Companies that capitalize on building strong relationships with customers can predict several long-term rewards, according to scientific reviews.
Effective relationship building will lead to these positive outcomes:
The acquisition of useful information on how best to serve your customers.
Obtaining a unique competitive advantage over other brands.
Achieving and securing long-term business profitability.
Retaining customer base, thus lowering customer turnover.
Achieving customer satisfaction and gaining brand and customer loyalty.
Acquiring the lifetime value of customers through value creation.
Repeated transactions or purchases through greater bonding, thus enhancing consumer commitment to patronize.
Favorable customer attitude and perception towards your brand and company; and positive word-of-mouth marketing.
The emphasis on investing and sustaining lasting customer relationships is a beneficial fit for all business activities and carries tremendous returns. By investing in relationship building with customers, you can achieve these rewards profitable through co-production and collaboration, thus mutually beneficial to both parties. In the long run, information and customer intelligence obtained from relationship-building can nonetheless improve your overall business marketing strategies.
N.B: This article is the third of a six-part series. The reference list below represents the total of all six articles.
Reference List:
Harker, M.J., 1999. Relationship marketing defined? An examination of current relationship marketing definitions. Marketing intelligence & planning.
Ndubisi, N.O., 2007. Relationship marketing and customer loyalty. Marketing intelligence & planning
Sharma, A. and Sheth, J.N., 1997. Relationship marketing: An agenda for inquiry. Industrial Marketing Management, 26(2), pp.87-89.
Peterson, R.A., 1995. Relationship marketing and the consumer. Journal of the academy of marketing science, 23(4), pp.278-281.
Sheth, J.N. and Parvatlyar, A., 1995. Relationship marketing in consumer markets: antecedents and consequences. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23(4), pp.255-271.
Evans, J.R. and Laskin, R.L., 1994. The relationship marketing process: A conceptualization and application. Industrial Marketing Management, 23(5), pp.439-452.
Tax, S.S., Brown, S.W. and Chandrashekaran, M., 1998. Customer evaluations of service complaint experiences: implications for relationship marketing. Journal of Marketing, 62(2), pp.60-76.
Egan, J., 2008. Relationship marketing: Exploring relational strategies in marketing. Pearson education.
Buttle, F. ed., 1996. Relationship marketing: theory and practice. Sage.