Marketing is arguably amidst a paradigm shift. Marketing orientation is shifting away from creating exchanges (sales) to creating value (satisfaction) and relationships (cocreation of value). Ultimately, the main objective of all marketing activities is value creation. In the vast majority of cases, value is cocreated by several agents, especially the marketers and customers. From a value cocreation perspective, a single transaction can blossom to a process in which the customer and the marketer collaborate (rather than negotiate) for best total value through products, features, delivery terms, maintenance, and financing options for both business-to-business (B2B) as well as business-to-consumer (B2C) markets. Furthermore, marketers increasingly need to develop and maintain long-term, win–win relationships that extend beyond customers, such as those with distributors, dealers, suppliers, competitors, and other external influencers such as governments, media, nonprofit organizations, and pressure groups. The 21st-century marketer must also understand how customer relationship management (CRM) analytics works.
This book advocates managing customer relationships based on the use of the customer lifetime value (CLV) metric. The premise is that measuring and maximizing CLV benefits not only marketers but also the customers in measurable and concrete ways. The reader is exposed to the history and conceptualization of relationship marketing, its three main types (B2B, B2C, and internal), the nature of loyalty and rewards programs, and CRM analytics. A discussion of the future of relationship marketing and the possible frontiers of value cocreation is provided. In each chapter, cases that illustrate the essence of that chapter along with key points to ponder and take-aways are presented.
Business executives, marketing students, and those who are interested in learning about the transformative power of relationship marketing and CRM analytics in the business enterprise would highly benefit from reading this book.