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Building long-term relationships with your customers is at the core of almost any marketing plan. But did you know that there are even more benefits to relationship marketing than researchers previously believed?
Relationship marketing investments have a “direct effect on seller sales performance,” according to the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing, September 2009. So, what are relationship marketing investments?
“Relationship marketing investments (e.g. when a seller provides extra effort; adapts policies; and provides small favors or considerations, such as meals, gifts, or personalized notes) generate customer feelings of gratitude, which lead to gratitude-based reciprocal behaviors, resulting in enhanced seller performance.”
Translation: When you go the extra mile for your customers, intentionally and with kindness, they will experience feelings of gratitude (consciously or sub-consciously) and in response, they will take action to repay you or reciprocate.
This feeling of gratitude can be short-lived unless you invest in ongoing relationships, typically more relevant in business-to-business marketing. The more you conduct relationship marketing, the more your customers experience feelings of gratitude and trust that affect their purchasing behavior. These will accumulate over time leading to improvements in your selling performance.
The study’s authors add that it’s only when we include gratitude in our relationship marketing - parallel to trust and commitment - that we can expect our efforts to pay off.
To summarize this study, gratitude appears to enhance relationship marketing (RM) performance in three main ways:
1. Customers engage in positive gratitude-based behaviors to satisfy their feelings of obligation in response to RM-induced feelings of gratitude.
2.Increased levels of customer trust due to gratitude increase customer commitment and thus enhance relational performance.
3.Gratitude promotes the development of relationships by initiating cycles of reciprocation, which may have long-term positive effects on customer behaviors.
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A great way to build your relationship marketing goodwill is by using promotional products and other branded gifts. Check out how we can help you do this.
Relationship marketing investments have a “direct effect on seller sales performance,” according to the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing, September 2009. So, what are relationship marketing investments?
“Relationship marketing investments (e.g. when a seller provides extra effort; adapts policies; and provides small favors or considerations, such as meals, gifts, or personalized notes) generate customer feelings of gratitude, which lead to gratitude-based reciprocal behaviors, resulting in enhanced seller performance.”
Translation: When you go the extra mile for your customers, intentionally and with kindness, they will experience feelings of gratitude (consciously or sub-consciously) and in response, they will take action to repay you or reciprocate.
This feeling of gratitude can be short-lived unless you invest in ongoing relationships, typically more relevant in business-to-business marketing. The more you conduct relationship marketing, the more your customers experience feelings of gratitude and trust that affect their purchasing behavior. These will accumulate over time leading to improvements in your selling performance.
The study’s authors add that it’s only when we include gratitude in our relationship marketing - parallel to trust and commitment - that we can expect our efforts to pay off.
To summarize this study, gratitude appears to enhance relationship marketing (RM) performance in three main ways:
1. Customers engage in positive gratitude-based behaviors to satisfy their feelings of obligation in response to RM-induced feelings of gratitude.
2.Increased levels of customer trust due to gratitude increase customer commitment and thus enhance relational performance.
3.Gratitude promotes the development of relationships by initiating cycles of reciprocation, which may have long-term positive effects on customer behaviors.
.................................................................................................................................
A great way to build your relationship marketing goodwill is by using promotional products and other branded gifts. Check out how we can help you do this.
