determinant attributes from online consumer questions. Our method uses semi-supervised Latent Dirichlet Allocation to identify product attributes initially. This is followed by the application of sequence pattern mining to identify temporal sequences of determinant attributes. Finally, hierarchical time series is used to forecast consumer interest in determinant attributes over time. The results show that our study can be used to identify determinant attributes of competing brands and can also be used to forecast consumer interest in these attributes. Brands can use this framework to have a pulse on what consumers look for before purchase. This will aid their decisions related to promotion as well as product development processes.     

Consumer–brand relationship quality: When and how it helps brand extensions

Two studies demonstrate that strong brand relationship quality (BRQ) enhances consumer judgments about brand extensions. Different methods (survey vs. experiment), participants (real consumers vs. college students), and cultural contexts (Korea vs. Canada) demonstrate that this effect generalizes. Study results suggest that this effect only occurs for two moderately-low-fit extensions: the extension and the parent are similar product categories with inconsistent attributes, or dissimilar product categories with consistent attributes. Two different cognitive processes underlie the BRQ effects depending on these conditions.     

消费者重购意向形成影响因素与作用机制研究

维系老顾客,满足顾客的期望,不断增加顾客的重购行为对企业提高市场竞争力具有非常重要的意义。顾客满意、顾客的品牌偏好、顾客的多样化追求倾向、替代品的吸引力和顾客感知的转换壁垒是影响顾客重购的主要因素。同时,在此基础上模仿了电子技术中的并联回路,建立了影响因素的作用机制模型。     

Less speed more haste: The effect of crisis response speed and information strategy on the consumer−brand relationship

This paper investigates the relationship between firm crisis behavior and the resulting consumer–brand relationship (CBR) response. Drawing from theoretical traditions in brand transgressions, service failure, and crisis communications, we use longitudinal survey data combined with archival social media data to empirically test the effect of crisis response speed and crisis information strategy on the short-term consumer crisis response evaluations (1 month after crisis response), and the long-term CBR (1 year after crisis response). Results show that, contrary to intuitive expectations, a faster firm response is not always better, as a slower response was found to result in higher crisis response evaluations. We also show that this effect depends on the consistency of the communication strategy with the first active response. Specifically, when a firm prioritizes safety information (instructing strategy), a faster response is better. Whereas, when the firm prioritizes well-being information (adjusting strategy), a slower response is better. We argue the counterintuitive finding that a slower response is better implies that reacting too quickly may signal rashness and unpreparedness to the customer, leading to more negative evaluations. We term this distinction the difference between being responsive (fast but considered) and reactive (faster but rash).