Brand defection in a business-to-business financial service

This research examines the reasons for brand defection in a business-to-business financial service. Three cross-sectional studies examine customers who ceased using a brand in the previous month. The research shows that about 60% of brand defection occurs for reasons that brand managers cannot influence, such as business closure or head office decisions. Hence, retention strategies can have a maximum success rate of 40%. Furthermore, most defection within this 40% relates to dissatisfaction with fees and charges, or the attractiveness of competitors' offers. These reasons limit what brand managers can do to retain these customers other than just matching competitors' offers. On the other hand, most customers who defect because of price issues or reasons beyond management control still have a positive attitude towards their former brand and are likely to consider this brand for future purchases. Only 4% of lapsed customers defect because of service service-related issues. These customers are less positive about their former brand, compared to other lapsed customers. The research provides implications for investments in customer acquisition versus customer retention.     

Utilitarian,hedonic, collecting,epistemic, and high values as determinants of the attractiveness of premium promotions

Modern retail is fiercely competitive, forcing grocery retailers to enhance promotions including premium redemption to attract customers. Taiwan’s leading convenience store chains have even established an integrated marketing department to develop unique premium rewards and campaigns that seek to induce customers to spend more or switch from other retailers. However, research on premium attractiveness is relatively scarce despite its importance in determining the success of a premium promotion. This empirical study identifies the premium value hierarchy that drives attractiveness from the consumer’s perspective. It finds that epistemic value is the most important driver behind making a premium reward attractive, which in turn, raises customers’ brand attitude toward the retailer and purchase intention in the retailer’s stores. High premium value can also make a customer develop a positive brand attitude. By contrast, utilitarian, hedonic, and collecting values only indirectly affect a customer’s brand attitude via the epistemic value. In addition, the trading stamps promotion only works with frequent customers; it is not effective in enticing VIP customers. This study provides suggestions on how to develop an attractive premium product and successful trading stamps promotion.     

All-Out for Victory! Magazine Advertising and the World War II Home Front

Three main factors determine the effect of advertising campaigns: message content strategy, advertising expenditure and previous consumer behaviour. This study investigates the relative strength of each of these influences. Four possible campaign targets are taken into account: campaign recall, campaign likeability, brand recall and intention to purchase the advertised brand. A study of 40 advertising campaigns, evaluated on average by 1200 consumers, shows that, after controlling for the effect of previous purchase behaviour, the effect of message content strategy is generally larger than the effect of advertising expenditure. Nevertheless, more media expenditure positively influences campaign recall and influences brand recall and purchase intention of small brands. The most effective message content strategy differs per campaign target, but overall awareness and likeability strategies are most effective. For purchase intention only, the emotions strategy can be advised. The information strategy is best avoided.     

Turning dissatisfied into satisfied customers: How referral reward programs affect the referrer׳s attitude and loyalty toward the recommended service provider

Referral reward programs are becoming a popular tool for acquiring new customers and bonding existing ones. Yet their benefits are contentious, since such campaigns are prone to the opportunistic behaviour of customers who merely want to reap the reward. This paper examines how participating in a referral campaign affects opportunistic recommenders. By conducting two experimental studies, this article shows that giving counterattitudinal referrals enhances the communicator׳s attitude and loyalty toward the recommended provider. However, the positive effect depends on the reward size. While referral reward programs with small incentives strengthen the recommender׳s attitude and loyalty, no impact was found for referrals with large rewards. The results show that a stronger focus on reward programs is worth considering, since service providers can benefit from opportunistic customers with regards to the bonding effect.     

Psychological antecedents of consumer trust in CRM campaigns and donation intentions: The moderating role of creativity

Cause-related marketing (CRM) refers to charitable donation contingent on consumer purchase of a product by supporting a specific cause that is linked to a non-profit organization (NPO). The present research examines the influence of consumer psychographic traits on trust in CRM campaign and its resulting impact on intention to donate money to NPO. The results indicate that collectivism and hedonism have positive effect on trust in CRM campaign, but individualism and utilitarianism have negative effect on trust in CRM campaign. Moreover, the result shows that trust in the CRM campaign had significant positive effect on donation intentions. We further have investigated the role of cognitive process and demonstrated the moderating effect of creativity on the impact of trust in CRM campaign and donation intentions, such that the higher level of creativity led to higher level of donation intentions, if consumers have trust in CRM campaign. This research offers marketers and advertising professionals’ practical insights to design effective CRM campaigns. Additionally, it assists NPO managers to understand the crucial role of trust and creativity in CRM campaigns and its positive impact on donation intentions. Academic and managerial implications of this research study along with future directions are discussed.     

Electronic Advertising

Abstract

With the increasing popularity of the internet and online sales as a viable way of doing business, many merchandisers have attempted to do much of their marketing by creating advertising campaigns directed at online customers. However, just as in the physical marketplaces of the real world, there are complexities to promoting online businesses. Although the ideas of prospecting, promotion, and push-pull marketing are the same, the manners in which they are approached are quite different, and different systems have begun to develop to address each of these needs. Several different campaign types have been developed. Branding campaigns, click-through campaigns, and sell-through campaigns are the ones that will be discussed here, as well as basic electronic prospecting and final advertising hosting of the campaign. The purpose of this study is to provide the managers with a systematic method for examining a more comprehensive understanding of electronic advertising, as developing the actual campaign. The implications of such examinations will be addressed, in regards to a few important issues. Costs associated with these systems will be touched on, not only monetary but also in terms of times and opportunity, and specific strategies for maintaining such a system will be discussed. Such information should be helpful in developing and maintaining a successful online advertising strategy, one that will stand the test of time.     

CLV

SUMMARY

It is becoming increasingly clear from the literature that there is a need for a metric that can objectively measure future profitability of the customer to the firm. This paper traces the emergence of such a metric—the customer lifetime value (CLV) and discusses the two measures of computing CLV—the aggregate approach and the individual level approach. Subsequently, eight strategies that are available to firms for maximizing CLV are discussed. These strategies assist firms in deciding how to: select the best customer, make loyal customers profitable, optimally allocate the resources, pitch the right product to the right customer at the right time, link acquisition and retention to profitability, prevent customer attrition, encourage multi-channel shopping behavior, and maximize brand value. Each of these strategies was successfully implemented by different firms across various industries, resulting in significant increases in the bottom-line. Further, the challenges in implementing a CLV-based framework in a B-to-C organization are also discussed with an illustration.     

Semi-Supervised Response Modeling

Response modeling is concerned with identifying potential customers who are likely to purchase a promoted product, based on customers' demographic and behavioral data. Constructing a response model requires a preliminary campaign result database. Customers who responded to the campaign are labeled as respondents while those who did not are labeled as non-respondents. Those customers who were not chosen for the preliminary campaign do not have labels, and thus are called unlabeled. Then, using only those labeled customer data, a classification model is built in the supervised learning framework to predict all existing customers. However, often in response modeling, only a small part of customers are labeled, and thus available for model building, while a large number of unlabeled data may give valuable information. As a method to exploit the unlabeled data, we introduce semi-supervised learning to the interactive marketing community. A case study on the CoIL Challenge 2000 and the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation data sets shows that the transductive support vector machine, one of widely used semi-supervised models, can identify more respondents than conventional supervised models, especially when a small number of data are labeled. Semi-supervised learning is a viable alternative and merits further investigation.     

The Impact of User-Generated Content and Traditional Media on Customer Acquisition and Retention

Customer acquisition and retention are central components of customer relationship management (CRM) and the key drivers of a firm’s long-term profit. However, our understanding of the relative impact of user-generated content (UGC) and traditional media and their synergies on customer acquisition and retention is still underdeveloped. Thus, the purpose of this research is to address two key questions: What is the effect of UGC relative to that of traditional media on customer acquisition and retention? Is there any interaction effect between UGC and traditional media on both customer acquisition and retention? To understand the differential impacts of these media, we develop a conceptual framework and propose several hypotheses. We test our hypotheses using data from the automobile and mobile game industries. Our findings indicate that UGC is much more effective in acquiring customers, while traditional media is more important for customer retention. Moreover, the volume of UGC and traditional media have a synergistic effect on customer retention. This research therefore contributes to the acquisition-retention literature while also providing important insights to managers.     

Salesperson CLV orientation's effect on performance

Previous studies show how strategies based on the customer lifetime value (CLV) can lead to an increase of profitability for a firm. In this context, marketing serves the purpose of maximizing CLV and customer equity (the CLV of current and future customers). For most types of service firms, salespeople are direct participants in implementing the CLV concept. However, prior research does not answer the question of whether or how salesperson CLV orientation can enhance profits. Using data on salespeople in a large Chilean retail bank, this study shows that the effect of salesperson CLV orientation on salesperson performance follows an S-shaped function (which is first convex and then concave). Additionally, data does not support the idea that the optimum level of CLV orientation depends on salesperson customer orientation, salesperson adaptive selling behavior, or salesperson experience (i.e., CLV-oriented behaviors could be effective across a wide range of salespeople). As such, this study addresses an important concern among researchers and managers that is related to how to increase the salesperson performance. The findings of this study suggest that firms need to monitor individual salesperson CLV orientation more closely.     

The Effects of Coupon Promotion on Repeat Visits in Restaurants

Abstract

Will customers' intention to return to a restaurant increase with coupon promotion? To answer this question, this study examines the hypothetical effects of coupon promotion on return visits to restaurants. Based on a literature review, three hypotheses were developed to test the effect of a coupon, its face value, and a patron's prior dining experience on return intention. The authors found that neither coupon use nor coupon face value contributed to explaining respondents' return intentions. However, repeat customers have a greater likelihood of returning to the restaurant than new customers. The study also showed that the quality of food and service were key indicators of return intention.     

Emojis to conversion on social media

Emojis have become popular in online marketing communications. Marketers use emojis to humanize brand voice and elicit an emotional response from target audiences. However, little is known about how emojis are perceived and what kind of reactions they evoke. Therefore, this study aims to verify whether exposure to emojis leads to an increased intention to purchase and whether the use of emojis impacts campaign effectiveness in a real-life environment. In a theory build-up process, we draw upon the Dual Coding Theory and emotional contagion concept and develop seven hypotheses. We performed two data collection studies to test the hypothesized relations. The first study is based on a questionnaire (N = 318), while the second is based on experimental design in a real-life business environment. Surprisingly, we found that using emojis had a negative effect on purchase intention, while the effect was positive when mediated by positive affect. Emojis increased the effectiveness of marketing campaigns for hedonic products and strongly impacted the return on advertising spent. The findings of this study have both theoretical and practical implications in the observed domains, particularly about the type of products emojis are most effective in promoting, gender differences, and real-life consumer behaviour. This is the first study to use an experimental design in a real-life scenario to capture the role of emojis on campaign effectiveness and decipher the differences between genders and their perceptions of emojis. Theoretical and practical implications together with future prospects are discussed.     

The efficacy of cause-related marketing within a social network: The effects of congruency,corporate credibility,familiarity of cause brands,and perceived altruistic motive

This study investigates the value of cause-related marketing (CRM) effects by constructing a theoretical model within a social network site. This study aims to evaluate the effects of congruence, brand credibility, and cause brand familiarity within consumer sentiment with regard to a brand collaborating with a cause. A 2?×?2?×?2 factorial experiment design was implemented to investigate the significance of the relationship between consumer attitudes toward a brand, perceived motives, and intention to spread the campaign. The study proposed a two-stage moderated mediation model. The study generated significant results from three-way interactions among the key variables on attitude toward a brand. For participants who were exposed to familiar cause brands, there existed an interaction between congruence and credibility, such that in conditions of high credibility, congruence led to a significantly higher attitude toward the brand than incongruence. However, in conditions of low credibility, attitude toward the brand was very similar for congruent brands and incongruent brands. In addition, the results showed that the effect of attitude toward a brand on behavioral intention was moderated by perceived altruistic motive. This study presents interesting implications for future CRM campaigns.     

The Effects of Channel Experiences and Direct Marketing on Customer Retention in Multichannel Settings

In customer relationship management (CRM), it is critical for managers to understand how and when customers terminate their relationships with the company in order to make more accurate predictions for CLV. However, in many non-contractual settings, customer churn is not easily observed, which presents difficulty for estimating customer retention. In this research, we present a framework for estimating multichannel customer relationship dynamics in a non-contractual setting that flexibly allows for relationship revival and investigates the effects of different channel experiences and marketing communication on retention and profitability. We use a multi-segment, multivariate hidden Markov modeling framework to model three managerially relevant customer behaviors: purchase amount, purchase incidence, and channel choice. Using data from a multichannel clothing retailer, we uncover two latent relationship states that customers migrate to and from — an active state and an inactive state characterized by different levels of purchase frequency, responsiveness to marketing, and profitability. We find that an offline (retail-store) channel can be used to migrate customers from an inactive state to an active state, effectively serving the purpose of “education” or “revival,” whereas an online channel is most effective in keeping the existing active customers active, thus serving the purpose of “retention”. Using counterfactual analysis, we highlight an opportunity for the multichannel firm to optimize marketing strategies to dynamically manage and increase the retention and hence also the value of its customer base.     

Price Awareness and Consumers’ Use of Deals in Brand Choice

There is evidence that consumer knowledge of prices is limited, implying that, on occasions, consumers may not be fully informed of prices when making a brand purchase. On such occasions, how do consumers make their brand choice decision? One possibility is that consumers use their expectation of prices. This raises an interesting question. To what extent is brand purchase either a function of preferences and posted prices or, of preferences and expectation of brand prices? Another important issue relates to the role of displays and features in simplifying consumer brand choice. First, do promotions cause consumers to restrict their attention to only promoted brands? Second, do promotions affect the price aware consumers more than the price unaware consumers? Our study uses scanner data on ketchup and peanut butter categories to answer the foregoing questions. We find that between 40 and 50% of the purchases are made by consumers using expectations of prices rather than posted prices. Consumers using price expectations may be thought of as being “unaware” of prices. We also find that promotions cause some consumers to focus exclusively on promoted brands, and this effect is greater on the price aware consumers than on the price unaware consumers. Our findings have an important bearing on the rationality of consumer expectation of prices, especially of the promoted brands. Price aware consumers act as a check against firms promoting without accompanying price cuts.     

基于口碑效应的客户终身价值改进模型

本文认为,客户终身价值(CLV)模型是客户关系管理的核心,企业决策者应将有限的资源投放到最有价值客户身上,保持和提高这些客户的价值,为企业赢得长远利益。文章在剖析前人客户终身价值模型的基础上,建立了基于口碑效应的客户终身价值改进模型,更客观地反映了客户消费行为,提高了客户终身价值模型预测的准确性。通过改进模型计算可以知道,满意客户因为积极的口碑效应使自身客户价值放大,不满意客户因为消极的口碑效应使自身客户价值缩小。     

Self-consciousness and emotions driving femvertising: A path analysis of women’s attitude towards femvertising,forwarding intention and purchase intention

Femvertising is making huge waves as large numbers of brands are launching campaigns marketing feminism. While promoting products brands are selling empowerment to women through marketing campaigns. As women purchasing power is increasing they provide bigger opportunity to marketers, this is the reason femvertising is the hottest trend used by advertisers to attract women customers. This study investigates the influence of self-consciousness and Need for Emotion on Attitude towards femvertising. It further sheds light on the effect of Attitude towards femvertising on forwarding intention of ad and purchase intention of the advertised brand. ANOVA was conducted to analyze the relationship between demographic profile of women respondents with their attitude towards femvertising, forwarding intention and purchase intention. Results show that individuals Private & Public self-consciousness and need for emotion influence their attitude towards femvertising. Positive attitude towards femvertising influence their forwarding intention of ad but does to lead to purchase intent. The findings revealed that intention to forward and purchase intention varies across different age groups.     

Switching behavior of U.S. mobile phone service customers after providers shift from contract to no contract mobile phone service plans

The study examines the impact of the recent shift of the mobile phone service providers in the U.S., from contract to no contract mobile phone service offerings, on the switching behavior of customers in different age groups. Consistent with previous research, the findings ascertain that switching barriers related to relational benefits, availability and attractiveness of alternatives, service recovery and retention in the mobile phone industry are perceived differently by customers in different age groups. However, counter to previous research in the retail banking industry, the research finds that younger customers in the mobile phone service industry are more likely to perceive relational benefits, the effort providers exert to recover a service and are less likely to switch to other providers than older customers. The research findings have implications to theory and practice.     

Promoting Public Health or Underlying Business Interests? The Effectiveness (or Ineffectiveness) of Responsible Drinking Social Causes by the Alcohol Industry Versus Non-Profits

This study examined differences in the effectiveness of responsible drinking campaigns in promoting public health or facilitating underlying interests between the alcohol industry and non-profit organizations. We examined college students' perception of advertisers' motives and evaluation of sponsors' credibility and explored the effects of this perception on multiple strategic goals established by alcohol responsibility campaigns. The results showed that participants perceived industry-sponsored campaigns as self-serving, and this affected sponsor credibility, which influenced attitudes toward sponsors and campaign messages in both sponsor types. These attitudes were significantly associated with intention. The effects of sponsor credibility on attitudes toward drinking differed according to sponsor types. Positive perception of sponsor credibility following exposure to an industry-sponsored campaign enhanced positive attitudes toward drinking, which strengthened intention to drink. When exposed to a non-profit organization's message, positive perception of credibility led to negative attitudes toward drinking and weaker intention to drink.     

How customer engagement in the live-streaming affects purchase intention and customer acquisition,E-tailer's perspective

In the emerging retail market, e-tailers operating in developing economies have to cope with the rapid use of the Internet, new electronic purchasing methods and online selling platforms. However, e-tailers do not understand the effect patterns in which customer engagement on purchase intention and customer acquisition. From e-tailers’ perspective, this study explores how customer engagement behaviors are related to both purchase intention and customer acquisition. We obtained live streaming data in the mature e-tail live streaming market environment and found empirical evidence supporting the conceptual framework through regression model analysis. The analysis results show that the specific indicators of the customer engagement are not all positively related to customer purchase intention and customer acquisition, and it is worth noting that the influence of “like” behavior on customer acquisition is no statistical significance. This is expected to encourage e-tailers to rethink their focus on customer acquisition and sales enhancement digital strategies as they operate in emerging markets.