This article addresses the subject of building fan loyalty to company Facebook pages. Customer loyalty is a key prerequisite for a company's success in today's globalised world. Companies now use ...Facebook extensively to communicate with existing and potential customers. The aim of this article is to determine whether Facebook can be used to build customer loyalty to fan pages and whether this loyalty has an impact on loyalty to promoted brands. The research focused on the Facebook fan pages of high street fashion brands (e.g. H&M, C&A and Orsay) and their fans. Research of the literature was used to posit a theoretical model of fan loyalty to Facebook fan pages in connection with loyalty to clothing brands. This model was tested with the statistical method known as structural equations modelling (SEM). The research involved 292 respondents over the age of 18 who have liked at least one high street fashion fan page on Facebook. The results confirmed the validity of the proposed model. It was found that loyalty to the fan page is built through trust and satisfaction with the fan page. It was also demonstrated that loyalty to the fan page has a positive impact on loyalty to clothing brands. Both "loyalties" in this model were measured using the second-order method, which includes both behavioural and attitudinal loyalty. It can therefore be said that communication from companies builds a positive relationship with the fan page / clothing brands and also increases the future frequency of page visits and purchases of branded clothes. Hence, Facebook can be deemed an effective tool for building loyalty.
Firms spend substantial resources responding to customer complaints, and the marketing profession has a long history of supporting that enterprise to promote customer loyalty. The authors question ...whether this response is always warranted or whether its effectiveness instead depends on economic, industry, customer–firm, product/service, and customer segment factors that may alter the firm’s incentives to compete on complaint management. To consider this question, they integrate economic and marketing theories and investigate factors that influence the complaint recovery–customer loyalty relationship via a sample of 35,597 complaining customers spanning a ten-year period across economic sectors, industries, and firms. Overall, the authors find that the recovery–loyalty relationship is stronger in faster-growing economies, for industries with more competition, for luxury products, and for customers with higher satisfaction and higher expectations of customization. Conversely, the recovery–loyalty relationship is weaker when customers’ expectations of product/service reliability are higher, for manufactured goods, and for men compared with women. The authors discuss implications of these results for managers, policy makers, and researchers for more effective management of customer complaints.
Purpose
Given the important role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) to enhance company performance, the purpose of this paper is to fill the existing gaps in the hotel CSR literature via ...application of the loyalty formation mechanism and conceptualizations of different aspects of CSR initiatives.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study examines the effect of environmental and social CSR strategies on multidimensional brand loyalty of hotel customers (i.e. cognitive, affective and conative). This study uses the partial least squares–structural equation modeling to examine the effect of CSR types on multidimensional loyalty.
Findings
The results reveal that environmental and social CSR strategies have a significant positive effect on all three loyalty responses of hotel customers with a different level of power. Especially, environmental CSR is highly correlated with conative loyalty, while social CSR is highly correlated with cognitive and affective loyalty responses.
Research limitations/implications
Limited studies have applied the multidimensional attitudinal loyalty in the CSR context. Thus, this study brings theoretical and practical implications. The findings of this study indicate that customers’ perception of hotel CSR could be directly incorporated into their patronized attitudes.
Originality/value
This study provides an empirical guideline for monitoring CSR initiatives from the customers’ perspectives.
With increased competition across the hotel industry for frequent travelers, who generate a disproportionate portion of revenue, loyalty programs appear to be a rational response to the competitive ...environment. The question remains, however, as to whether these programs are effective at increasing the profitability of hotel operators. This study analyzes the impact of customer loyalty programs on the industry specific performance metrics of occupancy rate, revenue, and operating margin. Utilizing a comprehensive database of 36 different hotel brands (e.g., Marriot, Hilton) encompassing 31 loyalty programs and 435 different hotel properties, we examine whether a loyalty program is indeed an effective tool to increase operating margin. In summary, empirical results suggest that investment in hotel loyalty programs has a positive impact on occupancy rates and profitability. And although the overall effect is modest, these results have several managerial implications for the hotel industry.
Este artigo apresenta uma considerável e atual revisão da literatura sobre satisfação e consequentemente a fidelização de clientes em companhias seguradoras, bem como procurou analisar se seria ...possível explicar a fidelização por meio da presença da marca, da estrutura física e da qualidade no atendimento, proporcionada pela equipe de colaboradores. O objetivo foi elaborar um modelo estrutural capaz de mensurar e indicar as relações existentes entre tais variáveis. Como metodologia, partiu-se de uma série de técnicas estatísticas, especialmente ligadas a Modelagem de Equações Estruturais para se determinar um modelo estrutural, o qual foi capaz de explicar 57,4 % das variações encontradas, desenvolvido a partir de respostas a questionário composto por doze perguntas, aplicado a cem clientes de uma seguradora com sede na cidade de Curitiba/PR. Os resultados indicaram ligações significativas entre as variáveis marca estrutura e a equipe de corretores na fidelização dos clientes, reforçando essas relações aos gestores das companhias, que devem, por sua vez, zelar pela qualidade dos atendimentos realizados, visando a preservação da imagem e confiança da marca, destacados como fortes fatores impulsionadores da fidelização de clientes.
Introducing customers to new ideas lies at the heart of marketing, yet surprisingly little is known about customers' state of inspiration within this domain. This article reviews prior ...conceptualizations of general inspiration in psychology and introduces the concept of customer inspiration as a customer's temporary motivational state that facilitates the transition from the reception of a marketing-induced idea to the intrinsic pursuit of a consumption-related goal. The authors develop and validate a two-state, ten-item customer inspiration scale that consists of inspired-by and inspiredto states. The scale development process begins with item generation, followed by five studies: (1) scale purification and initial validation, (2) exploration of the nomological network, (3) tests for the experimental and predictive validity, (4) replication within a field experiment, and (5) assessments of generalizability and boundary conditions. Empirical results reveal sound psychometric properties of the scale, demonstrate its unique position in relation to established marketing constructs, and support experimental and predictive validity. Applying the scale in marketing practice offers a new way for firms to increase demand, motivate customers' exploration behavior, and build customer loyalty.
This study examines the differential effects of the benefits customers receive from a loyalty program (LP) on satisfaction with the LP, trust in the LP, and store loyalty for high- and low-end ...fashion retailers. With survey data from U.S. LP subscribers, the study tests the relationships using multiple regressions and analysis of covariance. The results show that symbolic benefits are more important for high-end fashion store consumers' satisfaction with the LP; conversely, utilitarian benefits increase consumers' satisfaction with the LP more in low-end fashion retailing, whereas hedonic benefits increase consumers' satisfaction with the LP in both types of retailers. All benefits in both types of retailers affect trust in the LP. Finally, satisfaction with and trust in the LP are important drivers of loyalty to the retailer. The findings have important implications on how managers of high- and low-end fashion retailing can effectively design their LP rewards to maximize loyalty.
Consumer loyalty is one of the most critical marketing constructs and has received ample academic attention. However, despite many studies on consumer loyalty in different fields, including tourism ...and hospitality, the results on drivers of consumer loyalty are not fully defined. As a complex tourism product, destinations, in particular, pose challenges for understanding what affects loyalty or disloyalty. The current study uses two large data sets to profile consumers of different loyalty levels in order to better understand destination loyalty. Results show that loyal consumers are different from others in sociodemographic, psychographic and behavioral characteristics. Results also show that attitudinal loyalty may be a better indication of loyalty than both future visit likelihood and the number of past visits.
•Undertakes a profiling of loyal consumers in a destination context.•Loyal consumers are compared to other groups.•Loyal visitors are different in many characteristics.•Making past visits is a weak indication of loyalty.•Attitudinal loyalty is the strongest indicator of loyalty.
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•Customer satisfaction relationships differ in online and offline purchasing.•Perceived value is a stronger driver of satisfaction in online purchases.•Overall quality and ...expectations are stronger drivers of satisfaction offline.•Customers are more satisfaction-sensitive when purchasing online.•Differences generally persist across customer demographics and retail categories.
Retailers seek to utilize both online and offline purchase channels strategically to satisfy customers and thrive in the marketplace. Unfortunately, current multichannel research is deficient in answering what drives customers’ satisfaction, and consequently their loyalty, differently when customers purchase online versus at a physical store. This gap in knowledge can be a significant concern for retailers due to the negative impact of having dissatisfied customers on their bottom lines. Using a version of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model, we demonstrate several important purchase-channel differences in the antecedents of customer satisfaction and its subsequent effect on customer loyalty. Specifically, we show that when retail customers buy electronic goods online they view purchase value as a significant attribute in rating satisfaction, and are more satisfaction-sensitive when making repurchase decisions than when they purchase offline. On the other hand, the overall quality of the purchase experience and customer expectations are stronger drivers of customer satisfaction in the offline purchases. We provide evidence that these differences between the channels generally persist across customer demographics (gender, age, and education) and broader product categories, and we also discuss the specific contexts where they do not. Our work offers actionable guidance to retailers seeking to enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty across both the online and offline channels.
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