TY - JOUR
T1 - Building personalised relationships with customers via emails
AU - Huang, Jen-Hung
AU - Shyu, Stacy-Huey-Pyng
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Personalised services, which make customers feel that service employees are polite, friendly and exhibit personal warmth, and that customers are unique and valued, are essential in building good customer relationships. Establishing personalised relationships on the Internet appears impossible. However, the characteristics of reduced cues and asychronised communications make email an effective tool for cultivating relationships between e-retailers and their customers. A sample of 254 students from a university in Northern Taiwan participated in an experiment. Structural equation modelling revealed that frequent personalised emails improve the relationship between e-retailers and their customers, enhance service quality and engender customer loyalty. Furthermore, personalised emails enhance relationship quality more for female customers than for male customers. Finally, future research and managerial implications are discussed.
AB - Personalised services, which make customers feel that service employees are polite, friendly and exhibit personal warmth, and that customers are unique and valued, are essential in building good customer relationships. Establishing personalised relationships on the Internet appears impossible. However, the characteristics of reduced cues and asychronised communications make email an effective tool for cultivating relationships between e-retailers and their customers. A sample of 254 students from a university in Northern Taiwan participated in an experiment. Structural equation modelling revealed that frequent personalised emails improve the relationship between e-retailers and their customers, enhance service quality and engender customer loyalty. Furthermore, personalised emails enhance relationship quality more for female customers than for male customers. Finally, future research and managerial implications are discussed.
KW - email; e-service; gender; relationship quality; service quality
KW - SERVICE QUALITY; GENDER-DIFFERENCES; COMMUNICATION; SATISFACTION; PERSPECTIVE; TECHNOLOGY; ENCOUNTERS; PERCEPTION; MANAGEMENT; THOUGHTS
U2 - 10.1080/14783360902924234
DO - 10.1080/14783360902924234
M3 - Article
SN - 1478-3363
VL - 20
SP - 585
EP - 601
JO - Total Quality Management and Business Excellence
JF - Total Quality Management and Business Excellence
IS - 6
ER -