Customer Retention Strategies and Customer Loyalty

Since loyal customers are the most important assets of a company, companies have been giving attention to developing customer retention and loyalty programs. The fundamental purpose of customer retention efforts is to ensure maintaining relationships with value-adding customers by reducing their defection rate. Creating customer loyalty is essential for the survival of the company in highly competitive markets. Thus, this chapter starts with indicating the significance of customer retention marketing strategies for the company by revealing the economics of retention marketing programs. Requirements for developing effective customer retention strategies are explained. Finally, after discussing types of commitment, this chapter ends by explaining loyalty programs and win-back strategies.

Contexts of Trends in the Catholic Church's Male Workforce:Chile, Ireland, and Poland Compared

Using case pattern analysis, this study examines Catholic male workforce trends in the majority Catholic countries of Chile, Ireland, and Poland. Employing denominational data for three categories of church male professionals in the 1950–2010 time period, I document four important trends. First, ordinations to the diocesan priesthood in Ireland went into decline especially after Vatican II, have been relatively stable in Chile with only a moderate increase in the 1990s, and spiked in Poland in the 1980s, 20 years after Vatican II. Second, in all three countries the average defection rate among diocesan seminarians increased in the 2000s compared with the earlier two decades. Third, the religious priest workforce has declined in Chile, has been relatively stable in Ireland until the 2000s, and is growing in Poland. Fourth, from the late 1960s there has been a decline in the workforce of religious brothers in each country, especially in Ireland. The theoretical contribution to the Catholic workforce literature is discussed in terms of a critical events argument emphasizing the impact of Vatican II, prophetic stances, sexual scandals, and papal visits on labor market trends. I conclude with implications for the study of religion and society in general.

Customer defection in retail banking

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide managers and researchers a comprehensive view of the root causes of customer departure and empirically test the attitudinal and behavioural consequences of failed service quality in a retail banking context. Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study was conducted among retail banking customers who had defected from a large retail bank provider. Data from 989 usable responses to a questionnaire filled through a telephone survey were applied to model estimation through structural equation modelling. Findings – Findings demonstrate the effect of failed service quality on customers’ negative attitudes towards the retail bank provider (dissatisfaction and lack of commitment), the direct negative impact of failed service quality on loyalty (the opposite of defection), as well as its indirect negative impact on loyalty through negative attitudes. The moderating role of customers’ switching costs and subjective knowledge of the bank’s products is revealed and the relative impact of each failed service quality factor on negative attitudes and behavioural intentions is assessed. Practical implications – Key areas causing customer dissatisfaction and eventually defection are shown to bank managers, providing direction for implementing strategies and mechanisms in order to effectively reduce the defection rate. Originality/value – The theoretical model, which was in large confirmed through the empirical data, offers for the first time empirical evidence regarding the extent to which the general categories of reasons to defect in a service context identified in the literature are indeed causing customer exit.

Customer Retention Strategies and Customer Loyalty

Since loyal customers are the most important assets of a company, companies have been giving attention to developing customer retention and loyalty programs. The fundamental purpose of customer retention efforts is to ensure maintaining relationships with value-adding customers by reducing their defection rate. Creating customer loyalty is essential for the survival of the company in highly competitive markets. Thus, this chapter starts with indicating the significance of customer retention marketing strategies for the company by revealing the economics of retention marketing programs. Requirements for developing effective customer retention strategies are explained. Finally, after discussing types of commitment, this chapter ends by explaining loyalty programs and win-back strategies.

The Career Goals of Female Science Students in Canada

There are relatively few women in the Canadian scientific community and most of the available research explains this fact in terms of girls' low enrolment in high school science programmes. The research presented here suggests that the substantial seepage of women from science at a later decision-point also contributes to the lack of women in the science professions. The career goals of a matched sample of male and female senior science undergraduates at nine Canadian universities (N = 204) are examined. The data show (1) that there are substantial gender discrepancies in the defection rates and career aspirations of male and female science undergraduates; (2) that fathers occupation emerges as a relevant background variable distinguishing female science students from their male counterparts; and (3) academic performance affects the defection rate of women from science-the top performers are more likely than average performers to defect from science. These findings are related to cross-national data and strategies for further research are suggested.