RELATIONSHIP MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER RETENTION IN THE POSTAL CORPORATION OF KENYA, NAIROBI REGION

CONSOLATA ADHIAMBO ODUOR, CHRISPEN MAENDE, PhD

Abstract


This study investigated the effect of relationship marketing strategies on customer retention in Postal Corporation of Kenya, Nairobi region. The following theories guided the study; commitment-trust theory, transactional cost theory, customer engagement marketing theory and customer service theory. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The study targeted three hundred managers from sales and marketing department, customer care department and operations department. The study used one tenth of the target population for pilot study that is thirty respondents. Content validity of the instrument of study was tested through expert opinion.  Cronbach’s alpha reliability experiment was used to evaluate the consistency of the questionnaires, which met a reliability threshold of alpha ≥ 0.70. The study sample size was thirty percent of the total population that is ninety managers. The sampling technique used to identify respondents was simple random. Structured questionnaires were adopted to gather data, questionnaires were dropped and picked later. Data was examined using descriptive analysis and inferential statistics. Interpretation and presentation of information was through the use of tables accompanied by summaries of explanation. The study revealed that preferential treatment, customer rewards, relationship commitment and customer orientation had positively influenced customer retention in postal corporation of Kenya, Nairobi region. The study concluded that the corporation needs to embrace preferential treatment to esteem customers and develop more strategies of customer rewards to improve the level of customer retention.  On relationship commitment and customer orientation, it concluded that the corporation needs to develop ways to enhance the commitment towards the delivery of the services while providing room for customers to be heard and served as a way of improving the relationship leading to improved customer retention. The study recommended that the top management should adopt relationship marketing strategies that aims at improving customer retention while promoting trainings to enhance implementation of the strategies. Survey needs to be done for informed reward strategy to customers and policies makers should bring policies that ensures customers are treated well.

Key Words: customer orientation, preference treatment, Customer Retention, Postal Corporation of Kenya

CITATION: Oduor, C. A., & Maende, C. (2023). Relationship marketing strategies on customer retention in the postal corporation of Kenya, Nairobi Region. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (2), 1189 – 1205.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Agumba, G. O., Kirui, D. C., & Gudda, D. P. (2017). Effects of Customer Management on Customer Retention in Mobile Telecommunication: A Case of Airtel Kenya in Nairobi City County. 4(2), 53–55.

Alketbi, S., Alshurideh, M., & Al Kurdi, B. (2020). The Influence of Service Quality On Customers' Retention and Loyalty in The Uae Hotel Sector with Respect to The Impact of Customer’ Satisfaction, Trust, And Commitment: A Qualitative Study. PalArch's Journal of Archaeology of Egypt/Egyptology, 17(4), 541-561.ISSN.541-1567-214x

Amoako, G. K., Neequaye, E. K., Kutu-Adu, S. G., Caesar, L. D., & Ofori, K. S. (2019). Relationship marketing and customer satisfaction in the Ghanaian hospitality industry: An empirical examination of trust and commitment. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, 2(4), 326–340.

Amoakoh, E. O., & Naong, M. N. (2017). The relevance of relationship marketing model for hair salon’s competitiveness: A theoretical perspective. Problems and Perspectives in

Management, 15(1), 132–139. https://doi.org/10.21511/ppm.15(1).2017.14

Anne, S., & Nyongesa, K. (2018). The influence of relationship marketing, social performance management and firm-it characteristics on customer retention by microfinance institutions in Kenya.

Boffa, M., De Borba, F., and Piotrowski, L. (2020). Postal Development Report. October, 1–29.

Cannon, H. M., Cannon, J. N., Koksal, A., & Johnson, A. (2014, March). Customer transaction costs and marketing simulations: Modeling a new relationship marketing approach. In Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning: Proceedings of the Annual ABSEL conference (Vol. 41)

Chen, L.-S. (2017). Application of Transaction Cost Theory on Repurchase Intention. 131(Icoi), 297–300. https://doi.org/10.2991/icoi-17.2017.55

Cherono, V. (2017). Influence of supermarket ambience on customer satisafction among large retail supermarkets in Kenya. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 2(1), 15–27.

Chetioui, Y., Abbar, H., & Benabbou, Z. (2017). The impact of CRM dimensions on customer retention in the hospitality industry: Evidence from the Moroccan Hotel sector. Journal of Research in Marketing, 8(1), 652-660

Fook, A. C. W., & Dastane, O. (2021). Effectiveness of Loyalty Programs in Customer Retention: A Multiple Mediation Analysis. Jindal Journal of Business Research, 10(1), 7-32.

Hollensen, S., & Opresnik, M. O. (2019). Fundamentals of Relationship Marketing. Marketing, 1–42. https://doi.org/10.1142/9781944659639_0001

Ishumael, V., Nyagadza, B., Charles, M., & Munjeri, N. (2019). Customer retention strategies effectiveness in the Zimbabwean medical industry: Perspectives from cellmed health fund. European Journal of Business and Management Research, 4(6).

Jeske, H., Chimusoro, E., & Karodia, A. M. (2015). An Evaluation of Customer Service and the Impact of Efficiency on Namibia’s Logistical Sector : A Study Involving Selected Courier Companies. Nigerian Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 3(4), 10–38. https://doi.org/10.12816/0014509

Juliana, J., Pramezwary, A., Patricia, V., Josephine, J., Lewinsky, S., & Putra, H. D. (2021). Understanding the Determinants of Hotel Consumer Trust: A Perspective Commitment-Trust Theory. International Journal of Social and Management Studies, 2(2), 114-121

Kamin, M. (2006). Customer service training. Routledge.

Ketokivi, M., & Mahoney, J. T. (2020). Transaction cost economics as a theory of supply chain fficiency. Production and Operations Management, 29(4), 1011-1031.

Khalil, S. M., Ullah, O. B. A. I. D., & Khalil, D. S. H. (2018). The effect of customer loyalty programs on customer retention in Pakistan. Journal of Business & Tourism, 4(2), 211-225

Komalasari, F. P., & Budiman, S. F. (2018). Customer Retention Strategy Through Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty : The Study on Traveloka Loyalty Program. 2(1), 69–75.

Larsson, A., & Broström, E. (2020). Ensuring customer retention: insurers’ perception of customer loyalty. Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 38(2), 151–166. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-02-2019-0106

Morgan, R.M. and Hunt, S.D. (1994), ``The commitment-trust theory of relationshipmarketing'', Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, July, pp. 20-38.

Mutegi, M. F. (2016). An Investigation of the Factors That Cause Poor Performance of State Corporations in Kenya. 6(11), 350–360

Nyongesa, S., Kibera, F., & Kiraka, R. (2020). The role of individual relationship marketing factors in influencing customer retention among microfinance institutions in Kenya. Journal of Research in Emerging Markets, 2(3), 71–81.

Oblitei, N., & Kwame, C. (2020). Relationship Marketing and Customer Retention in the Ghanaian Banking Industry. European Journal of Business and Management, 1–13.

Payne, A., & Frow, P. (2017). Relationship marketing: looking backwards towards the future. Journal of services marketing.

Rao, G. S., & Abegaz, G. T. (2017). The role of relationship marketing on customer retention: The case of abay bank in dessie region in ethiopia. International Journal of Advanced …, 6(3), 97–111.

Rindfleisch, A. (2020). Transaction cost theory: past, present and future. AMS Review, 10(1–2), 85–97. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13162-019-00151-x

Rindfleisch, A., & Heide, J. B. (1997). Transaction cost analysis: Past, present, and future applications. Journal of marketing, 61(4), 30-54

Russo, I. and Confente, I. (2017), Customer Loyalty and Supply Chain Management: Business-to-Business Customer Loyalty Analysis, Routledge, Oxon

Saad, S. G., & Kamel, N. J. (2021). Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Retention in Hotels. 21(3), 152–161.

Sabbeh, S. F. (2018). Machine-Learning Techniques for Customer Retention : A Comparative Study. 9(2), 273–281.

Salim, A., Setiawan, M., Rofiaty, R., & Rohman, F. (2018). Focusing on complaints handling for customer satisfaction and loyalty: The case of Indonesian public banking. European Research Studies Journal, 21(3), 404–416.

Sağlam, M., & El Montaser, S. (2021). The Effect of Customer Relationship Marketing in Customer Retention and Customer Acquisition. International Journal of Commerce and Finance, 7(1), 191-201.

Sari, S. W., Sunaryo, S., & Mugiono, M. (2018). The effect of service quality on customer retention through commitment and satisfaction as mediation variables in java eating houses. Jurnal Aplikasi Manajemen, 16(4), 593-604.

Shaalan, A., Tourky, M., Barnes, B. R., Jayawardhena, C., & Elshaer, I. (2020). Arab networking and relationship marketing: Is there a need for both? Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Sharma, N., & Patterson, P. G. (1999). The impact of communication effectiveness and service quality on relationship commitment in consumer, professional services. Journal of services marketing

Shrestha, S. K. (2020). Impact of Relationship Marketing on Customer Retention in Higher Education. Management Dynamics, 23(2), 33-44

Sigit Parawansa, D. A. (2018). Effect of commitment and customers’ satisfaction on the relationship between service quality and customer retention in rural banks in Makassar, Indonesia. Journal of Management Development, 37(1), 53–64.

Smith, A. (2020). An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations. Knowledge and Postmodernism in Historical Perspective, 62–72.https://doi.org/10.2307/2221259

Soliman, S., & J. Kamel, N. (2021). Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Retention in Hotels. Journal of Association of Arab Universities for Tourism and Hospitality, 0(0), 0–0. https://doi.org/10.21608/jaauth.2021.88892.1220

Trenggana, A. F. M., & Cahyani, L. (2019). The Influence of Relationship Marketing and Customer Retention. 65(Icebef 2018), 659–663.

Vivek, S. D., Beatty, S. E., & Morgan, R. M. (2012). Customer engagement: Exploring customer relationships beyond purchase. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 20(2), 122–146. https://doi.org/10.2753/MTP1069-6679200201

Williamson, O., & Ghani, T. (2012). Transaction cost economics and its uses in marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(1), 74-85.

Xing, L., & Devasia, S. N. (2019). The Influence of Customer Relationship Management on Customer Retention in the Insurance Sector , Malaysia. 2019(September).




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i2.2658

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

PAST ISSUES:
20242023202220212020201920182017201620152014
Vol 11, No 2 [2024]Vol 10, No 4 [2023]Vol 9, No 4 [2022]Vol 8, No 4 [2021]Vol 7, No 4 [2020]Vol 6, No 4 [2019]Vol 5, No 4 [2018]Vol 4, No 4 [2017]Vol 3, No 4 [2016]Vol 2, No 2 [2015]Vol 1, No 2 [2014]
 Vol 11, No 1 [2024] Vol 10, No 3 [2023] Vol 9, No 3 [2022]Vol 8, No 3 [2021]Vol 7, No 3 [2020]Vol 6, No 3 [2019]Vol 5, No 3 [2019]Vol 4, No 3 [2017]Vol 3, No 3 [2016]Vol 2, No 1 [2015]Vol 1, No 1 [2014]
  Vol 10, No 2 [2023] Vol 9, No 2 [2022]Vol 8, No 2 [2021]Vol 7, No 2 [2020]Vol 6, No 2 [2019]Vol 5, No 2 [2018]Vol 4, No 2 [2017]Vol 3, No 2 [2016]  
  Vol 10, No 1 [2023] Vol 9, No 1 [2022]  Vol 8, No 1 [2021]Vol 7, No 1 [2020]Vol 6, No 1 [2019]Vol 5, No 1 [2018]Vol 4, No 1 [2017]Vol 3, No 1 [2016]   


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.