Customer Service and Marketing Strategies

Posted on Feb 27, 2025 in Other subjects

Customer Service

Customer service is the act of taking care of the customer’s needs and wants by providing and delivering professional, helpful, high-quality service and assistance.

Customer Characteristics

  • Demographic profile:
    • Age
    • Gender
    • Occupation
    • Income
    • Marital Status
    • Education
    • Expenditure
    • Ethnicity/race
    • Housing
    • Mobility
    • Location
  • Social profile:
    • Culture
    • Reference groups
    • Time expenditures
    • Social performance
    • Family
    • Lifestyle cycle
    • Opinion leaders
    • Social class
  • Psychological profile:
    • Personality
    • Importance of purchase
    • Innovativeness
    • Motivation
    • Perceived risks
    • Class consciousness
    • Attitudes and opinions

Marketing Mix

Author: E. Jerome McCarthy (1960s): Product, Price, Place, Promotion.

Innovator’s Canvas

  1. Problem Identification: Burning problem/needs.
  2. Problem/Solution: Solution to their problem.
  3. Product/Market Fit: Channel for sales and delivery.
  4. Scalability: Sustainable and profitable.

Target Market Strategies

  1. Undifferentiated Marketing
  2. Micro Marketing
  3. Concentrated Marketing
  4. Differentiated Marketing

Marketing Analysis

Marketing analysis is a strategic research that specializes in the collection and analysis of information about rival firms. It’s an essential tactic for finding out what kind of threat they present to your business.

Steps to Analyze Competitors:

  1. Identifying the company’s competitors.
  2. Assessing competitors’ objectives, strategies, strengths and weaknesses, and reaction patterns.
  3. Selecting which competitors to attack or avoid.

Comparing: Benchmarking, Business, Sales, SWOT, Marketing.

SERVQUAL

  • Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials (11%).
  • Reliability: Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (32%).
  • Responsiveness: Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service (22%).
  • Assurance: Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence (19%).
  • Empathy: Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers (16%).

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

CRM is an approach to manage a company’s interaction with current and potential customers.

Acquisition

Attracting new customers is an objective that requires huge marketing efforts, including prospect identification, contacting potential customers, and development of communication activities.

Retention

Aims to maintain relationships with the highest proportion of the current customer base over the long term. The most common strategies are: a) creating customer delight, b) adding customer-perceived value (loyalty schemes, customer clubs, sales promotions).

Development

Process of growing the value of retained customers. Objectives relate directly to: a) cross-selling additional products and services to an existing customer, b) upselling higher-value or higher-priced products and services to an existing customer.

Customer Loyalty

Customer loyalty is all about attracting the right customer, getting them to buy often, buy in higher quantities, and bring you even more customers.

CACA: Cognitive, Affective, Conative, Action.

Ladder: Suspect, Prospect, Customer, Client, Advocate.

Loyalty Programs

Seek to bond customers to organizations or their products and services by offering an additional incentive.

Four Types of Loyalty Reward Programs:

  1. Simple percent off on all purchases: Very attractive, not very common, certain amount of discount that increases (e.g., Macy’s).
  2. Buy “n” get one free: More common, free product or service after accumulating a certain amount (e.g., cinemas, Starbucks, hair salons).
  3. Tiered rewards: Accumulate points and exchange them for something (e.g., airlines, Liverpool, Sally Beauty).
  4. Customer Relationship with frequent special offers: (e.g., Insurance).