Webcare as a signal: exhaustive-selective webcare strategy and brand evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishnan Jeesha ◽  
Keyoor Purani
Keyword(s):  
Brand Management ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Brand Evaluation ◽  
Brand Evaluations ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Strategic Perspective ◽  
Resource Deployment ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Keeping in mind the growing significance of online reviews, management of responses to the customer reviews – webcare – is becoming important in recent times. How a firm responds to online reviews can send a signal to the readers of the reviews contributing to their brand evaluations. From a strategic perspective, a firm should decide if they should respond to all reviews or respond to only a select few reviews. This study aims to provide an understanding of how exhaustive and selective webcare influence brand evaluations. It also explores the role of review balance and review frame, which potentially act as moderators, on such influences. Design/methodology/approach Three scenario-based experiments were used to manipulate the webcare strategy (exhaustive-selective) and the potential moderators (review balance and review frame). The 910 participants of the single-stage experiments were identified using an online panel managed by UK-based Prolific Academic. Findings Exhaustive webcare is found to be the most effective strategy for influencing brand evaluations in all conditions. Also, two interesting results were found, which can have practical implications. A selective negative strategy is as effective as an exhaustive webcare in almost all cases, and a selective positive webcare is as good as not having a webcare in nearly all cases. Changes in webcare effectiveness due to the influence of review balance and review frame were established. Research limitations/implications With the review reader perspective and focus on brand management, this study may trigger enquiries into effects of webcare strategies on brand evaluations and other outcomes such as word-of-mouth. The interaction effects of the various strategies adopted together on brand evaluation and loyalty have not been explored and would be of interest to academicians and managers. Practical implications Firms need to plan a careful resource deployment while responding to the online consumer reviews as responding to a select few reviews may yield the same effects as that of exhaustive webcare. Brand managers may find responding only to positive reviews futile, as it could be as good as having no webcare. Also, the strategy of responding to reviews needs to be adapted based on the online review platform where the set in which the review is read is different. Originality/value This is one of the few studies focusing on the effects of webcare on brand evaluations from a review reader perspective as against the dominant reviewer perspective. This research also presents hitherto unexplored effects of an exhaustive-selective webcare strategy on brand evaluations.

An analysis of Airbnb online reviews: user experience in 16 U.S. cities

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chuhan (Renee) Thomsen ◽  
Miyoung Jeong
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Us Cities ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of the complex nature of Airbnb user experience by analyzing the pattern and sentiment of online reviews and assessing the relationships among review scores. Design/methodology/approach Big data analysis is conducted using Airbnb users’ online reviews of 16 US cities; correlation is run on review scores. Findings The key themes of Airbnb users’ online reviews are “clean,” “location,” “stay,” “home,” “place,” “host,” “neighborhood” and “recommend” and users have positive Airbnb experiences in general. The score of “cleanliness” significantly affects the “overall review” score. Research limitations/implications This study is exploratory in nature; mixed methods should be used in the future to measure the relationship between user experience and extracted themes. As the context is in the USA in the current study, comparisons of review patterns across different countries and regions are necessary for later studies. Furthermore, future studies should consider Airbnb users’ demographics, personality and lodging preferences. Practical implications It is important for Airbnb hosts to maintain a clean and accessible property. Both Airbnb hosts and hoteliers should enhance the attributes that generate positive customer reviews. Each city should develop different strategies based on the performance of “cleanliness” and “overall review.” Originality/value This study supplements the existing literature in Airbnb user experience by analyzing online reviews in 16 US cities via Leximancer 4.0.

Sign consumption and sign promotion in visitor attractions

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1937-1955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavlos Paraskevaidis ◽  
Adi Weidenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Brand Image ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Visitor Experience ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Symbolic Meanings ◽  
Destination Brand ◽  
Visitor Attractions ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeDrawing upon Baudrillard’s concept of sign-value, this study aims to investigate consumer behavior and sign perception in visitor attractions.Design/methodology/approachBy adopting netnography, 133 customer-to-customer reviews sourced from TripAdvisor were analyzed regarding visitors’ online post-visit impressions.FindingsThe findings reveal that netnography contributes to a deeper understanding of sign consumption and sign promotion and examines how visitors attribute symbolic meanings to their experience in Titanic Belfast.Practical implicationsThe findings show that the co-creation and reevaluation of the visitor experience through consumers’ online reviews should be taken into account by both managers and marketers. Furthermore, advertising should avoid creating excessive expectations to visitors to decrease the possibility of negative disconfirmation, which can be easily and instantly spread online. Another implication concerns the winning awards of visitor attractions, hotels and restaurants of a destination which may be used as a basis of co-branding marketing campaigns to enhance destination brand image.Social implicationsThis study continues the debate on the commodification of the visitor experience and the commercialization of visitor attractions.Originality/valueThis paper provides better understanding of sign-value, sign consumption and sign promotion in the visitor attraction sector.

scholarly journals Research on comment target extracting in Chinese online shopping platform

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-258
Author(s):  
Zhishuo Liu ◽  
Qianhui Shen ◽  
Jingmiao Ma ◽  
Ziqi Dong
Keyword(s):  
Association Rule ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pos Tagging ◽  
Part Of Speech ◽  
Frequency Feature ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Data Reading

Purpose This paper aims to extract the comment targets in Chinese online shopping platform. Design/methodology/approach The authors first collect the comment texts, word segmentation, part-of-speech (POS) tagging and extracted feature words twice. Then they cluster the evaluation sentence and find the association rules between the evaluation words and the evaluation object. At the same time, they establish the association rule table. Finally, the authors can mine the evaluation object of comment sentence according to the evaluation word and the association rule table. At last, they obtain comment data from Taobao and demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper is effective by experiment. Findings The extracting comment target method the authors proposed in this paper is effective. Research limitations/implications First, the study object of extracting implicit features is review clauses, and not considering the context information, which may affect the accuracy of the feature excavation to a certain degree. Second, when extracting feature words, the low-frequency feature words are not considered, but some low-frequency feature words also contain effective information. Practical implications Because of the mass online reviews data, reading every comment one by one is impossible. Therefore, it is important that research on handling product comments and present useful or interest comments for clients. Originality/value The extracting comment target method the authors proposed in this paper is effective.

Exploring lack of closure as a brand transgression

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Burgess ◽  
Christian Jones
Keyword(s):  
Brand Equity ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Word Of Mouth ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Negative Word ◽  
Television Series ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Transgression ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to contribute to research into narrative brands by investigating if the lack of closure in the ambiguous season two’s ending of the Australian television series, Wanted, constituted a brand transgression. Design/methodology/approach Comments on posts about Wanted from social media accounts associated with the series were downloaded and analysed using thematic analysis informed by non-participatory netnography. Findings Audiences found the ambiguous ending of Wanted season two disappointing and it did not fulfil implied promises and their expectations, which fits the description of a brand transgression, and so they engaged in behaviours indicative of a brand transgression such as spreading negative word of mouth online. The ambiguous ending could have been a cliff-hanger to lead into a third season that was not guaranteed when the final episode aired, or the ending for the entire series. Although a third season was eventually made and positively received by audiences, viewer numbers declined by nearly a third, illustrating the importance of brand management for narrative brands. Practical implications This research has implications for the creators of television series, particularly if they do not know if it will be renewed. Not providing audiences with their expected closure can constitute a brand transgression and damage the narrative brand’s residual brand equity and potential earnings from streaming or a revival at a later date. Originality/value Prior research has focused on audiences’ responses to definitive endings, rather than ambiguous endings, which is the focus of this research. Furthermore, narrative brands are still an under-researched context.

The importance of user-generated photos in restaurant selection

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 2-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Oliveira ◽  
Beatriz Casais
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
User Generated Content ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Online Platforms ◽  
Photo Sharing ◽  
Restaurant Managers ◽  
Marketing Activities ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose User-generated content and online reviews are highly relevant in purchase decision in the hospitality sector, including restaurants, but there is a lack of knowledge about the effect of sharing pictures in this context. This study aims to focus on the relevance of user-generated photos in online platforms for restaurants’ selection. Design/methodology/approach A research was conducted with a sample of 319 residents of Porto region, who had at least one meal in a restaurant over the 30 days before the answer of the survey and had searched online to select the restaurant. Findings The results show that while doing online research about restaurants, it is important for potential consumers to find pictures of food and physical evidences of restaurants generated by other users. Findings also show that consumers find user-generated photos especially at websites of reviews, although the importance of restaurant owned platforms, such as official social media pages and websites. Practical implications The research results appeal restaurant managers to understand the importance of user-generated photos in online platforms by promoting photo sharing in their restaurants with appropriate marketing activities for that purpose. Originality/value This paper expands the state-of-the-art about the importance of user-generated content, focusing on the importance of photos from restaurants shared by consumers in online platforms.

Determining banking service attributes from online reviews: text mining and sentiment analysis

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Divya Mittal ◽  
Shiv Ratan Agrawal
Keyword(s):  
Text Mining ◽  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Sentiment Analysis ◽  
Banking Sector ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Socioeconomic Background ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Reviews ◽  
Banking Service ◽  
The Interest Rate

PurposeThe current study employs text mining and sentiment analysis to identify core banking service attributes and customer sentiment in online user-generated reviews. Additionally, the study explains customer satisfaction based on the identified predictors.Design/methodology/approachA total of 32,217 customer reviews were collected across 29 top banks on bankbazaar.com posted from 2014 to 2021. In total three conceptual models were developed and evaluated employing regression analysis.FindingsThe study revealed that all variables were found to be statistically significant and affect customer satisfaction in their respective models except the interest rate.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is confined to the geographical representation of its subjects' i.e. Indian customers. A cross-cultural and socioeconomic background analysis of banking customers in different countries may help to better generalize the findings.Practical implicationsThe study makes essential theoretical and managerial contributions to the existing literature on services, particularly the banking sector.Originality/valueThis paper is unique in nature that focuses on banking customer satisfaction from online reviews and ratings using text mining and sentiment analysis.

Creating upside in export markets

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 32-33
Keyword(s):  
New Product Development ◽  
Brand Management ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Export Markets ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Capability ◽  
Pertinent Information ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
Management Capabilities ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings This conceptual paper demonstrates that a framework of four distinct higher-order dynamic marketing capabilities – namely, ambidextrous market orientation (AMO), customer relationship management capabilities (CRMC), brand management capability (BMC), and new product development capabilities (NPDC) – do serve exporters directly by boosting their performance in export markets. AMO, which is a mixture of a proactive and reactive approach to market forces, is designated as the beating heart of the wider DMC framework. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

Branding’s academic–practitioner gap: managers’ views

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Alpert ◽  
Mark Brown ◽  
Elizabeth Ferrier ◽  
Claudia Fernanda Gonzalez-Arcos ◽  
Rico Piehler
Keyword(s):  
Brand Management ◽  
Qualitative Interviews ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Marketing Managers ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Branding Strategies ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to investigate marketing managers’ views on the existence and nature of the academic–practitioner gap in the branding domain. Design/methodology/approach Using a purposive sampling method, the researchers conduct semi-structured qualitative interviews with 20 experienced marketing managers from a wide range of industries and organisations, whose roles are focussed on the planning, implementation and management of broad marketing and branding strategies. Findings Branding practitioners have little or no contact with academics and their theories-in-use with regard to brand management suggest they do not consider academic research relevant to their work. Research limitations/implications The process of describing and explaining the gap provides valuable insights into bridging the gap; it provides actionable branding strategies that include raising awareness, building relationships, improving the benefits offer and communicating more effectively. Practical implications This research has practical implications for branding academics. The interviewed practitioners confirm the gap, viewing it as academics’ (not practitioners’) problem and responsibility. They characterise it as a branding problem that academics can overcome using branding strategies, to establish themselves as credible sources of branding expertise for practitioners. Key areas for increasing collaboration stem from practitioners’ desire for independent, credible, ethical and timely third-party advice on branding issues; relevant, timely and shorter professional branding education across their organisations; and closer connections with universities to identify new branding talent and ideas. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to empirically examine and recommend solutions to the academic-practitioner gap in the branding domain by studying marketing professionals with branding responsibilities, using in-depth interviews.

Brand and retailer co-branding

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-65
Author(s):  
Michelle Childs ◽  
Byoungho Ellie Jin
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Effect Study ◽  
Strategic Partnership ◽  
Perceived Fit ◽  
Growth Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Brand Evaluations ◽  
Low Degree ◽  
Limited Edition ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeMany fashion brands employ growth strategies that involve strategically aligning with a retailer to offer exclusive co-brands that vary in duration and perceived fit. While growth and publicity are enticing, pursuing collaboration may change consumers' evaluation of the brand. Utilising commodity and categorisation theory, this research tests how a brand may successfully approach a co-brand with a retailer.Design/methodology/approachThree experimental studies manipulate and test the effect of co-brand duration (limited edition vs ongoing) (Study 1), the degree of brand-retailer fit (high vs low) (Study 2), and its combined effect (Study 3) on changes in consumers' brand evaluation.FindingsResults reveal that consumers' evaluations of brands become more favourable when: (1) brand-retailer co-brand make products available on a limited edition (vs ongoing) basis (Study 1), (2) consumers perceive a high (vs low) degree of brand-retailer fit (Study 2) and (3) both conditions are true (Study 3).Research limitations/implicationsIn light of commodity and categorisation theory, this study helps to understand the effectiveness of a brand-retailer co-branding strategy.Practical implicationsTo increase brand evaluations, brands should engage in a limited edition strategy, rather than ongoing when collaborating with retailers. It is also important to select an appropriately fitting retailer for a strategic partnership when creating a co-brand.Originality/valueWhile previous studies highlight the importance of perceived fit upon extension, perceived fit between brand and retailer co-brand had yet to be investigated. Additionally, this research investigates changes in brand evaluations to more accurately understand how co-branding strategies impact the brand.

scholarly journals Online disclosure practices of halal-friendly hotels

2019 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ikram Nur Muharam ◽  
Mehmet Asutay
Keyword(s):  
Service Provision ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Online Marketing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Random Samples ◽  
Halal Food ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Fresh Insight ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This research analyses the online disclosure practices of halal-friendly hotels, denoting their service provision within “halal” expectancies. This study aims to discover the halal attributes commonly used in the online marketing practices of halal-friendly hotels. Design/methodology/approach The methods used in this study include a deductive approach through literature, which was then followed by an initial investigation of several random samples that produced 24 points of halal-friendly attributes, and then content analysis to find out the online disclosure practices of 55 halal-friendly hotels. Further insights gathered through analysis of the use of Islamic images and symbols; also, by examining the nexus between the disclosure level and other variables such as halal-friendly certification level, star-level and guest ratings. Findings The results show that most hotels classify themselves as halal-friendly by providing information that articulates Islamic identity or by informing the existence of prayer facilities. Information displayed includes halal food, halal places, alcohol-free policy, prayer facilities and Qibla direction. Furthermore, image analysis shows that almost all hotels use human photographs, and the preferred gender is male; only a few hotels expose Islamic symbols. Most hotels maintain a neutral impression by avoiding “Islamised gender” and not overly emphasising Islamic images. Otherwise, halal-friendly certification level is positively correlated with the disclosure level. Practical implications The results provide a fresh insight regarding the online marketing practices of the halal-friendly hotels and could be used as a benchmark by the practitioners. Originality/value This topic is still unexplored; it shows this research originality.

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